Moving away from gnome-shell was probably the most contentious decision in Ubuntu's history, and it shows: there have been mixed reviews for Ubuntu ever since Unity was rolled out in 11.04. The full spectrum of opinion is represented, from those who love the new simplicity and have encountered few bugbears, to those who don't even know where to start with their critiques. One thing's for sure though: Unity was a hugely ambitious, and somewhat industry-leading project. The fact that Ubuntu's contributors managed to roll it into the 11.04 release was quite remarkable. Yet, given the highly innovative and risky nature of the move, what's even more remarkable is that they managed to do so successfully, and for this they deserve some real admiration.
The primary driver behind Unity was always to unite the different Ubuntu flavours into one common offering. Who here remembers the
Ubuntu Netbook edition? Those days are long gone, because Unity is delivering on its promises: the provision of one common desktop environment across the entire device range; from tablets to netbooks, laptops to PCs, and extended multi-monitor setups alike. Now, others are following the same unified path, notably including Microsoft. (Let's face it, this is hardly the first time that M$ has taken guidance from the *nix world. *Cough*
Powershell *Cough*)
This said, it does have its gremlins. I personally don't care for it. I haven't moved from 10.10, and will probably be migrating a couple of boxes back to Debian rather than progressing into the 11.xx stream. I've recently moved a friend to Mint.
I
detest the minimalistic scrollbar design (I have ever since I read about the concept during its development) - it saves almost no space, yet makes it infinitely harder to navigate documents. The new icon-based menu bar isn't configurable enough, and simply isn't practical given my workloads. Plus, it often pops out and obstructs one's vision when it isn't wanted. There are, as of yet, too few GUI configuration windows for the interface. I have an extensive Rhythmbox library, yet the facility for migration to Banshee isn't comprehensive. And why, oh why, is Nautilus
still the default file manager?
With all that slanderous hyperbole off my chest, it's time to admit I've severely overreacted. If desired, one can revert to Gnome shell with consummate ease, thereby rendering the majority of my gripes irrelevant. The fancy new scrollbars are quick and easy to disable. GUI configuration options will definitely improve over time, and Rhythmbox to Banshee migration is a one-time inconvenience, which isn't compulsory anyway, but is worthwhile (Banshee is actually quite nice). As for Nautilus, well... installing another file manager isn't exactly rocket science.
It's worth remembering that, whilst Unity intends to cater for all and sundry, it originates from a netbook background, and so will take time to adapt to fit multi-monitor desktop environments quite as nicely. This is what we're witnessing. Whilst I personally don't find 11.xx quite to my taste, I recognise many others do: indeed, some of my friends were singing its praises from the outset, whilst I perched on the sidelines, arms crossed, sporting a sceptical expression. A couple of days ago I attended a LUG where 11.10 was receiving quite positive reviews, and for a moment I was somewhat won over.
For those who find the Unity experience a little underwhelming or unsuitable for the time being, Mint is a solid alternative. However, I would add, many of the mainstream distros are these days: most streams of Linux are becoming a lot more user-friendly and less geek-centric. This is all good stuff, for there's never been a time when the majority have had so wide a choice of suitable Linux distributions.
And whilst 11.10 may still be a little rough around the edges, let's not forget there are a lot of really big positives there too. Window docking for widescreen monitors, simpler compositing over compiz/ccsm, a generally easier-to-use interface for beginners (yet again lowering the bar for participation), fantastic cloud integration (again, leading the way - we'll see more of this in Winblows 8), the menu "lenses" (which are really starting to shine), a common interface across devices, really spiffy looking graphics, Thunderbird as the default mail client (finally), Firefox 7, the integrated menus (this was another project I followed at the development stage, but this one really did look promising, and in my opinion it's working out wonderfully), a really superb software installation app, easier searching, the 3.0 version kernel... I could go on.
Whilst I may be moving some of my main boxes back to the "geekier" distros - I'm very much a command-line guy anyway - I'll still be running Ubuntu. It's here to stay, and so is Unity. It's a nice idea; very ambitious, and executed pretty well considering. Come 12.04/12.10 when it's matured a little, I can see it being a very popular platform. This is innovative stuff which has already improved a lot since the initial 11.04 release, and will only get better. Give it time
