When Ubuntu first introduced Unity, everyone got exited and embraced it as a revolutionary new desktop for notebooks. But when they made it the default UI for desktops, a lot of people started to complain. It changed how we interacted with our computer. Replaced the menu bar, changed the title bar, changed how we interact with the menus, changed how we launch programs, changed how we interact with the whole system. So, many people rejected it.
But that’s the past… After trying many alternatives like Gnome Shell, Cinnamon, Classic Gnome and XFCE, some people have returned to give Unity another try. I also used Gnome Shell for a long time and then tried Cinnamon. Now, I’m finally back with Unity. I think I can work with it for the rest of my life!
Canonical was confident about this change. They never gave up Unity. After hearing the response from the users, they talked about this issue several times in their developer meetings. But they never changed their decision. There should be a good reason for this. So, lets find out why they did it…
The desktop need to be revolutionized!
We used the old desktop UI for a very long time. Nothing much have changed in it. Ubuntu wanted to make a difference and they also wanted to make it more productive than the earlier system. So, they came up with Unity. It will use the same desktop system and just change the outer border (The menus, title bars, etc). Until they introduced Windows 8, I thought Unity made a big change too fast. But I was wrong. The change is simple but really effective.
At first, Unity was too slow…
The first problem I had with Unity is the lag. The program was really laggy and slow. But that’s the past. In the latest Ubuntu 12.04, Unity works really well. If you have the right video drivers, you won’t face any problems. If you still think its slow, disable the Dash Blur in Unity.
Customizing Unity…
Another big problem we had with Unity is the less customization options. It was nearly impossible to change anything in Unity. But now, we have programs like My Unity (sudo apt-get install myunity) which can change it in the way we want.
Changing the old ways…
Another problem is the inability to change the old ways. But surprisingly, I picked Gnome Shell! It does a bigger change than Unity. Unity at least have something similar to the old menu bar. The only problems are the icons are bigger, now we have it in the left side rather than the bottom, and the start menu is replaced by the dash. Gnome Shell, have a dock like Unity but we have to move our mouse to the top left corner to get it. Now that’s a big pain! But look at Unity… The menu is there in a different place and I think it does a better job than the old thing. If you think the icons are too big, you can always change them using the appearance settings. Its easy!
Unity does change the way we work and it did removed some old features we used to work with. But forget about the features you lost and think about the new features you got. The dash, the launcher and the recently added HUD menu system… All these things does make things really easy for us. Before moving to Unity, I rarely used Ubuntu. The main reason for this is Photoshop. I really wanted it for my day-to-day blogging. It’s really easy to handle images in Photoshop than in Gimp. Without that, Ubuntu and Windows 7 were equal to me. But after I started to like Unity, I forgot about the Photoshop problem and completely came to Ubuntu. Unity is the reason I switched!
Just give it some time…
I think most of you came from Windows to Linux. How did you moved in? Did you fell in love with Linux with the first shot and never went back? I don’t think so… Most of us came here several times before falling in love. We wanted some time to adjust. Same goes with Unity. We want some time to adjust to it. I gave a lot of time to Gnome Shell but I was unable to adjust to it. I gave very little time to Unity and things just worked out!
When comparing to Windows 8…
Windows 8 is going to copy Ubuntu. They are also going to introduce a revolutionary new UI. But, that’s a big change. Bigger than Gnome Shell! The new Metro UI tries to completely remove the old desktop! Also there are a lot of complains about poor design practices and a lot of bold moves. Sometimes, they might fix these problems in future versions. But the problem is, Windows doesn’t have a rapid development cycle like Ubuntu. While Ubuntu release 2 major versions per year, Microsoft take several years to complete one version. For now, lets wait till it gets released!
My final advice…
You can install several desktops in Ubuntu. So, if you can’t work with Unity, install Cinnamon or Gnome Shell. Then occasionally, use Unity and try to get used to it. Use all its features. We ignore some cool features coming in Unity and that’s a big mistake. I ignored HUD at first. But now I realize how useful it is. Now we don’t have to spend a lot of time searching through menu items. Things are easier…
Try it… It’ll change your life. Also, learn and use the Unity shortcut commands (Press and hold the super (windows) key and you’ll see all the shortcuts). Spend some time with it… You’ll love it! After spending some time, come back and answer our poll :
