Ubuntu and its community

Fri Jun 24 09:47:06 UTC 2011

I think we can all agree that every commonly changed setting should be
easily configured (whatever "commonly" may mean!)

The essential problem between Ubuntu Tweak (or any Power Users Sink, for
that matter, not bashing on good ol' Tweak) and that reality is that those
options don't exist in the programs in the first place.
So for each of those configurations we have to patch the offending program
with all the gconf entries we need, release it somewhere and then install it
if the user wants to configure any of those settings that are hardcoded in
the upstream version.

In fact, Ubuntu Tweak has/had to remove access to third-party PPAs in order
to be included in the official repositories (I'm not even talking installed
by default here!), so automatically installing a different version of Unity
(for instance) is not trivial. Also, it will of course need internet access
every time you want to change such a setting for the first time. Plus the
constant merging with the upstream version to fix the same bugs...

As you can see, we have a long road ahead of us before we reach your goal,
and I agree that some setting omissions seem a bit forced for the sake of
change. In my opinion, after all these years of top-bottom panels (that we
could change) it doesn't make much sense to me releasing a new default shell
that forces a launcher on the left. BUT, I understand that are features that
come first, and I'm sure that there are design decisions that need to be
revisited in order to change Unity's behavior, and they can't do it
overnight. Call me naive but I still believe they will listen to feedback
and eventually offer alternatives.

If not, the popularity of a customizable Unity will be so high that it's as
good as default anyway.

New users might be a bigger problem, yes, but I think that discussion will
quickly stray out of hand!

I have to go away now, but I propose we make a list of highly requested
settings and start tackling them, even if we have to change some programs
(we can't change them all, but 1 program is better than none).
Otherwise it seems that we're sitting here letting this project wither...

*Miguel Branco *
<http://www.epicvortex.com>  <http://profiles.google.com/mig.jcb/about>
<http://www.google.com/reader/shared/mig.jcb>
<http://www.facebook.com/mig.branco>

On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 09:59, Elvis Dominguez <elvisd79 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I totally agree with Sebastian.
> I accept design decisions too, but would be glad to offer users (not only
> power users) the possibility to change some behaviours.
>
> I also agree that ubuntu is becoming a release not-only-for-geeks, or
> better said for-casual-or-home-users but please should not become *only*-for-casual-or-home
> users, letting power users alone or without a manner of tweak.
>
> I also think that including a good and complete tweaking tool will convince
> many powerusers to come back to ubuntu or not leaving.
> Kindly
>
> Elvis
>
> On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 10:46, Sebastian Rösgen <s.roesgen at googlemail.com>wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> while I have followed the development of the power user community with
>> enthusiasm, I want to raise your awareness of a discussion repeating itself
>> month for month within the general Ubuntu community. Though, the term
>> "discussion" is perhaps not the right word. Perhaps "illness" or "disease"
>> fits better.
>>
>> Currently bug No. 733349 (https://bugs.launchpad.net/**unity/+bug/733349<https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/733349>)
>> shows the symptoms of this illness. Many users vote for a change in the
>> behaviour of the Unity Launche. But seemingly the discussion is not taking
>> place on equal ground. No matter the arguments that the community members
>> bring up to discuss the errors/mistakes in the current behaviour of the
>> Launcher the official developers of Canonical still answer with the 'slogan'
>> that there cannot be any change due to "design decisions".
>>
>> Additionally a patch was offered by a user and this patch is seemingly
>> good enough that it will get packaged and downloadable via PPA.
>>
>> I now ask myself if this is the right way? 91 users want a change of the
>> behaviour but it is not even considered to make the behaviour of the
>> Launcher more configurable. A PPA is a joke. The user who wrote the patch
>> could also have created the PPA himself.
>>
>> Then this leads to the problem I currently have with the idea of a power
>> user community.
>>
>> A simplified version of Ubuntu Tweak should become a standard tool in the
>> default installation of Ubuntu. At least some aspects of the system should
>> be configurable by default. Imagine a Windows user who wants to change the
>> location of the Windows Panel in Windows 8 or 9 and finds out that the new
>> policy tells him that he has to download extra software to make the
>> repositioning of the panel possible. Tell him that the panel now
>> automatically auto hides and to change this behaviour he has to download a
>> second program to change this behaviour as well.
>> That is what is currently happening to Ubuntu. The idea of the Power User
>> Community is wonderful. But it fires the wrong signals. Perhaps you should
>> all read the bug reports and the discussion about the bug to understand
>> entirely what I mean.
>>
>> During the last month I installed Ubuntu 11.04 on many PCs and many users
>> asked the same thing: "can I change this". It does not matter what "this"
>> meant in the given context. What is important that I nearly never
>> encountered somebody who was entirely happy with the desktop (and desktop
>> behaviour) which is presented to the user. All of them liked the launcher,
>> but many of the users get confused by the behaviour described in bug 733349.
>> Why is there a launcher icon which you sometimes can click without anything
>> happening? This is a good question, at least to me. Others want the launcher
>> at the bottom or the right side of the screen. Then all are astounded that I
>> have to install a huge cluttered program called CCSM to configure one simple
>> feature of the system (i.e. the behaviour when the launcher hides and when
>> not).
>> I always answer that "they are working on this". Even when this means that
>> I can only hope that I will be able to configure these things via Ubuntu
>> Tewak or whatever else later on. I like Ubuntu and therefore I defend it.
>> But I can only defend it to a certain degree. I do not want to explain
>> anymore why "this feature" or "that feature" is not working correctly or as
>> expected. At the moment I only say wait please for the LTS version. And the
>> funny thing is that I explained so often what an LTS version is that every
>> user knows immediately what I mean.
>> But I sincerely hope that some of the issues will really be fixed when the
>> LTS version is released. When I initially said so I really was convinced
>> that over the course of time even the most blinkered developer will become
>> aware of the fact that "a design decision" is not everything. But I start to
>> lose this hope.
>>
>> The way how they dealt with the patch for bug 733349 exemplifies the
>> problem. Ubuntu tweak (or rather a trimmed down version suited to normal
>> users' needs) should become standard to ubuntu. And the given patch of
>> 733349 should be configurable with this version of Ubuntu tweak. Do I want
>> to use the new behaviour or the default behaviour which is dictated to us by
>> design decision. I have no problem with design decisions as long as there is
>> an alternative option to configure the system.
>>
>> A further problem with design decisions is that Ubuntu or rather Mark
>> Shuttleworth and his design team have not always made good decisions at all.
>> Remeber the Windicators? Well, where are they. When the
>> close/minimize/maximize buttons were moved to the left there was a big
>> outcry. And then there was this (interesting) vision of the Windicators.
>> Many people thought about it and the uproar ceased. The buttons were not
>> moved out of a decision to make Ubuntu more "Macish" but instead because
>> there was a real thoughtful idea in the background. Well, again my question.
>> Where are now these Windicators. For these Windicators the change was made
>> but I still can not see them. I do not even see any test versions. But the
>> changes have been made.
>>
>> I sometimes get the impressions that Ubuntu tries desperately to become so
>> innovative and new that this became an obsession. In German we say "du
>> sollst das Rad nicht neu erfinden" which translates to "you should not
>> reinvent the wheel". Some features have been around in the computer world
>> for many years now: and they work. Other have been around and these features
>> should be changed. But if nearly one hundred users complain about something
>> one should think about the complaints. Especially if it is something like
>> Launchpad where the few who have accounts speak for the many they represent.
>>
>> So think about this. The Poweruser community should take Ubuntu Tweak,
>> simplify it and then do everything in their power to make this simplified
>> version a part of the normal control center in Ubuntu. And it should be a
>> replacement for CCSM and that ugly option which decides when the launcher
>> reveals that is currently in the control center (i.e. "system settings" at
>> the moment). And Jono, I do not want to be too bold, but I would really beg
>> you to fight for this Ubuntu Tweak version to be implemented as a default in
>> Ubuntu. It is really needed. People everywhere are discontent with certain
>> aspects of Ubuntu Unity.
>> I think that the default configuration of Ubuntu with Unity will bring you
>> many new users. But as long as you (Canonical) will not offer an easy and
>> fast way to configure the system, you will lose many old users. Making
>> Ubuntu Tweak a default in Ubuntu will show the users, the more experienced
>> users, the long time fans, the enthusiasts, that Canonical respects their
>> wishes. Making it default is the way to show that Ubuntu really should be a
>> system for everyone and not just a few. And believe me, these options to
>> configure the system will even be interesting for many who want to switch
>> from windows to some other system.
>>
>> Ok. This Was a long post and I hope that at least a few will read it
>> entirely. Thank you!
>>
>> Yours
>> Sebastian
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
>
> Saluti
>
> Elvis D.
> elvisd79 at gmail.com
>
>
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