Ubuntu’s new Unity interface is a geek’s paradise: It has fancy eye candy and myriad keyboard shortcuts, and makes it easy to call applications directly from the command line. But is it equally suited to the desktops of “normal people”? Here are some thoughts.
In case you haven’t heard — and if you’re not a geek, maybe you haven’t – Ubuntu 11.04 debuted a couple weeks ago, bringing a major change to the desktops of Linux users around the world in the form of the new Unity interface. Traditional GNOME (version 2.32.1, to be exact) is still available as an option at login under the title “Ubuntu Classic,” but by default, anyone performing a new installation of the operating system will be presented with Unity.
I’ve tested Unity in its different iterations since it was first introduced a year ago. Now that I’ve upgraded my production computer to Ubuntu 11.04 and used it for serious work for a few days, however, I’ve gained new insight. And the thought that keeps returning to me is this: Have Canonical developers forgotten that not every Linux user is a geek?
Unity for Human Beings?
If you happen to be geek, there’s a lot to like about Unity. It invests heavily in keyboard shortcuts, a strategy that arguably makes window management more efficient than in any other desktop interface I’ve ever used — provided you learn the hotkeys. Another geek-friendly feature is the “dash,” which is well-suited to people who like launching applications by typing their names. And the truly geeky can press alt-F2 to launch a section of the dash from where they can pass command-line arguments directly — an enhanced version, essentially, of GNOME 2.x’s classic “run” dialog.
Features such as these are great, and can drastically improve workflow, provided you’re a geek willing to invest time in learning how to use them. If you’re not a geek, however, they probably don’t appeal to you. Non-geeks generally don’t use keyboard shortcuts very often; I know plenty of highly intelligent people who are amazed to learn that the super-D combination exposes the desktop in Windows (and Ubuntu), for example. Non-geeks also don’t want to call applications using the keyboard; they tend to prefer pointing and clicking pretty icons.
This isn’t to say there’s anything wrong with the geek-friendly features that currently comprise the core of Unity. Catering to geeks need not entail the marginalization of non-geeks. What does seem to me to be a problem, however, is the extent to which Unity appears to expect users to rely on this geek-oriented approach to the desktop, since the interface currently provides few efficient ways of performing tasks without relying heavily on the keyboard.
Sure, you can browse through applications by name to find what you want to launch, but that approach can take a long time because of the relative lack of categorization. And you can switch between windows using the launcher, but with all the different icons competing for your attention, figuring out which one you need to click to give focus to the right application is not always simple.
And last but not least — though this issue, ironically, might be one that bothers geeks more than normal people, who tend to understand only vaguely what a virtual desktop is — Unity still lacks a way to add more than four workspaces. I was kind of shocked to discover this. I recalled it being a problem in beta versions of the interface, but I assumed that, surely, someone would get around to addressing it before the 11.04 release. Yet April 28, 2011, has come and gone, and the only way to increase the number of virtual desktops is to edit an obscure gconf value from the command line.
Technology Preview
While I’m hesitant to say Unity is ready for the masses of “human beings” whose PCs Canonical aspires to liberate with Ubuntu Linux, I have to restrict my criticism of the interface for the time being, since Ubuntu 11.04 is not a longterm support release. It will, therefore, be used by geeks more than normal people who stick to the LTS release cycles. In this sense, Unity in the most recent Ubuntu offering remains a technology preview, with plenty of room and time for improvement before the next Ubuntu 12.04 LTS debuts next April.
I will register that I wish traditional GNOME were a bit more accessible in Ubuntu 11.04, for the benefit of those who upgrade and find they don’t like Unity. Hiding GNOME under the title “Ubuntu Classic” seems a bit disingenuous, as if Canonical is afraid of using the G-word now that Unity has become the official face of Ubuntu; moreover, it’s not exactly obvious that “Ubuntu Classic” is even available until one goes sifting through the session options in the corner of the login screen — an activity one does not generally do if one is not a geek.
All the same, Ubuntu developers deserve credit for remaining committed to GNOME 2.32 as an official alternative interface in this Ubuntu release. They’re also to be commended for bringing Unity as far as they have in the short year that it’s been in existence; despite the fact that it may cater at the moment to geeks more than the general audience, it has some great, innovative features and I look forward to seeing where it ends up at the conclusion of the next development cycle.
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You make a very good point. I am only a half geek, and my immediate approach is to add lots of items into the launcher. When it comes to me installing for friends etc, which I do a real lot, I think I will just do this too. afaik none of my (novice) friends have actually installed any package for themselves, unless say I am talking it through with them step by step on the phone or whatever.
So I think that non geeks will just use the launcher, which is simpler than a menu structure (I have a 91 year old relative who shops online using ubuntu) and the software centre and +apps page will be adopted by those who need to install a few more packages, with adding into the launcher being an important step.
I had not yet bumped into the 4 desktops limitation, I usually have 6 available, but I am getting to like unity well enough to trust that limitation will get sorted in time.
I might be wrong, but I think canonical this time aims at the exact opposite of geeks. The keyboard shortcuts are there, but you don’t *have* to use them. They take away customization options so the user doesn’t get confused by options, they put an a-la-mac dock with big toy-like icons. So I’m not sure that Unity is built with geeks in mind. It’s becoming more of a “linux for dummies” in order to attract new users that don’t know zip about linux, which is good if you ask me. Geeks have good alternatives to pick from. That said, although I consider myself a geek, I would give Unity another spin when it becomes more stable, functional and a bit more customizable.
Cheers
candtalan: so have you actually put Unity on the computers of your friends? If so, I’d be interested to hear how they reacted to it.
Jim: interesting perspective. I admit I hadn’t given much consideration to how Unity’s look might appeal more to non-geeks when compared to normal GNOME, which is much less flashy. (Perhaps GNOME 3 will change that.) I’d still argue that Unity needs to become easier to use for non-geeks before it can really serve their needs, but Canonical has (almost) a year to make that happen in time for the next LTS release.
You can change the number of desktops from 4 to 6 in CompizConfig Settings Manager, under General Options.
I hope the lens idea gets incorporated with the main menu. Clicking super and doing a quick search could be cool if it were all inclusive.
Clint: thanks for the tip; didn’t know about that. (But I’ll still complain that CompizConfig Settings Manager is not installed by default, and being limited to six desktops is still much less satisfying than the maximum of 256 available previously!)
@Christopher Tozzi
I would put unity on my novice friends’ PCs only after I am knowledgeable enough about it. However one who happened to catch a glimpse in passing, of a beta version on my test PC actually said ‘Hey! I like that! When can I have it?’ It took me aback at the time, because I was away from gnome gui and my comfort zone, so I played it down. But that was my problem, not his. I am expanding my comfort zone now and think that unity will fit well into non techie use.
Unity has too many bugs. It was not ready for market. Eye candy or not. Many Ubuntu users found that they could no longer use their computer after the upgrade.
Look, up until now I have loved Ubuntu, and being on a retirement budget, free is the right price, but free is only good if it does not crash my computer.
I am what you would call a “geek”, but many others are not. When Unity was installed, many lost all use of their computer and had no idea what to do. This is a great way to promote Windows, but this is not the way to promote Linux.
Instead of so many upgrades, why not take your time and get the next one right first?
I was able to get my own computer up and running. Many less experienced were not so lucky!
Mark Heinemann
Ya, I have got to say… At first I liked it, but the keyboard shortcuts are not consistent with windows or gnome, and they put very little thought into GUI usability. Without spending time to learn a whole net set of shortcuts, the thing is useless to me. AND… as with may of us out there, I must use windows and Linux. I wan my desktops to respond to a similar set of shortcuts, least I constantly make gaffs.
This seems like one of those MVP (Minimal Viable Product) excuses for production software. What I mean by that is it feels more like a prototype than a finished piece of software.
JustALinuxUser: well, it still is a sort of prototype, insofar as the 11.04 release is not LTS. I’m reserving harsh judgment until I see what Unity looks like a year from now, when 12.04 LTS debuts. But I agree that there’s a great deal of room for improvement in the existing product before then.