Ubuntu Unity - a bright future against conservatism

Hello to all!

This is a good topic in honor of Unity , the Ubuntu GUI, which for some reason is so unloved by many.

UPD: although in the comments, of course, a special force govnorach erupted. You're so vain, I really like Unity!
')
Unity, we are with you! ( and those who are against - be objective )

Appearance

So, from the very first day of our introduction to Unity, I liked it ( we met it back in the Netbook Edition, when GNOME flourished on the desktop ). It was love at first sight: how beautiful she is!

Thoughtful and beautiful sidebar :


Smart Dash :


Comfortable Indicators ( in the same style that matters ):


Ubuntu is probably the first and so far the only Linux distribution that decided to make a thoughtful, convenient and beautiful interface SELFLY and THOUGHT , and not blindly copying it from other systems (this is my personal opinion, please without holivars).

Yes, Unity absorbs other people's good decisions ( steals? No, this is not the right word ), but does that make it worse? On the contrary! But the main thing is that adopting successful solutions is not the main source of inspiration for these guys . They are very serious about the issue of Usability and Interaction Design, which, by the way, you can take part too!

Forward, Unity, forward!

Trifle, but feel free to

The basic “dark” theme of Unity (Ambience) is very interesting and risky, because everyone is trying to make window interfaces in bright colors. There you are for courage guys!

Everything is easier and simpler?

Someone argues that, they say, in the new version they have hidden most of the settings , that Unity is becoming more and more “for blondes” ... I am indignant! And here's why: Think about what an operating system is? For what purpose is it created? Feel what I'm getting at?

The OS is primarily a tool, transparent and weightless, allowing it to work on a specific application task ( but not on the problems of the OS itself ). And setting up this tool is generally not mine, but settings wizards ( creators of Unity, Windows, OS X ).



I should not waste my time to “twist”, “finish” and “improve” - everything should go “out of the box,” well, or with minimal effort. Edit some configs - only time to lose ( here it is, the wisdom of blondes! )

Another thing is that in this case, the creators of Unity should take on their shoulders all the responsibility for the fact that the proposed option will be really good ( good for everyone, and for nothing ). And you know, in my opinion, they are doing quite well! Yes, as long as there are flaws, but everything is only getting better.

In general, I am pleased that they hide the unnecessary, clear the settings and the interface, make it simpler and more transparent for the user, take the correct setting out of the box and make some choices for us.

As Jeff Raskin wrote in his " Interface " -

- If the program can make some choice on its own, let it make it.

This is what I need to focus on my work. And if the guys from Canonical have difficulties with this, the approach is the right one and I believe that they will cope .

“They killed GNOME, you bastards!”

Completely abandon GNOME in Ubuntu 11.10 and leave only Unity? - hell yes ! I understand that many are used to Gnome, but understand that this is a necessary step. I'll explain now.

In my opinion, the main problem of interfaces is the unwillingness / inability to invent and think independently ( well, the lack of necessary funding, of course ). Many are resigned, but someone just does not know how to do it - and clones of windows and poppy ( for example ) solutions are born, blind, soulless, who hate this world from the day of their creation, because they initially lag behind !

Unity tries to solve and solves this problem:

• Unity has a thoughtful and high-quality look .
  This is my opinion, but you must agree, everything is thought out to the smallest detail! It is evident that what was done on the knee, that people did not sleep at night, thought:
  

  - so all the same, the “close” button should be on the left, or on the right? In Windows, on the right, everyone is accustomed ... But after all, the Riemann theorem, the Laplace transform, and Apple experts say the opposite ...

  Well, or about something like
  
  
• All in one style
  Indicators, menus, window design - all this should be consistent , the same things should look and work the same. This is very important when working with it every day. The error can be expensive ( when, for example, one TEXTAREA sends a comment by pressing Enter, when exactly the same one simply transfers it to a new line ), and you need to remember less.
  
  
• Unity has a lot of new things ( yes, I'm talking about innovation )
  And like everything new, it is taken as a hostile. And this is good! Before us is either a future masterpiece, or a complete failure. Say a dullness - no! More guys interesting ideas and not afraid to swim against the tide - this is what is needed for a worthy competitor to Windows and OS X, IMHO.
  

imho - almost all Linux desktop environments do not want or do not know how to change and improve, their appearance is a decade ago, with crutches stolen from systems of twenty years ago. And they think it's normal. And most importantly - they convince us that this is necessary. And many are accustomed and believed.

Remember King Rohan in Lord of the Rings? This is how these systems now look ( and we, ordinary people, are told that this is the norm ):

It is not right. It's time to get well, Theoden!

What I like about Unity

So, a little messy, but it seems I’ve explained why Unity is good. Now a little about what I really like about Unity.

Unity dash

One of the wonderful finds is Dash:


Tell me - what are good Linux systems? Well, except for stability and security? It seems to me that all the power of Linux is in the console . A powerful tool, you must know it in order to work properly in Linux.

Unity Dash - a new generation console (IMHO):

• In the picture above, I type “Py” and run PyCharm . Total - it is not necessary to “cling” all the programs to the side panel, some are quite convenient to run from Dash.
• Immediately - search for files, music, programs, etc. ( can be expanded, for example, by searching for songs on Grooveshark ).
• Immediately ( well, almost immediately ) - launching a specific console command ( Alt + F2 ).
• Immediately - I found a program and dragged it onto the side panel.

Generally - ! Everything is great, I use to the full!

Unity sidebar

Here you can talk for a long time. I will note the following:

• “Keep in launcher” ( a la “Pin this program” in the Windows 7 TaskBar )
• Customizable context menu
• Progress bar's for notifications
• Indication of the state of the program ( white triangle (or several) - an open window, a highlighted outline - the program requires attention, the icon flashes - the program starts, and others ).
• Convenient "overflow" toolbar icons

Yes, by the way - the toolbar is located on the left, and this is no accident ( this cannot be simply changed, this is also no accident, I wrote about it above ) - on modern screens, the widths are much larger than the height, and the height needs to be saved.

Moreover, usually the toolbar at the bottom is filled with a little less than half, and the “empty” horizontal bar just stands idle. I completely agree with the Unity decision .

On the left, it is for the same reason that the “close”, “minimize”, and other buttons are also used - the left side of the screen is much more actively used in work, you do not need to “drag” the mouse far to the right to close the window, and Unity Global Menu promotes the use of the left upper side And this is good!

Unity Global Menu

But I am not very happy with this decision. It is inconvenient somehow to constantly hover the mouse over the top toolbar to see the menu of the current application (including the “close”, “minimize” buttons, etc.).

Well, I'm already used to it ( just getting used to it, enough weeks of work ).

Instead of output

Unity for me is like a ray of light in the darkness of Linux distributions. He is the first who not only takes from others, but also tries to give something of his own, something necessary and user-friendly. In the end - the same follows from the name: Ubuntu = "humanity" ( in Zulu ).

I sincerely hope that newbies will not be afraid to try, and old people will not be afraid to transfer to Ubuntu from Unity, get used to it, see the benefits, imbued and believe in it.

Yes, it takes time, at first it may seem like some kind of squalor, but believe me, this is not so. Unity is now more convenient for me in work than Windows 7 ( I have been at Unity for 8 months now ). Cross your threshold of strangeness ( ~ week ) and you will love Unity!

And if something doesn't suit you - just write to Canonical. I think that they will gladly accept your constructive suggestions ( I really liked the speed of their support ).

Gossip

Recently ran a rumor that Ubuntu began to play Linux Mint in popularity. If interested, you can read the rebuttal .

Forward, Unity / Ubuntu, Forward! No pasaran!