Unity

Bug #882274
Comment #24

Comment 24 for bug 882274

Revision history for this message

Sean Fitzpatrick (sean-fitzpatrick) wrote on 2011-10-30:

#24

Mark (et al),
I'd like to make a suggestion that I think would mitigate a certain fraction of the complaints, and requires no new code, which is simply an info page that's linked prominently on the Ubuntu website (perhaps on the downloads page).
Let me explain: I've been reading the 'Unity MEGA forum' in the Ubuntu forums off and on (it's sufficiently torturous that as a means of procrastinating from my job as a mathematics researcher, it's a fairly brief distraction). A lot of the complaints that see are along the following lines: "I can't do X in Unity! I'm so angry, GARRHHHH!! I'm telling everyone I know to switch to Mint!", where X is something that in fact *can* be done, had the complainer bothered to look into it.
So I'm suggesting something like an FAQ, but geared towards end-users expecting certain behaviour from their desktop. Perhaps there could be a paragraph along the following lines: "We've designed the Unity desktop for <insert reasons/properties here>, and think you'll really enjoy it. However, we recognise that one interface can't possibly please everyone, and that's why Ubuntu offers you choices. Supported desktop environments include Gnome shell, Gnome fallback, KDE, XFCE, LDXE..."
This could perhaps be followed by a little chart outlining the pros/cons of each desktop, and simple instructions on how to enable them (or suggesting that the user download *ubuntu instead).
For fine-tuning in Unity, a simple user's FAQ might help. This could include a tutorial on basic keyboard and mouse operations (such as the various Super shortcuts, configuring the launcher, etc.) I know these are out there for those who look, but if it was prominent, it would be easier to address complaints. (For example even today you'll find people complaining about how they hate the launcher because they can't reorder the icons, add new icons, resize icons, etc, even though all this is possible.)
Another example: Q: I really don't like this global menu, can I get rid of it? A: We suggest keeping it for the following reasons .... But if it really bothers you, simply remove the indicator-appmenu package.
(It could just be whining, but there really are people claiming that they're abandoning Ubuntu over the global menu. Thirty seconds on Google resolves the problem but hey, maybe switching distros is still less work!?)

Anyway, I think a bit of basic info like that, made as prominent as seems reasonable, might help.

Mark (et al),
I'd like to make a suggestion that I think would mitigate a certain fraction of the complaints, and requires no new code, which is simply an info page that's linked prominently on the Ubuntu website (perhaps on the downloads page).
Let me explain: I've been reading the 'Unity MEGA forum' in the Ubuntu forums off and on (it's sufficiently torturous that as a means of procrastinating from my job as a mathematics researcher, it's a fairly brief distraction).  A lot of the complaints that see are along the following lines: "I can't do X in Unity!  I'm so angry, GARRHHHH!! I'm telling everyone I know to switch to Mint!", where X is something that in fact *can* be done, had the complainer bothered to look into it.
So I'm suggesting something like an FAQ, but geared towards end-users expecting certain behaviour from their desktop.  Perhaps there could be a paragraph along the following lines: "We've designed the Unity desktop for <insert reasons/properties here>, and think you'll really enjoy it.  However, we recognise that one interface can't possibly please everyone, and that's why Ubuntu offers you choices.  Supported desktop environments include Gnome shell, Gnome fallback, KDE, XFCE, LDXE..."
This could perhaps be followed by a little chart outlining the pros/cons of each desktop, and simple instructions on how to enable them (or suggesting that the user download *ubuntu instead).
For fine-tuning in Unity, a simple user's FAQ might help.  This could include a tutorial on basic keyboard and mouse operations (such as the various Super shortcuts, configuring the launcher, etc.)  I know these are out there for those who look, but if it was prominent, it would be easier to address complaints.  (For example even today you'll find people complaining about how they hate the launcher because they can't reorder the icons, add new icons, resize icons, etc, even though all this is possible.)
Another example: Q: I really don't like this global menu, can I get rid of it?  A: We suggest keeping it for the following reasons .... But if it really bothers you, simply remove the indicator-appmenu package.
(It could just be whining, but there really are people claiming that they're abandoning Ubuntu over the global menu.  Thirty seconds on Google resolves the problem but hey, maybe switching distros is still less work!?)

Anyway, I think a bit of basic info like that, made as prominent as seems reasonable, might help.