On 3 December 2011 16:33, Tony Pursell <a...@princeswalk.fsnet.co.uk> wrote: > > > On 3 December 2011 13:59, Liam Proven <lpro...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> >> On 3 December 2011 08:36, Barry Drake <ubuntu-advertis...@gmx.com> wrote: >> > On 03/12/11 04:15, Liam Proven wrote: >> >> >> >> I think it is easier if you have Mac experience. If all someone knows >> >> is >> >> Windows, they're lost. >> > >> > In a recent post, Paula said exactly the opposite - and she's working >> > with >> > Windows folk at FossBox on a day to day basis. >> >> To quote Dr Ben "Bad Science" Goldacre, I think you'll find it's a bit >> more complicated than that. >> >> If someone is a reasonably expert "techie" and knows their way around >> one type of computer fairly well, and then some major element of the >> UI is suddenly changed, they seem liable to become lost and very >> angry. >> >> OTOH, if someone is an "ordinary user", who has never really >> understood computers and doesn't know the difference between icons and >> buttons, or what a "dialog box" is, then they just sort of feel their >> way around. They don't really know what they are doing and have no >> particular expectations of what the UI will do - they don't know what >> a "UI" is. They just click buttons. Sometimes, stuff happens. >> Sometimes, it doesn't, in which case, click again a few times and >> failing that move on and do something else, or ask someone for help. >> >> /That/ kind of user is fine with a change of UI. They didn't >> understand the old one, they don't understand the new one, but so long >> as it has big colourful buttons they can click and it does stuff in >> response, they're happy. >> >> This sort of user - and they are the majority of users - do not /do/ >> things like have multiple app windows open and switch between them. >> They don't switch virtual desktops. They don't juggle multiple >> instances of apps. They work in one app at a time. If it opens >> fullscreen, they use it fullscreen; if it opens in a window, they use >> it in a window. If it opens minimised, then to them, it didn't work. >> They can't see it, can't find it and don't know to look for icons in >> trays and things. >> >> So there are 3 categories of user here: >> >> [1] experts who use multiple OSs and multiple GUIs and are comfortable >> in all of them. >> [2] techies who only really know one UI and tend to be infuriated if it >> changes >> [3] non-techies, who don't really *know* /any/ UI and barely notice >> changes >> >> Unity is fine with groups 1 & 3 but infuriates group 2. >> >> Now this is obviously a sweeping generalisation. For instance, I know >> some highly-skilled experts who hate Unity, too! :¬) >> >> But then, for instance, if someone is a highly-skilled expert and >> really drives the UI hard, then small things like, say, the fact that >> Unity's multiple-desktop support doesn't have window thumbnail >> previews in it, when the GNOME one did, is a significant feature loss. >> I routinely work with half a dozen windows open and Unity's window >> management is fine for me - but I know people who claim to routinely >> work with 30, 40, 50+ windows open and for them it's not good enough. >> >> OTOH, very skilled people like that are entirely capable of switching >> to a different desktop, and that's fine and good. >> >> The problem is when they: >> [a] bad-mouth Unity and tell others it's useless rubbish (i.e., >> projecting their experiences or preferences onto others) >> [b] blame Ubuntu for removing GNOME 2, when it wasn't Ubuntu's fault >> (i.e. misplace the blame & fail to realise that Ubuntu had no choice, >> that the GNOME Project killed its own child in favour of the new baby) >> [c] can't find a new desktop they like and complain that Ubuntu isn't >> democratic (it never was, but if someone's a bit inflexible and can >> only cope with a single UI, it's not the distributor's fault.) >> >> The one that makes me particularly sad is when people try Unity, hate >> it, switch to GNOME 3 Shell and like it and then use it to bad-mouth >> Unity. I am sure GNOME Shell is fine - I can use it, I just don't like >> it much. But Unity is more like GNOME 2 than GNOME Shell is. If Ubuntu >> had gone with GNOME Shell, then it would have been an even bigger >> change and I am absolutely certain that those people would have >> complained about it even more! But, no, instead, they blame Ubuntu for >> a UI that they just happen not to like and say that they are leaving >> Ubuntu, that's it's turned to rubbish, etc. etc. >> >> > > Well said, Liam.
Thanks! (I have received a /lot/ of stick and even abuse for this type of comment, of late.) > I had thought Unity bashing was a thing of the past (ie back in 11.04). I > suspect there is a sizeable silent majority (me included) that just got on > with it and have grown to love Unity. In Unity, for instance, I > effortlessly use multiple windows but ever used them in Gnome. Multiple windows? I am curious - how so? > I think the big failing was not to prepare people for Unity and to give > little help when it hit them. There was a lot of discussion about providing > some transitional help by way of default Unity Help on the desktop or a Tip > of the Day facility, but nothing came of it. So now we are facing the next > big migration to Unity, when people upgrade from 10.04LTS to 12.04LTS, this > is going to happen all over again. Shame. I think you're right. What do you reckon anyone could do to help? -- Liam Proven • Info & profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/lproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk • GMail/GoogleTalk/Orkut: lpro...@gmail.com Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 • Cell: +44 7939-087884 • Fax: + 44 870-9151419 AIM/Yahoo/Skype: liamproven • MSN: lpro...@hotmail.com • ICQ: 73187508 -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
