Ubuntu 11.10 ('Oneiric Ocelot') Released 455
Cue the Ubuntu release parties — Ubuntu 11.10 has arrived. Ars Technica has a very positive summary of the changes in 11.10; Joe Brockmeier's piece of a few weeks back explains the return to Xen to Ubuntu and the introduction of Juju (formerly Ensemble). Asks an anonymous reader: "Any outstanding reasons why I shouldn't upgrade?" YMMV, but as a long-time Ubuntu user, and like many other users, I have mixed feelings about the concerted (and now complete) move away from a conventional WIMP interface to the new Unity. With previous versions, it was possible to choose a "classic" look rather than the default of Unity; now, for good or ill, the left-hand vertical menu is a permanent desktop element. It looks great to me, in the way the Canonical developers intend: as a consistent, replicable, supportable interface to recommend to (for instance) my parents — but I'm used to (and prefer!) more traditional WIMP environments, so at least for now have switched to Linux Mint's Debian Edition.
Canonical Developers?! (Score:1, Insightful)
As an Ubuntu Member, and NOT a Canonical Employee, I take offense at the notion only Canonical folks do Ubuntu work.
Thanks.
I moved to kubuntu (Score:4, Insightful)
about 3 releases ago, and I've never looked back.
What distribution left for developers? (Score:4, Insightful)
What distribution are we supposed to use now?
Ubuntu has given up on its users, and is turning into an interface for the elderly, the disabled and netbook people.
I'd rather have my advanced UI that lets me do whatever I want with my workstation, thank you very much.
Re:What distribution left for developers? (Score:3, Insightful)
apt-get install gnome? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:apt-get install gnome? (Score:4, Insightful)
can't you just remove the unity package
Of course you can but see the only problem with intellectual honesty is it leaves a whole lot less for people to whine about.
Re:Don't need to keep Unity... (Score:3, Insightful)
Just go with Gnome 3 and shell and forget about Unity.
Except Gnome 3 sucks at least as bad as Unity because they're fundamentally both crappy touchscreen interfaces pushed onto desktop users.
Re: (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, it's mostly still WIMP, but just different enough to be annoying, and for no apparent reason. Which is why so many people have been switching to Xubuntu lately (myself included). I see no reason to switch back to Ubuntu, unless someone can explain to me why this new Unity really IS easier to use than the standard WIMP interface.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The standard WIMP has been around, mostly unchanged, for decades. Why change it?
Re:12.04 LTS (Score:5, Insightful)
And this really bugs me. They are the only Linux distro that uses animal names for their version names, they get to 'P' and they DON'T USE 'PENGUIN'? WTF???
Passive Aggressive announcement (Score:3, Insightful)
Thanks for posting about the release of the new Ubuntu version.
Too bad you chose to hijack the announcement to use it as a soapbox for stating your preference of Debian.
Essentially this is just your spam.
Come on mods, lets get this rubbish off the page!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Personally, I don't care if they're on the top or the bottom, as long as I can launch programs and manipulate windows without having to work too hard.
I think UI designers get a bit of tunnel vision, and try to "over-design" their features to make things easier... which actually makes them harder. Frankly, I don't spend a lot of time launching applications, but I use them for hours (or days) at a time. So if Unity can save me a click or two on launch, it's an insignificant savings compared to the hours I'll spend actually using that app. I can understand if they want to look ahead to the advent of multi-touch displays on the desktop, but those aren't here yet. In the meantime, Unity is little more than a curiosity, and should NOT be the default interface for a "major" OS.
Re:What distribution left for developers? (Score:4, Insightful)
"What distribution are we supposed to use now?"
DEBIAN.
Don't forget that Debian-based distros are merely lesser versions of their parent which trade quality for convenience.