Hi Alan, I appreciate what the design teams are trying to do and I appreciate that it is very difficult (or even impossible -as I have never seen it done effectively) to provide the same operating system that works for both new users and hackers alike.
New users like the OS to guide them through the process, whereas hackers want it to get out of their way so they can be more productive. Two very different approaches, you either confuse one or annoy the other and it's very difficult to reach that middle ground. I personally would have even gone for having two separate systems under the "Ubuntu" name to cater to both. I've been in the Ubuntu community for 5 years already and don't plan on leaving any time soon, but I think there needs to be some representation of the hacker culture that Ubuntu has built up over the years so that we can find the middle ground, it seems to me as though Canonical wants to believe that we are not here! I personally like the interactions I've had with Unity. I can see why it would be appealing to a user who just wants to go on Facebook or write some documents, but I can also see the reason that many of us folk who have been here for a long time don't like it. I've seen lots of criticism of little parts and even some general big rants, I'm trying to come at this in a more level headed way to work with you on solving the bigger problem, trying to please both sets of users and everyone in between. So I'm not saying Unity is fundamentally broken, it's great for one set of users, but I think canonical needs to accommodate us with more customization options and hacks so that we can all move forward. Daniel -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/