Ubuntu 11.10 Unity – Not impressed

So I was really pumped about the Unity desktop released on Ubuntu 11.04. I installed it and tried to use it and came to the conclusion it kinda sucked so I went back to GNOME 2. Now it’s time for another release of Ubuntu with Unity and I thought this time around the devs would get it right seeing as there isn’t an option to fall back to GNOME. As it turns out they didn’t.

Now let me say that Unity feels a little more polished however it has a LONG way to go.  I don’t think it was a smart move to make a desktop that is under core development the main option for an operating system.  There are some major features that are missing (Probably from lack of development time) such as any sort of widget on the panel/top-bar, no right click option menus at all, no obvious configuration tool, and no way to show the desktop when a program can’t be minimized (Like when Symantec is updating sources). Also, I don’t know who’s idea it was to remove all the options in the “Applications” menu. To run a program you click the Ubuntu icon and are presented with 8 choices, the 4 ‘common’ programs and a few options to search for apps.  It takes like 4 clicks to get to any subcategory. I guess if you use a browser and media player and that’s it, it isn’t a big deal however if you use more than 4 programs it is a real bottleneck. I think this is a REAL step back in UI.  Oh yeah, also why can’t I load more than one folder window from the panel without ctrl-N? Each time I click the folder icon it brings up the folder you have open…wtf, AND if you did do ctrl-N clicking the icon brings all the folders to the front, yeah that’s what people who are browsing around source want, 5 folders to pop-up in their face.

Now I like to try new stuff, I don’t want to be one of those stuck-in-my-ways jerks who bash anything new, but I just can’t get over all the short comings of Unity. It’s like Canonical tried to dumb down the PC for retards, totally forgetting that people want to customize and use their PC without it getting in the way.

Over all, really really poor user experience.

If you do use 11.10 you might want to check out “HOWTO: Configure Ubuntu’s Unity Launcher“.  I set the panel to stop hiding and made the icons smaller, that way I can actually see what I have running.

2 Comments

  • By Leon, January 30, 2012 @ 5:00 am

    Ubuntu 11.10 is the worst of all. tons of bugs I spent almost every day hunting solutions of many issues I had.
    this was poorly thought and rushed to be out. it looks like Ubuntu is done to be a good jazzed newby.

  • By Leon, February 16, 2012 @ 5:59 pm

    Ubuntu 11.04 & 11.10 is a nightmare!!!!!

    Looks like they lost their hype and I am back full blow with Mac

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