I'm just stunned and puzzled by this, the best comment in that bug [1] puts it pretty succinctly:<p><i>It should be mentioned that the discussion would be much more productive if there was actually an official stance, a wiki documentation, a blog post, or </i>anything* explaining the reasons for the change.*<p>I only read the first 80 comments , but I can't find anyone who really finds this to be a good change, and there's yet to be a good explanation offered as to why this would improve anything. Quite simply, what problem does this solve?<p>1: <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/light-themes/+bug/532633/comments/51" rel="nofollow">https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/light-themes/+bug/...</a>
I ran Linux because I disliked Windows, and then all of the Linux UIs started emulating Windows. Only Windows is now emulating OS X, and now the typical Linux desktop looks like a really old version of Windows.<p>I blame fvwm95 and everyone who liked it. ;)<p>Windows has never been Unix-y, OS X is Unix-y and friendly. Steal what's worth having and then invent something totally new.<p>Ubuntu is on the right track here. I hope they go farther:<p>-> Make paste Alt-V instead of the current Ctrl-Shift-V. Make close window Alt-W (for Window) instead of Alt-Shift-F3 (or whatever it is). Generally make the keyboard friendly for Terminal users and stop using awkward chorded key combos for things people do every day.<p>-> Stop wasting space with a toolbar on every window and stick it on top of the screen. (For those who may complain about the position of the Mac toolbar-- remember your Linux desktop probably does -both- a toolbar on top of the screen, -and- a toolbar on every window.)<p>-> Go from a window-centric model to an application-centric model where I can quickly switch between applications and windows without leaving the keyboard. (i.e. Alt-tab, Alt-~)<p>I've tried to go back to linux desktop (kde, gnome) and it was a struggle to use, even just to manage emacs, a bunch of terminals, and a web browser. I still like e16.<p>I don't know what to make of xulrunner (XUL in Mozilla was too magical) but the concept is right. Native C w/ Javascript as the HLL, and wrap older applications in a Canvas... Newer apps would combine Javascript, HTML, and native code. Wrapping application dependencies (clipboard, fullscreen, etc.) in Javascript (where new standards are emerging anyway) would provide incentives for application developers (cross platform, cost savings, no qt versus gtk, web reuse, etc.) Grant you'd still need custom native widgets -and- Javascript lacks a concurrency model. Just a thought.
I have a Mac I use regularly. I have a Ubuntu machine I use constantly, and I have a Windows machine I use when I have to. I love the Mac UI in general, but I've always had a slight preference for the menu buttons on the right. It just makes more sense to me. To close a window, I click on the right-most corner of that window. I read from left to right, closing the window is the last thing I want to do with a window, since by that time, I'm done with it. The buttons on the right mean that the X to close comes last in the order of all of the info/tools in the window chrome. To me, this just makes more sense.
Everyone's talking about how they went from right to left but few mention that they also removed the "menu" button from the layout.<p>That's the one that you can click on to make a window "always on top" or "always on visible workspace". I switched to the old layout to get it back.
sometimes the most important decision is just to make a decision, and not leave it on the plate.<p>not hot about the left hand move, but I like that ubuntu is moving towards thinking about the ui, and I rarely use those buttons anyway.