[ubuntu-us-in] A Natty Day To You All

[Simón Ruiz]

On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 12:38 AM, Scott Blaydes <sblaydes at sbce.org> wrote:
> On 04/28/2011 09:13 PM, Rob Ludwick wrote:
>>>> So far, I haven't had the chance to switch my main desktops over to
>>>> it, but up here the Fort Wayne LUG had Jorge Castro of Canonical come
>>>> out and give us a tour, and I've got to say I'm actually looking
>>>> forward to it.
>>>
>>> See you in 11.10 when they revert back.  =)
>>
>> As Jorge said when he came to the LUG meeting, he made the point that
>> the standard gnome UI fails you if you're not technical.  They have done
>> the usability studies to show it.  It's so bad they can't baseline
>> anything.
>>
>
> I haven't seen Unity yet, as it is currently downloading, but I start to
> wonder if I am no longer the target for Ubuntu.  I am a technical user,
> so I do not want the bloat associated another ui/desktop environment
> installed on my system that I will never use.

Jorge, who himself is kind of a big-time power/technical user, pointed
out a lot of really cool power-user type features.

For one thing, they've made a concerted effort to make it as
keyboard-accessible as possible, supporting but not relying on the
touch interface stuff.

For another, if you're the kind of person who thinks of a desktop
environment as primarily a way to manage terminal windows, the sheer
amount of screen real estate that gets devoted to your terminal window
by default  when maximized is pretty impressive.

I gotta admit, I found myself convinced to give it a fair shot before
dismissing it.

Check out all the links Jorge collected at:
http://castrojo.tumblr.com/post/4795149014/the-power-users-guide-to-unity

> I remember the clock on our old VCR blinking 12:00 alot because the
> interface failed non-technical users who were too busy to learn how to
> program the clock.  My mom is a perfect example.  Her idea of fixing the
> VCR clock was to have me do it.  That not to say the interface for
> programing the clock was bad, my mom just never wanted to pay enough
> attention to learn to do it.
>
> The idea that comes to mind right now is Ubuntu FP: Fisher Price.  Sure,
> that is an exaggeration, but I think it get the point across.
>
> A computer is a tool, yet no one wants to read the instructions on how
> to use it.  Do we blame the bandsaw when someone looses a finger for not
> taking the time to learn how to use the bandsaw safely?  No, but we
> blame the computer/OS/UI for ppl not wanting to learn how to use it
> correctly.
>
> I know UI changes are needed to evolve things, or else we would still be
> using CLI only...on a teletype...or punch cards, but I am not sure Unity
> will really be a step forward.
>
> Again, I haven't tried it, so I might change my mind after some time
> with it.
>
> Sorry, just some random things pinging around in my head about this.

You're right to be skeptical.

I think we all are to some degree; I'm just painting my skepticism
with optimism.

I appreciate your head pings, and I'd be interested to hear what pings
after some experience.

I'll be sure to share mine when I have a chance to upgrade my work
computer and really give this Unity thing a test drive.

> Thank you,
> Scott Blaydes

Thank you,
Simón