** Alan Pope <a...@popey.com> [2011-10-29 12:31]: > On 29 October 2011 11:43, john lewis <johnle...@hantslug.org.uk> wrote: Msnip> > > OK, in neither case have I used the latest version of Gnome3 but have > > decided it isn't for me. I think the developers have lost their way and > > are inflicting their idea of how a desktop should work regardless of > > how people actually use it. Not everyone wants the latest all singing > > all dancing stuff that gets in the way of doing real work. > > I dont find any of the new stuff singing and dancing. The idea behind > GNOME Shell and Unity is that it gets out of the way and lets you get > on with your work. It mostly seems to do that for me.
I think the changes to Unity in 11.10 are a positive move, but for me it is still seriously lacking in basic functionality. If I don't use a program regularly I don't want it clogging up the application launcher. That only leaves searching to access applications or multiple clicks on the new (and yes improved in 11.10) home lens (or default lens, I can't remember what its called!). The panel has lost functionality in terms of pop up information when you hover the mouse over it (in particular I get no battery info, but none have any status pop ups). Start Up Applications used to be populated by a list of pretty standard items you could just check, but this has gone. I've grown to quite like the window controls at the top left, but I'm not so happy with them being moved onto the panel. Much as I thought this would be a good idea given the various comparisons between Windows and Mac, in practice I get annoyed when I'm working on a small window, say at the bottom right, and have to move the mouse up to the top left to access a menu and then head back down to the bottom right. What I'm hoping is that, with a bit of work with lenses I can rebuild some of the functionality I miss as I would rather not move to another distro at the moment, and I'm not a big fan of installing Ubuntu and heavily customising it by removing chunks - it never works that smoothly (which is why I've always left Evolution installed even though I never use it) - or the *ubuntu derivatives (I tried Xubuntu as I like XFCE, but it took too much adding and removing stuff to get it the way I liked it, and didn't seem to fit well with the main Ubuntu choices - particularly with networking). > > They are targeting Gnome3 at a class of user I don't fit into (probably > > applies to the way ubuntu is going too but that is a distro I have no > > intention of using). > > The target for Ubuntu is everyone. Some people will self-select > themselves out of that group, and that's fine. Nobody is forcing > anyone to use it. Personally I'm determinedly patient and waiting to see where the changes go, but I am sceptical. As a technical user Unity is slowing me down (and actually pushing me more towards the CLI!). Looking at my dad's usage as a very non-technical user I'm not at all convinced. I've not installed Ubuntu for him, and part of this was the switch to Unity as default when I was building his new machine. Windows was a requirement to get things going (app compatibility with things my mum was already using), but I had intended to install Ubuntu to (and still do). Knowing the questions he asks about Windows I think he would be seriously lost in Unity. He can look for an application in a drop down menu grouped by category, but would not hunt far enough through the standard Unity lens to find anything. I also suspect that that not having the menus obvious in the panel, or preferably application window, would confuse him - if something is obvious he will explore, but if it is hidden he won't spot it, or remember where it is. ** end quote [Alan Pope] -- Paul Tansom | Aptanet Ltd. | http://www.aptanet.com/ | 023 9238 0001 ====================================================================== Registered in England | Company No: 4905028 | Registered Office: Crawford House, Hambledon Road, Denmead, Waterlooville, Hants, PO7 6NU -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --------------------------------------------------------------
