Hello, Linux Mint is higher in the rankings than Ubuntu. I have just come off the phone with a customer, we write web applications and we prefer they use Google Chrome because we're planning to write a plugin and all sorts, but that is irrelevant.
This customer called in, asked if he could install chrome on his new Ubuntu desktop. I thought, "Great, another Ubuntu user in the world". I got him to open Firefox and download TeamViewer (we have a premium license) so I could show him how to install Chrome. We went through the stages, got it installed and working, but then, he asked where to open TeamViewer. He said "It's not on the desktop icons down the left" and I directed him to open the applications menu "What applications menu?". This person is not stupid, however he did not know where the unity menu (or whatever it's called) was located. We spent around 15 minutes trying to get to the stage where he could open TeamViewer. It ended up me asking to type "Ctrl+Alt+T" to which he replied "Oh a terminal, ok". We had TeamViewer running in seconds. Now what is the problem with this? A user that doesn't know how to open the applications menu must raise alarm bells somewhere. He has has this machine for 6 weeks thinking it only had the icons down the left installed on it. (i.e the Unity Dock). Now someone could say to me "why didn't he read the manual?" The answer to that question is "Why should he need to?". Not even my Nan when she got her new Windows 7 laptop (after previously never using windows 7) read a manual, or needed to. Why is it that Unity requires the user to be an expert. A picture of the ubuntu logo means a lot to us, but to someone who goes and buys a cheap computer it means jack all. They wouldn't think to click there there is no hit that explains it's existence. So the question, I ask, is why is Linux Mint higher in the rankings than Ubuntu. The answer is simple, no joe average can use Ubuntu with ease now! You login to mint, you have a menu that says, believe it or not, "MENU" and when you click it, again, believe it or not, it shows you the program categories you can choose from (e.g "Oh, I want the Internet, oh look Firefox, I know what that is."). It makes sense to the user, it is what they are used to and it is a very friendly and comfortable environment. The electrician I work with on this software has been telling me for two years now, meaning NO offence to anyone at all, but "The user is stupid". I know this is not the most tactful way to put it, but after hearing this for two years I know what he means. Basically the principle is, the programmer is able to use the software, because he made it, he is an expert. If you give that to a user, who has no idea, he will have no idea how to use it. I am now writing software that explains itself, that has buttons that are obvious to the user, and it works. The number of phone calls we get are severely reduced, and the customer satisfaction is up massively. Us geeks who are writing this software have no idea how users think most of the time, this is because we are in theory "more intelligent" which is not necessarily true, but when it comes to the software we are, we understand the terminology. I could talk about this for hours, and I am going to write a blog post about it, people will have a go at me because I'm bashing the "perfect distribution". But seriously, think about what I have said, and test it on people, and then tell me I am wrong. Turn of the "I am a geek I know everything about Ubuntu" for a minute, and imagine you had no idea what ubuntu was or how unity worked. You wouldn't have the foggiest idea. I would appreciate feedback, positive or negative on this. I don't want another "Unity is better because it's better" or "gnome2 should be brought back because it's what I like". That's not how it works. Unity is honestly broken, someone must understand this, I will happily speak to people in person or on email in more detail about this. I am willing to help, but you have to understand first that Unity is not quite there yet first. -- Regards, Kris Douglas. www.krisd.eu -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
