Switched off Ubuntu

Wed Jul 31 09:03:45 MST 2013

Ted may be right about where the growth market is.  Especially if he
primarily considers the 15-35 year groups.  On the other hand, there are
hundreds of millions of current users with history of using a desktop and
people who want/need bigger displays who detest the who "Let's make
everything work like a tablet" concept.  I have a tablet and a smartphone
and I appreciate how they work.  But I and most of the people I know (in 4
computer clubs) want our big screens to remain highly usable and that will
never be with a touch interface.

Case in point: Global menu on a screen with multiple visible windows is
just plain stupid.  Global menu is fine as long as I can turn it off.  I
used to hate unity, but now I miss it when I don't have it.  That said, I
hate the number of configurable things we are losing to the "growth market".

I work with a lot of elderly people and most of them do not want to learn
tablet and touch interfaces.  I am having a lot of success with Linux for
people who absolutely do not want Windows 8.  Linux is much easier for
them.  Until I have to explain global menu.  So I end up using other
desktops for almost all of them.

On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 8:05 AM, Stephen <cryptworks at gmail.com> wrote:

> Part of Ubuntu's Success is making Linux something anyone can use without
> having to invest in getting over such a steep learning curve. Well done
> there. Part of what Draws us to Linux is we can do what we want with it. We
> mold the experience to our desires. Ubuntu is becoming a pretty solid
> gateway for people that would never have considered Linux before to now
> realize it is powerful, useable, and professional.
>
> And yes there is some sacrifice for it. It is loaded in a hey you can use
> this right now and we think its awesome. this allows for a common interface
> to enhance documentation and support, which is where ubuntu makes a
> majority of its money (which i personally applaud).
>
> Is it the best distro ever, no. does it do what I want and how i want it.
> mostly. But even with the unified presence delivered by ubuntu I can still
> chose to do things my way.
>
> I have yet to find a perfect home distro, I really do not think i will. to
> be honest aside from where some config files are, and package management
> they are all so similar its nutty to consider how may distros there are
> that are simply variations of a root distro.
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 6:56 AM, Kevin Fries <kevin at fries-biro.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm with you Paul.   I have been feeling less and less in control of my
>> desktop o er the past few years.   If I wanted to be told what was "good"
>> for me why would I not be using Windows or Mac?   Lately I have been using
>> Arch and begun remembering why it was I liked Linux to start with.   I
>> think I found a new "distro-home"  at least for a little while.
>>
>> Kevin
>> On Jul 30, 2013 11:29 AM, "Paul Mooring" <paul at opscode.com> wrote:
>>
>>>  In my case Unity was more like the straw that broke the camel's back.
>>>  I don't particularly care for any of the changes Ubuntu made and have
>>> never liked debian packaging.  I could maybe put up with upstart or unity
>>> or the frequent broken upgrade cycle on their own, but once unity launched
>>> and it was one more thing to hack around I had reached the point of wanting
>>> to just find greener pastures.
>>>
>>>  That being said, you're right just switching distros for the desktop
>>> environment wouldn't make a whole lot of since, but things like apt (and
>>> it's overly opinionated packages) and upstart are too integral to the OS to
>>> make using alternatives not a huge pain.
>>>
>>>
>>>  Paul Mooring
>>> Operations Engineer
>>> www.opscode.com
>>>
>>>  ------------------------------
>>> *From:* plug-discuss-bounces at lists.phxlinux.org <
>>> plug-discuss-bounces at lists.phxlinux.org> on behalf of Stephen <
>>> cryptworks at gmail.com>
>>> *Sent:* Tuesday, July 30, 2013 9:26 AM
>>> *To:* Main PLUG discussion list
>>> *Subject:* Re: @@@ Pre-order your UBUNTU EDGE convergence phone today
>>> :) @@@
>>>
>>>  I find it weird that people will drop a distribution because of unit.
>>> I dislike it, but it is so easy to flip to Gnome, KDE, XFCE, TWM, whatever
>>> that the overall hardware compatibility i get with an Ubuntu install
>>> combined with the ease of use apt management system and the huge supply of
>>> goodies in the repo far outweigh unity. besides, I'm pretty sure the
>>> default desktop experience will be configurable because Linux is cool like
>>> that.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jul 30, 2013 at 9:12 AM, Paul Mooring <paul at opscode.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I think that's how a lot of people feel, I disliked unity enough to
>>>> finally switch distros and haven't looked back since.  That being said,
>>>> if
>>>> canonical can actually deliver on the dream of dropping my phone into a
>>>> dock and having a full Linux desktop and then just pulling it out and
>>>> taking it with me when I'm done, I'll put up with Unity without any
>>>> complaints at all.
>>>> --
>>>> Paul Mooring
>>>> Operations Engineer
>>>>
>>>> www.opscode.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 7/29/13 6:17 PM, "Michael Butash" <michael at butash.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> >I agree, I bought in on one - I really hope they come though.  I'm
>>>> super
>>>> >stoked for this...
>>>> >
>>>> >I've tried with android phones running linux atop their kernel, but ui
>>>> >is always a bit clunky/unusable (unity just simply never worked).  I'm
>>>> >keen to see just how functional they or I can make the desktop
>>>> >experience, as normally first thing I do is disable unity with ubuntu.
>>>> >
>>>> >Need a local hackfest if/when these come through.
>>>> >
>>>> >-mb
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >On 07/26/2013 11:18 AM, Paul Mooring wrote:
>>>> >> Keep in mind what they are shooting for is convergence, a multi-core
>>>> >> processor with 4GB(+?) of RAM that acts as the "brain" of your
>>>> desktop
>>>> >> computer.  At $725 people would call this a steal as an ultra-light
>>>> >> laptop, combine that with a carrier like T-mobile that allows you to
>>>> not
>>>> >> pay for a phone if you don't get one and that's a whole lot of value
>>>> for
>>>> >> less than $1k.
>>>> >> --
>>>> >> Paul Mooring
>>>> >> Operations Engineer
>>>> >>
>>>> >---------------------------------------------------
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  --
>>> A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from
>>> rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
>>>
>>> Stephen
>>>
>>>
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>>
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>
>
>
> --
> A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from
> rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
>
> Stephen
>
>
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-- 
Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry

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