

Mark Shuttleworth: Shooting for the Perfect 10.10 with Maverick Meerkat - alonswartz
http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/336

======
andrewvc
I, and I believe many others, have long used and admired Ubuntu for its
unrelenting pragmatism. It's long been the distro of getting stuff done. It's
had an agressive release cycle, and its had a great focus on usability.

However, this is going to be the release that's going to force everyone
showing Ubuntu off to friends/coworkers to say "oh yeah, the buttons are on
the left, yeah that's stupid, I agree but I can fix that" _clickity command
line clack_.

What's most disappointing is the utter failure of the UI team to communicate
why they've done this, which is insulting. Yes, they've said "we've had
meetings and thought about it!", but no reasons other than 'we like it', have
been disclosed to my knowledge. Ubuntu's made decisions like this before, but
never one so fundamental.

All in all, I've been left with a bitter taste in my mouth from both the
stupidness of the decision, and the stupidness of not handling the PR crisis
that this is (and this is a PR crisis).

I understand it's Shuttleworth's baby, and he can do what he wants, but if
decisions like this keep up I'll be looking for greener pastures.

~~~
sandGorgon
upvoted.. There are so many important things that dont work -

* out of the box webcam support,

* remote desktop to manage Windows Server machines,

* IPV6 support that doesnt slow down my browsing ([https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/+source/eglibc/+bug/...](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/+source/eglibc/+bug/417757)),

* something like Scrivener for linux and a bit more decent Office format support.

Along with decent H.264 support, the above are some of the things that I am
willing to pay for - yet what Shuttleworth does with Ubuntu is left side
buttons.

~~~
_fool
i don't know what release you're using, but my 10.10 beta has rdesktop
installed by default and it still works as well as it ever did for connecting
to windows servers.

~~~
mattyb
_my 10.10 beta_

I assume you mean 10.04 beta. If not, send me a copy!

------
dasboot
Both root comments so far complain about the UI changes - I really don't get
it. I've switched between OSX, Win, Linux, and the button issue is trivial
(OSX has top left buttons). I couldn't give two shits about whether to yank
the mouse to the top right or top left to close a window. Mostly I use alt-
space or ctrl-w/q for window control anyway. Foreign languages have slightly
different keyboard layouts and it takes about 30 seconds to adjust (motor
memory ftw).

What I care about are the fundamentals - hardware (sound, brightness, video
driver support, battery life). The availability of quality software and ease
of installing/removing it (cleanly) - mostly great.

The same people who learn arcane vi/emacs/cli syntax complain about moving
their mouse to the opposite corner - please!

I've been running Ubuntu 9.10 exclusively for a while now, and besides
hardware support issues (nvidia driver crashing X), shitty sound (midi, and
the kde vs. gnome way of handling sound), and Adobe Flash/Air suckage I
haven't had any complaints.

Win7 feels far worse. In fact, just install kubuntu and be done with it. UI-
wise: KDE => like Window, Gnome => like OS X - pick your poison.

~~~
andrewvc
_The same people who learn arcane vi/emacs/cli syntax complain about moving
their mouse to the opposite corner - please!_

I use vim, but the arcane syntax makes using it significantly faster. Moving
buttons doesn't do this.

I'm glad you always use keyboard shortcuts for window control, given that can
you see perhaps see that your point of view on this feature as being
inconsequential is not very relevant due to the fact that you do not use it
much at all?

------
metachor
Good luck with that after unilaterally borking the UI design in the latest LTS
release.

~~~
andyking
I read the other day that they've come to a compromise with the positions of
the buttons. They're staying on the left, but the close button will be in the
corner of the window - it'll go close, minimise, maximise.

I'm happy with that personally; it wasn't the position of the buttons as a
whole that was a little annoying but the fact that "close" wasn't in the
corner.

[http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/04/ubuntu-window-buttons-
sta...](http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/04/ubuntu-window-buttons-staying-left-
but.html)

