[ubuntu-uk] Unity launcher ....

[Chris Penston]

I came late to Computing (in my late thirties as a mature student at 
University, I'm 56 now). I've been mucking about with Linux since around 
1998 when it took me about four days to get a Red Hat release partially 
working on a laptop.
I've been looking with interest at the posts on here for a number of 
years and learned an awful amount about gnu-linux in general and Ubuntu 
in particular from you wonderful techies without ever posting (I haven't 
yet /not/ found an answer to a question already posted by someone else).
I thought I might just put my two penn'orth in on this particular 
subject where there seems to be such strong feelings about the direction 
things are going.
For me the debate has never been about how this looks, or whether that 
is the best distro (my 83 year old mother uses Xubuntu, though she 
doesn't realise it, she just knows what she needs to press to get the 
internet or email).  Nor does it seem to be the major factor to the 
myriad of people that I try to introduce to Ubuntu on a daily basis.  
For those that /do /show//interest after overcoming their innate 
distrust of 'something for nothing', it is the revelation that there is 
a massive community of people 'out there' willing to give time, 
expertise and money to something they passionately believe in and that 
in a world seemingly run by a bunch of self interested grifters, there 
are alternative ways of doing things.  That collaboration and 
co-operation can actually produce something better than naked 
competition and greed (Windows 8?, what a pointless rip off).
For those getting worked up about Launchers and  and such like, reminds 
me of those ancient philosophers who spent their time worrying about how 
many angels could dance on the head of a pin.  The fact is, there is an 
Ubuntu distribution for pretty much everybody (and I always try to make 
a point of showing these alternatives once someone has shown a 
willingness to try Ubuntu).  People tend to be impressed by the novelty 
that they have a choice.  Almost always, the reaction is astonishment 
that something can be so good without costing anything 'so there must be 
a catch'.
I haven't tried 12.04 yet and when I do, I daresay here will be things 
that I don't like at first.  Personally I'm comfortable with that.  
There were things I didn't like about that version of Red Hat all those 
years ago.  The difficulty appears to me to be the same now as it was 
then; the restrictive practices of proprietry software and hardware 
vendors and the massive negative propaganda of the big corporations 
aided by ignorance in government.  So I would say to everyone involved 
'keep calm and carry on!'  The times are changing.

Chris

On 23/03/12 22:44, Alan Pope wrote:
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> On 23/03/12 22:11, scoundrel50a wrote:
>> oooh and who took your dummy away.......
> Actually my patience is somewhat thin today because we cremated my
> best friends Mum. Perhaps that has a bearing on my response, but it
> puts things in perspective. Life is short.
>
> Sorry if it seems that I'm being more harsh than usual. I'm just
> pretty tired of people bitching about Ubuntu and Unity and doing
> nothing about it but sending rants to people who can't actually fix
> the problem.
>
> We have developer lists and IRC channels for a reason, use them.
>
>> that was my reaction when I read that.......but the thing is, you
>> work for Canonical, so your going to say that, whatever
>> happens........
> That's pretty insulting to me. Well done.
>
>> what is frustrating is people on here are giving an opinion
> "Opinions are like<bodily_feature>, everyone has one".
>
>> and its being thrown aside is if it doesnt matter because you have
>> all this research into what people like, but people are here
>> telling you different, that has been going on since 11.04 people
>> have said they dont like it......and its not getting better its
>> getting worse.....
>>
> Other distros are available.
>
> Cheers,
> - -- 
> Alan Pope
> Engineering Manager
>
> Canonical - Product Strategy
> +44 (0) 7973 620 164
> alan.pope at canonical.com
> http://ubuntu.com/
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