Comment 22 for bug 558327

@fubarbundy

Absolutely correct on all points. Even if this is a design decision, not providing any way to return to the standard behavior is not only frustrating, but lacking the spirit of the Linux and Ubuntu projects.

I don't think I've ever been more worried about the future of Ubuntu then I have at this point in its development. While the underlying OS is still a strong community effort that has produced something vastly superior to its competition, the same is not true of the GUI. A small group has decided that their ideas for innovation are the correct ones, and the community that maintains and refines the underlying OS via bug reports like these are at their whim when it comes to design.

This bug is a perfect example of this overarching issue. This "fix" is specifically targeted at Lucid, specifically because the new behavior makes the default Ambiance theme make slightly more sense. While in that I agree it's is a fix, the entire window design itself requires us to throw out Fitts's law and numerous other time and scientifically tested GUI standards. The only rationale for the changes made in relation to Ambiance have been that they will make room for "innovations" that have yet to materialize. We're losing usability in our current releases for the sake of a promise for yet more widgets in Maverick. (The future is not more window chrome! It's none at all, which is the irony of the Chrome browser's name. While I think client side window decorations and windicators could be an improvement, they're not innovation. And if Canonical's got some grand scheme to innovate past the completion, not only would I be surprised, but I'd be angered by their decision to gradually hinder usability on the way there.)

This is not a bug. This is an infestation.

I'm beginning to realize the problem could possibly be systemic to the structure of Ubuntu's development. I've heard it said that bug reports like these are not the place to hash out GUI decisions, and that's probably correct. The problem is there's no open forum to debating these decisions. A faulty feature is easily fixed with a bug report on Launchpad, but that's because there's little debate involved in whether or not a program has crashed.

I feel that the discussion on this report (as well as the thread that linked me to it: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1450784&highlight=window+controls+-at+top+corner&page=3) is enlightening, and offers a detailed glimpse into the vast difference between design and development. Unfortunately, as of yet there's no real place for design to be talked about across the community, and based on the control Canonical has taken over the OS design, I'm beginning to doubt there ever will be.

/rant. About the bug, a gconf setting would be a real fix.