Comment 113 for bug 882274

Well, I have followed this lively debate and it seems somewhat unproductive. We users must accept that the design is not going to go our way. "Won't" fix is a somewhat hard wording. Maybe something like, "we won't do it", because we do not have the ressources, please do it yourself or find someone who does it for you - maybe something like that would have smothered the flames (pun intended).

I find it extremely pleasing that the lead designers actually do talk with the community. I don't remember any windows designer talking back to me... So we just can't expect Mark and canonical to cater to each and everyone's needs.

I would like to say a few words from a user point of view to the two bugs that were linked to the original bug report.

1. "option to configure Unity launcher placement"

I really don't know any reason whatsoever, why users can't get used to the placement of the launcher. So now its on the left hand side instead of the bottom, so what? Is this impossible to learn? The user testing performed by Charline Poirier seems to suggest that new users have no problems adapting to the placement. In my mind this wish is merely fueled by habituation and nothing else. So in this sense I think Mark Shuttleworth's reasoning is completely justified. Don't waste any resources on this. Try to fix the real bugs.

2. "What I do miss in Natty ... is the possibility to click on the app. icon on the Unity launcher bar to minimize all windows of that application, not only to launch/restore it."

Mark has explained, why he doesn't want to implement this feature. It would appear inconsistent if the same button would at the same time display and hide an application. So he thinks that new usability issues would emerge if this were implemented. Point taken and he is probably right.

But, in this case one should ask: What does he really want to accomplish? He wants to display the desktop in a fast and simple way. At the moment, you either have to minimize all windows - which can be cumbersome - or use nautilus - somewhat unintuitive - or switch the workspace - also a little strange. Yes, it can be done, but these are all workarounds. A fast and intuitive way to display the desktop would be welcome.

Regards

Kikl