Mark Shuttleworth Keynote at Ubuntu Developer Summit(UDS)
As many know who read this blog, I'm an enthusiastic Linux user, and my distros of choice are Ubuntu and Ubuntu derivatives such as Mint and Pinguy. This past weekend I upgraded all of my computers to the 11.04 release. One of the controversial elements of 11.04 is the Unity interface. After several days of using Unity, I made the decision to roll the user interface back to Gnome 2.x. I did not find Unity to be buggy, but it was unattractive to the eye and awkward to use in terms of the number of clicks, keystrokes etc. I had to enter to launch programs. Unity may improve over time to become something I can live with, but it is not there yet. I encourage everyone to download a live Linux CD and give it a try. It is free and gives the user much more functionality out of the box than Windows or OS-X.
I like Linux, myself, but my personal blunt opinion is that it's an operating system for geeks by geeks. It also does not have the market share to gather significant support for good driver support, so you need to be careful of which hardware you purchase. That isn't specifically Linux's fault, I know, but it's nonetheless a failing of the platform.
ReplyDeleteI do wish them the best of luck but every year in the past 10-15 has been the "year of the Linux Desktop". Simply wishing for it won't make it happen, nor will imagining that people will suddenly "wake up".
I'm a geek, which is maybe why I like Linux. And, you're right, it is the perennial goal of the Linux community to achieve greater desktop penetration, which hasn't happened yet.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem I've had with drivers is with ATI video cards. I make sure any computer I buy has Nvidia video chips.
I work in software development so I'm not innocent either. I'll be rooting for Linux though I haven't yet had the patience to stick with it as a desktop OS, and yeah, I have an ATI chip...
ReplyDeleteWhen I build my next PC I'll think about HW compatibility and see if I get a better experience then.
I work in software development as well, more in management these days than coding. Linux is doing great in the server market as a low cost replacement for proprietary Unix systems like Solaris, HP-UX and AIX, but not so well in the desktop market where Microsoft and Apple dominate.
ReplyDeleteYour the only Linux geek I know. I have read your Linux posts with interest. I recently put Ubuntu on a Dell Inspirion 9300 w/2gb memory. It's really humming again. This is my first experience with Linux and I can see why you like it so much.
ReplyDeleteI saw a screenshot of your desktop in another post and you had icons along the bottom of the desktop. Could you tell me how to do that.