There is a bug somewhere. I used the gconf-editor tweak to fix the bug on two machines that were running alpha 3. I just installed beta1 on my laptop and learned, the hard way, the the gconf-tweak has been disabled. Changing the metacity setting no longer moves the buttons to the right.

If this is not a bug because it is a design decision then it is time to debug the designer by replacing him/her/them. They are, to but blunt, incompetent and arrogant beyond the meaning of the word arrogant. I have seen this kind of disregard for the pain of other humans only in the history of mass scam artists and spammers. I am serious, this is, for me, a deal killer. If this is left in, I and many people like me will simply switch to another, any other distribution.

I have read comments from Shuttleworth on this is intended to "free up" the right hand side of the window title bar to make room for space for "future" "enhancements". So this disregard for all of comes directly from the top. Not sure what to do about that. His comments also tell us the he not only has no interest in fixing the problem. He plans to make it worse, much worse, by putting something in the right hand corner. If what he puts there is any kind of a control it will be hit and triggered constantly by everyone who use Ubuntu. 

Why do I say pain? In my case I must use Windows machines everyday. OTOH, I have been using an X based desktop since X11R3. I have been using a desktop with the window buttons on the right since the late '1980s? So long ago it is hard to remember :-)  Every time I try to use Lucid on my laptop my eyes go wonky trying to find the window buttons. It takes me several seconds to find the new buttons. It wastes my time, and it causes me physical pain from the eyestrain of having to search carefully for the buttons. Yeah, if I've been using X since the 1980s I must be old by now. 

Here is the punchline, the kicker, the deal breaker....

I installed Lucid Alpha 3 on a test machine and freaked when the windows came up without any buttons. On closer inspection I found them on the wrong side. I quickly found out how to correct the problem using gconf-editor. I thought, ok that was easy I can live with that. I put Lucid Alpha 3 on my desktop and I've been using it happily with that little tweak with gconf-editor and a few clicks of the mouse to get rid of that unreadable new theme. Ok, so I waited until beta 1 came out and waited a few days for it to stabilize and I installed it on my laptop. (I really love Ubuntu on a laptop.) I also updated my test machine and desktop to beta 1.

After rebooting I went in to gconf-editor and changed the buttons back to the right. The first two times I did that on my other two machines the buttons moved instantly. But, on a fully updated install of beta 1 the buttons did not move. The buttons are still on the right on the machines I installed with alpha 3. But, on the machine I installed with beta 1 the buttons did not move. I have checked and the changes to show up in gconf-editor. But, the buttons are still on the left. They have not moved. I have check the settings three times now and even rebooted between checking and the buttons are still on the left.

It would seem that there is either a bug, or the Ubuntu folks have now made it impossible to correct this error without doing surgery on either the theme or the source code. I do not know which.

Tomorrow I start looking for a new distro. Maybe I'll just go back to Debian. It works and I've never seen them pull a stunt as stupid as this. Yeah, they have do some pretty weird things. But I have never seen them disregard all of their users.  Anyone have suggestions?

This change is not only causing me physical pain it is causing damage to my reputation among my friends and family. I converted my wife, my adult children to Ubuntu, several friends, and other relations to Ubuntu.. They all also have to use Windows everyday to make a living. I am already getting indications that they will be expecting me to reinstall Windows on their computers if this bug is in the final release of Lucid. I suspect that is going to happen all over the world. It is really sad. 

I am sure that the folks are Ubuntu do not really understand just how damaging a decision like this is. The reaction I've seen to this change is a lot like the time a new guy decided to order the deep fried jalapeños just because the rest of the development team were ordering them. He was just down from Wisconsin and  pronounced the word as if it were English. That is, he said "j" as in "just" not the correct "j" as in "hall".

Long story short. He liked the fried masa they were covered in. He had no trouble with the cheddar cheese they were stuffed with. But, despite repeated and intense warnings. And, an explanation of why they are stuffed with cheese. He bit into the pepper. He turned purple. He tried to drown his pain in a pitcher of water. The waitress, the sweat heart, brought over some sour cream and butter to ease his pain. He went home sick after lunch. I felt a lot like that after being first seeing this bug and then being forced to spend time trying to fix it. You can imagine how I felt when I found out that Ubuntu did this to us on purpose. Now I have to waste more time finding and installing yet another version of Linux. I can't leave my laptop like this. Not going to happen.

Good by, good luck. Ubuntu was nice while it lasted.