Unix and Linux → Are We Witnessing the Decline of Ubuntu?

I generally disagree with a lot of what is in this article, but I also believe there are some very important points made here that Canonical should heed. One is that even when you are doing most things right, how you are perceived is still important.

Yeah, I'm still using Ubuntu (actually, DreamStudio, a derivative of Ubuntu) and it's my favorite operating system so far. Unity is my favorite desktop environment due to it's built-in HUD. It allows me to search through application menus very quickly and easily without touching my mouse.

In my opinion, people should just try out Unity for a change or move on if they don't like it. Disable Smart Scopes in 13.10 (almost ready for release) if they don't like it.

If you need to be able to see the clock clearly, I use Avant Window Navigator for that.

I completely agree. People who complain that Unity is a mobile interface on a desktop computer are not correct. It is much easier for both power users and regular users alike than traditional designs like LXDE.
Earlier this week my wife asked me, "How do I scan?". I responded, "Open the dash and type scan." I don't know how much easier it can be than that.

said by Maxo:

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I generally disagree with a lot of what is in this article, but I also believe there are some very important points made here that Canonical should heed. One is that even when you are doing most things right, how you are perceived is still important.

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I have some bones to pick with canoncial on a lot things... wasted efforts in re unity, gnome, mir, wayland, pulseaudio, etc... along with not just getting their head out of their orifice and moving and supporting a KDE realease, and only a KDE release.

And your last line is something that all the RH groupies/fanbois, and RH themselves should heed immediately... That little brush off of desktop users was the coup de grais... they have enough issues with RPM to be a deal breaker.. but that well..you summed it up...

said by GraysonPeddi:

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In my opinion, people should just try out Unity for a change or move on if they don't like it. Disable Smart Scopes in 13.10 (almost ready for release) if they don't like it.

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If gnome didn't cut it...unity won't cut it either... and if KDE 3.10 -> KDE4.x irked the living daylights out of me.. you think gnome/unity is going to be a solution...

Not a chance.

I use Kubuntu as a base for what I use both work wise, and personally... I rip out cruft like pulseaudio, ensure that my base programs are installed, re-enable the var/log for things that for some reason *buntu disables! (at least as of 11.x or so. I have no clue why.. decisions are made, and no support is rarely posted as to the rationale. Why would you disable logging of errors that could be helpful? ? The info in var/log/daemon.log was used to resolve an issue?!!?!!??? )

I think canoncial has done a great job in getting Linux on to desktops that might still be infested with something else.. And has made great strides to see that useful software is as easy as apt-get install or picking from synaptic if you prefer a GUI. Lots of software is available to be easily installed this way via DEB's that is NOT available for RH et al... and vice versa.. .. but a lot of stuff is available for Debian and *buntu's because of canoncials work...

A recent news item... 72K desktops in a major euro zone country agency are being moved to UBUNTU. Since this agency is related to my field.. I took notice.. interesting.. they've been working at it for a while to rid themselves of the infestation.. and hmm cost savings... hmmm... imagine that....

If canoncial insists on their mir, unity nonsense you may see the child distros move back closer to home for their base.. which is good and bad.. Debian does stupid things too! See DFSG for examples.

I think they have been very clear. Mir and Unity is the pivot around which everything will be built around. They want Ubuntu to run on servers, desktops, mobile devices, and TVs. While servers obviously have no need for eith Unity or Mir, everything else needs something that will run across devices and do it well with a consistent user experience. That is why Canonical is basing everything around the Mir/Unity stack. They feel that none of the existing solutions fit the bill.

I'm not sure how I feel about that, I feel that categorized, static menus give you a better feeling for what's available, versus a Dash/Search-menu type of function where, yes you'll find your exact activity faster, but it masks what the rest of the OS does.

I'm not one of those people that think that everyone should know how to do everything their computer does, but even an everyday user should have a basic idea of what their computer does/can do; even if they aren't going to use all of its functions.

EQ

The issue is they took the stance that has worked for Red Hat and create new or support different solutions as being the way forward while downplaying their incompatibility. You can't deny that the public speaking words used to define or defend their decisions is not the reality which is to have control over what they are using.

In a way Canonical has the right idea, they just go about it wrong. They put up the welcome sign but leave you standing at the door till you get the nod of approval. It's not great code, great ideas, great products, it's only the acceptance of what they want to do that lets you in. They socially engineer a community with rules and guidelines and pledges of loyalty but in the end you're either with them or against them.

They could of took KDE, embraced it, used it, and built up a team to support it's users of it. They didn't, they embraced some unhappy GNOME people who had social connection with the community and ran with that with their tweaks that got bigger with every release. They saw other distros as competition, then saw other desktops as competition, and finally saw other toolkits as competition if they could not control any of them. The stronger KDE got within their distro the more roadblocks against KDE they put up. Near the end they had their KDE guy working on fully non-KDE things. You can't succeed if your goal is to hold certain people or things back.

I bring up KDE, I am biased towards it, but there's a reason. Everyone coming up with the next great thing these days is just chasing old accomplishments by others. Before there was even Ubuntu Qt had something working on the mobile platform and not long after KDE itself. A desktop that was and is fully modifiable with configurations, interfaces that could be scripted, it was all passed over because of likely one big glaring detail..

KDE has a huge community, a strong community, and probably the most independent community of all open source projects. They have survived everything that has caused issues, those by their own makings, those by others who change supposed "standards", all of it. Hell, even Microsoft was starting to get worried about the things from KDE that were creeping into Nokia's operation and they took over and gutted it all. That says a lot. The one common thing they have always done throughout is to empower their users with the ability to create what they want on their desktops, or mobile devices. They don't wield control just for the purpose of having that control. They don't paint a box and tell you to play inside the lines, they paint a huge maze and have you try to find a way out. I'm still exploring that maze and it's one of the greatest adventures that only moves along fast when I need to do things different.

Slightly OT but El Reg does some prognosticating about Mir XMir and Ubuntu politics surrounding the design choices:

said by The Register :

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The new touchscreen-friendly user-interface system promised for next desktop version of Ubuntu has been PULLED just weeks before its release.

Mir and XMir – the Linux distro's replacement for the age-old X Windows graphics stack – will now NOT be enabled by default in the 13.10 desktop build - due out on 17 October.

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More at:

»www.theregister.co.uk/20 ··· ays_mir/

EQ

(Retracted)

While generally agreeable to what you are saying, I think these complains boil down "They aren't doing it perfectly." There are so many areas that they could improve on, and there is enough criticism to go around to make up many news articles and opinion pieces.

Of course most companies develop their product and lock it all up behind copyrights, patents, company secrets, NDAs, etc. That is the norm in business. Trying to create a product that is open source, developed in conjunction with a volunteer community, and then balance that with your corporate needs is not something that is done lightly or easily.

Jono Bacon is an absolutely amazing community manager and the grace which he handles Canonicals decisions and the communities feelings is quite astonishing. I bet given permission to speak freely he could tell you plenty of Canonical horror stories.

That said, Canonical could go the Android route and just go it alone, which would be a reasonable approach. But they don't. They have gone through great lengths and spent a large sum of money to engage their community, their upstreams, and their downstreams. All engagements have not been perfect, and they will continue to not be. Furthermore, it is expected that the business needs of Canonical will continue to run orthogonal to other groups. I believe that despite all this what Canonical could do, the status quo, versus what it does do is quite good.

I don't like Unity, or Gnome 3 for the same reason i don't want to use android for my desktop os. Maybe when I'm much older, and I've lost most of my eye sight, just not today. Gnome 3 the gui for the legally blind!

And that's the issue right there. The organizations and societies and communities shouldn't be propping up the people, and those who support them, that only stand behind an issue because it's their job to say what they say. These are the peoples who's public views change as their jobs change but they gather a following that just hears what they say and looks no deeper into the substance of the matter. "He said it therefore it must be true or best!"

A complete non issue with me. Initially I was somewhat resistant to the change, (a lot of people don't like change) but - I discovered that Unity works and doesn't slow me down in the least.

Those that just can't abide in that have other choices.

Funny, my aging eyes longs for the Gnome2/Compiz combo which allows for having a high-res desktop and simply zooming at will. Large silly icons are NOT the only solution for aging eyes. 8-)

But (sigh)... that combo is fleeting these days. Unity (a compiz plugin) seems to have hijacked compiz development.

No, just hte rise of the Ubuntu derivatives.

Maybe I'll make my own & call it Red Storm, just so people can say Red Storm's Rising?