Unity at Last!

I've been a satisfied Ubuntu user since 2009, but with all the furore created by Canonical's switch to the Unity user interface in October 2010, I decided to wait as long as possible before upgrading my faithful, pre-Unity 10.04-64 LTS installation. My ideal distro upgrade cycle would be about every 10 years, as I just can't afford all the downtime associated with installing and configuring a new OS. With Canonical moving to a 5-year LTS cycle, my plan was to wait until April 2014 to upgrade. Unfortunately, my system got infected with a few viruses (I'm blaming my wine installation, as they were all Windows viruses), so I had to upgrade my OS a few months ago. I moved up to Ubuntu 13.04-64.

So here we go again...yet another Ubuntu user's impressions of the new Unity interface...I know, I'm a little late to the party. A few notes on my perspective:

1. I'm not a Canonical-hater; I actually like Ubuntu and want Canonical to succeed.
2. Although I admit to being somewhat swayed by all the negative feedback regarding Unity, I tried my best to be objective. I've lived with Unity for about three months now and have tried my best to learn and enjoy it. 
3. While I consider myself a power-user, these days I just don't have much time to spend dealing with computer issues. I need something that just works, and works efficiently.

So here's what I do and don't like about Unity.

Likes:

1. I like being able to access the system menu by pressing the Super-key. I'm really not sure why Ubuntu didn't do that a long time ago...maybe Canonical just didn't want to be seen as copying M$. 
2. I like being able to search all applications by simply pressing the Super-key and typing. Another feature ripped from M$, but hey, if it works, why not? 
3. I like the list of keyboard shortcuts that pops up if I hold down the Super-key, and I like all of the system-wide shortcuts that are now available (if only they worked reliably; more on that later).

Dislikes: 

1. While the new keyboard shortcuts are a great idea, they just don't work properly, and they interfere with a lot of other keyboard shortcuts. Let me explain: 
• First, the keyboard shortcuts don't work consistently. I find that sometimes I have to press the keys multiple times to get them to work. Some Googling showed that I'm not the only one with this issue.
• Also, the ability to assign custom keyboard shortcuts has been severely limited; you can't easily override the default shortcuts with your own custom shortcuts.  I was forced to abandon many of the custom shortcuts I had used with 10.04.
• I use rdesktop regularly to remote into our firm's Windows server, and Unity's new keyboard shortcuts interfere with my use of the Windows keys in an RDS session. 
2. I don't like the new side launcher; I much prefer the taskbar-style task switcher on the top of the screen. I find myself having to move my mouse a lot more with the side launcher. The old GNOME taskbar is also a lot cleaner to be able to quickly see which applications are open. Also, to add a custom item to the task launcher requires a complicated process of creating a text file with a slew of strange codes. Why can't I just drag a shortcut to the launcher?? And I found that when I did add a custom item to the launcher, it shows up twice when I actually open the program.
3. I miss the option of being able to use the old GNOME menu. 
4. I don't like the fact that the old GNOME applets no longer work, and even now, three years after the Unity launch, there are not yet equivalents to replace many of them. E.g., I liked my old GNOME CPU monitors that used minimal screen space in my taskbar to quickly show me the CPU and core usage and temperature. There are some Unity-based tools, but they're not nearly as good.
5. I confess that I actually hate the new Mac-style menus that reside only at the top of the screen. Why should I have to mouse all the way to the top of the screen just to access the menu? And if I'm in one program but want to click on the menu in another program, two clicks are required; first, I have to click on the inactive program to make it active, and then I can click on its menu.
6.  I don't like the new scroll bars; honestly, I still haven't quite figured them out. Why exactly did they have to change the way scroll bars work?
7. I dislike being regularly prompted, as I browse the Internet, to install a slew of lame Unity apps that do nothing except add an extra icon to the side launcher. 
8. I'm not sure whether to blame Unity for this or not, but 13.04 is less stable than 10.04. It had probably been more than a year since my 10.04 installation had required a reboot due to a system hang, and yet 13.04 consistently hangs if I connect my wife's iPhone to the USB, disconnect it, and plug it in again.

Conclusion

I hate to join the nay-sayers, but I'm afraid this is one more Ubuntu user who fears that Canonical has lost its way. Yes, mobile devices may be where are the new hardware sales are, but most people still get most of their real work done on an old-fashioned computer. And for this old-fashioned computer user, Unity just doesn't cut it. Guess I'll be looking for a new distro soon...I do hope Canonical gets its act together, though. They've done a lot to help bring Linux to the masses, including this blogger...

Thoughts on Linux v. Windows

It's been almost 3 years since I switched from Windows to GNU/Linux, so it's time for some reflection and evaluation. After 3 years, what do I love about GNU/Linux? Miss about Windows? I'm definitely more committed to GNU/Linux than ever before, but hopefully the rose tinting has faded from my glasses somewhat, enabling me to be somewhat objective. Since Ubuntu is my distribution of choice, much of my comments are Ubuntu-specific, but some are relevant to all or most GNU/Linux distro's.

Application Integration/Installation

Ubuntu features tight integration with free and open-source software (FOSS) applications, which is both a benefit and a drawback.

Pros:

• Commonly used programs are pre-installed, such as LibreOffice (office suite), RhythmBox (music manager/player), Firefox, and Thunderbird (email client).
• Often the program you are looking for is just a few mouse-clicks away in the Ubuntu Software Center, available for (usually) free download from Ubuntu's servers. It's really amazing, when you think about it: tends of thousands of applications at your fingertips, absolutely free of charge. 

Cons:

• Tight application integration means that for certain applications (e.g., LibreOffice), if you want the latest version, you need to upgrade your entire operating system to a newer version. I know there are sometimes workarounds, like PPA's, but they are cumbersome and in my experience, trying to get the latest version installed can cause more problems than it solves. 
• If the application you are looking for is not in the Ubuntu repositories, it can be a real pain to install. Unlike Windows, there is no standard means of creating an application installation package that just works, because Linux distro's use completely different means of package management. Often, you need to find a package that is specific to your distro or try to build the program from source. The latter solution can be a real pain for the average end-user. 

Application Availability

The Achilles heel of GNU/Linux (or any alternative to Windows) has always been the lack of native applications. The situation here has improved by leaps and bounds and continues to do so. 

Pros: 

• There is now a wealth of free, open-source applications for Linux. Ironically, Windows users have benefited from the FOSS explosion as well, because many FOSS programs are multi-platform, running on Linux, Windows, and MacOS. 
• wine, which allows many Windows programs to run under Linux, keeps getting better and better. In significant ways, it's actually a better Windows than Windows. For example, if your Windows installation gets corrupted, fixing it is as simple as restoring a backup of your .wine folder; you can have Windows up and running in about two minutes. There is always virtualbox as well, which creates a virtual machine that can run any OS, including Windows, within GNU/Linux. 
• Steam is coming to GNU/Linux!

Cons:

• There are still a few common applications that have no decent Linux equivalent, such as TurboTax and Silverlight (needed for Netflix, although a workaround was recently found). 
• There have been some disappointing regressions lately. Google abandoned its Linux version of Picasa, and Adobe abandoned Flash for Linux (albeit the Chrome browser will continue to have Flash support built-in).  
• For niche applications, such as software specific to specific fields and professions (such as attorneys), there are often no Linux alternatives. 

Device Support (Drivers)

Driver support is almost a non-issue for GNU/Linux users now (aside from webcams and other video capture devices). Hardware developers usually release Linux versions of their drivers, and for those that don't, the GNU/Linux community quickly develops them.  

Speed

GNU/Linux is a mixed bag when it comes to speed. 

Pros: 

• Famously light on resources (hard drive space, RAM, processors speed), bringing life to older hardware.
• Takes full advantage of modern processor capabilities (multi-core, 64-bit, etc.)

Cons: 

• Lags in some modern video applications (Flash, HTML5). 

Distro Release Schedule

GNU/Linux distros tend to operate on a much more frequent release schedule than Windows users are accustomed to. A new version of Windows comes to market 3-4 years, but Linux distributions are often released on a six-month cycle. 

Pros: 

• Instead of having to wait 3-4 years for the newest in software development, users can be on the bleeding edge. 

Cons: 

• Call me lazy, but my ideal distro update schedule would be about every 10 years. I put a lot of effort into customizing my setup exactly the way I like it, so installing and configuring a new installation is a time-consuming process. 

Alternatives:

• Arch Linux is a Linux distro that distributes updates on a rolling basis, so that your operating system is always up-to-date, instead of having to upgrade a completely new operating system periodically to have the latest software. Ubuntu has recently been talking about switching to that model. 

Flexibility

The one feature of GNU/Linux that cannot be found in any other OS is its flexibility:

Pros:

• There are an infinite number of distros to choose from, and each can be customized in infinite ways. 
• You can swap out your motherboard, CPU, hard drive, and video card, and your GNU/Linux installation will not skip a beat. It will just boot right up and detect the new hardware automatically. Ever try that on a Windows box?! If you're very lucky, you might actually get to a GUI, but if you do, you'll almost certainly get a warning that your license is invalid or some such thing. For someone who loves to build, break, and tweak systems, this aspect of GNU/Linux is something I can no longer live without!  
• Cloning a GNU/Linux installation can be done with a single command. Again, ever tried to clone a Windows install? 

Geek Factor

The "geek factor" of GNU/Linux simply can't be beat. If you're a geek, you know what I'm talking about. If not, well never mind...

Community

Perhaps the best part of GNU/Linux is the user and developer community. I do some IT support for both Windows and Linux desktops, and while there are a gazillion web sites with free answers for Windows problems, I find that I often find answers for my Ubuntu problems more quickly. You have to sort through a lot of junk to find an answer for a Windows problem, while solutions for Ubuntu problems are usually easy to find.