Comment 79 for bug 882274

On Wed, Nov 09, 2011 at 07:41:38AM -0000, Mark Shuttleworth wrote:
>On 08/11/11 19:31, kfsone wrote:
>> However: The direction and changes of 11.x *suggest* to us that Ubuntu
>> is swapping from desktop to sub-desktop focus for it's primary
>> distribution.
>
>No. What's happening is that the new form factors are being integrated
>into Ubuntu, just as they will be integrated into MacOS and Windows.
>We'd just like to be ahead of the curve. Some day, you will be able to
>carry a phone, and dock it to a keyboard, mouse and display and use it
>as a full desktop with all your apps and data. Or use it as a tablet, in
>a different dock.

So, if I understand correctly, you're saying that there will be *one*
interface that will work across tablets, phones, and desktops? I certainly
hope not, because tablets, phones, and desktops are *physically* different
interfaces. It's like trying to emulate a mouse with a joystick, or vice
versa---it's possible, but it just doesn't work well.

A keyboard and mouse provide a very rich physical interface. Tablets and
phones offer more portability at the cost of a more restricted physical
interface. I don't *ever* want to have those restrictions when I'm using a
keyboard and mouse.

Trying to force different physical interfaces to use the same GUI is dumb.
At best, it'll be a lowest-common-denominator that never helps users kick
ass[*].

The KDE folks have a much more promising idea:

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_%28KDE%29

The idea is to let the same applications use different interaction models,
depending on what kind of workspace they're running on.

[*] http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/05/users_dont_care.html