5 Reasons Why Unity SucksTweet

Bottom line: it sucks!

You’re forgetting the most important thing: it’s drastically different than anything any Linux, Windows or Mac user has ever known. Everything is oriented vertically, on the left of your desktop. Keyboard shortcuts to pop up Dash are also a new thing if you’ve never used Spotlight, Quicksilver or Gnome-Do. I just don’t see a reason why they would bother to implement something like that so quickly and, without even market testing, make it the default.

On the other hand, it might pave the way to a greater desktop platform… we’ll see.

Synapse. That is all.

unity is pegging my CPU! I switched back to Gnome 2.3 and all the lag is gone and my system is stable again. While I like what Unity is supposed to do, right now it’s almost useless. it was an extremely poor choice to use Unity as the default DE for Ubuntu 11.04.

I really wanted to like it… but it fails. Everything you and pluc said it’s true. This was a very wrong step to Canonical.

I just switched back to “Classic Ubuntu” style with Gnome. No more Unity for a long while.

[...] mois après la sortie, je dois faire mon mea-culpa. Unity n’est pas franchement apprécié, certains articles anglophones disent simplement qu’Unity [...]

I think it will pave the way to a greater platform. I’m just pissed off at Canonical for releasing a half-baked product.

I cant get over how bad Unity is. Its like trying to work with windows 95… crap interface and nothing makes sense. I really tried to use it for a week but got so frustrated trying to find things. I’m all for breaking the mold and trying new designs…. but when its badly done, nothing can make it look good or feel right

Let’s cut to the chase. it’s horrid. The maximized window controls have been integrated into the toolbar, which has been integrated into the panel bar, yadda, yadda. It’s a poor design, and this is exactly what comes out of trying to compete with the Microsoft and Apple developers. Why don’t you just go with the open source flow canonical? You’re really just a microsoft in an open source environment. Just what we need. NOT.

I just hate the fact that there is hardly any customizability. I mean, even in windows you have the option to relocate the taskbar. Unity is too locked down. They think this will help the newbies, but if someone is so new to ubuntu that they need tech support, chances are they won’t be doing much customization to the interface.

I tried to get used to it for some days, but had to give up and switched back to Gnome. What a waste of time! Why to improve things that work fine to end up with crap like that? There are people that actually use their computers to get work done. To have to get used to a mess like this doesn’t help.

I agree that Unity sucks.  I’ve been using computers since 1982 and I’ve never dealt with something less intuitive.  I click and expect a menu and instead get some crappy search box next to a few huge buttons?  Gotta find me another Linux distro.

The thing I hate the most is the single, Macintosh-style program menu.  If you’re, say working with a few images you have open in the Gimp, it’s good to know what image to which you are applying a menu funtion.  With gnome 2.x, every image document window has a menu bar, so this is pretty straight forward.  God help you on the unity interface.  Frankly if I wanted a fucking macintosh, I’d get one.  Ok, who am I kindding, I’m too cheap so I would have probably hacked a copy to work on a cheaper computer.  Well, the point is, I don’t want that.  Personally, I like gnome 2.x.  

ok, also it’s a disaster on two screens, to say nothing of total lack of a hierarchical program menu.  This may make me go to another distribution.  I hope they come out with a “gbuntu” distribution.  fartknockers.

I’ve been using computers since my new-from-the-dealer Apple ][+.  People love to complain when things change, and sometimes I fall into that boat too.  When I first used UNR, I kept an open mind, and over time, saw the reason for the odd changes.

I don’t see the reason for most of what Unity has to offer.  Instead of two-clicks to open an app, now I have four clicks.  Most of my screen space when selecting an app is dedicated to showing me apps I _could_ have.  A feature useful for newbies for the first month.  After that, even a newbie would find the space useless.

Most of the vertical-space-saving features in UNR are gone, and not retrievable, even under “Classic”.  Btw, you won’t have the option for “Gnome Classic” after 11.04.  Due to this reason I switched to Linux Mint.  There were a few hick-ups while installing, but nothing serious (make sure to use UNetbootin to create a bootable USB).  I love the Linux Mint interface.  It seems the Linux Mint team succeeded where Microsoft and Canonical failed.

I was open to trying Unity but gave up on it and returned to the classic desktop after about a week and also disabled and then uninstalled the horrible overlay scrollbars.  As with a lot of the comments, Unity made it more difficult/long winded/slower to use the desktop.

sucked so bad…  i went back to…   MS!

I’ve been using Unity since Ubuntu 11.04 was in Beta and I thought I’d grow to like it, but I haven’t. Gnome 2 is better. I’ll probably switch to Xubuntu when 11.10 comes out. 

 this shit bugs with compiz!!!!

You have forgotten my favorite one on a desktops: when you try to close a window using your mouse, you often get the vertical application launch bar lifted out from left side and… you have to get rid of it before you can close the window. It so annoying…

I hate Unity as well. It works nicely for me (no bugs), but it’s incredibly unintuitive and I hate the new app suggestions. That’s why we have the Software Center and Synaptic, Canonical! I don’t want those suggestions crowding up space that could be used for something a bit more important. Pidgin, the IM client that I’ve grown to love in Linux, also does not have an icon in the system tray at all now. The dock thingy on the left is also very huge and ugly.

All in all, I’ve reverted back to Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx since it’s an LTS release. It’s a lot more stable and I have a good setup. So I’m just going to sit nicely on 10.04 with PPAs to get software updates until 11.10 comes out. Then I’ll see if Unity has improved or just do a minimal 11.10 install with GNOME 3.

yeah, i didnt care much for it… it also kinda messed up my system. I downgraded back to 10.10 and will stick with that for a while… i love my GNOME interface… 

I upgraded to the 11.04 beta. It didn’t have unity because I didn’t have the hardware requirements. Then I upgraded my drivers. After a restart, I now have unity. I can’t figure out how to do shit on the damn thing. I think I’m going to switch my OS for this fact alone. I wouldn’t even be able to post this right now if it wasn’t for the fact that I have a computer with Windows right now.
I’ll give Unity another hour, if it still sucks by then I’m getting out of Ubuntu. Opensuse has a great OS out right now anyway.

The Mint interface is just way better

Another reason Unity sucks. ZEITGEIST!

[...] joten Gnome tulisi vielä Ubuntun mukana ja voisin vaihtaa siihen halutessani. Unitystä on sanottu paljon pahaa, mutta halusin kaikesta huolimatta ainakin kokeilla [...]

I’m of the ones that likes it, I won’t says it’s perfect, but for me, it’s a good step in the direction of… productivity! Yep, i really said that, the benefits are not obvious if you try to use it like you used gnome2, but i had left gnome behind years ago, no, the dash menu is what i loved in “menu” (yep, the command) but done better, and in some ways, better than gnome-do (worse, in some others), but the thing i really like, is the shortcuts to applications, +n (for some value of n) is just plain awesome, it’s better than what i had on wmii, because it gives the focus to the right application directly, wherever it is!
Ok, it’s slow, it has bugs, but really, using it correctly is very quick to launch applications, and to go from one to another… it’s less efficient for file management, due tu zeitgeist buggy integration, but well, i’m not really concerned by this…
tl-dr; in some way, it’s better that the most efficient WM I had found (wmii) it’s nicer by a good margin too, and in others well, sometime it sucks, yeah, the activation of the grid plugin is a very very nice idea (ctrl-alt+numpad = wonderful) but it’s not yet as efficient as wmii for tiling (stacks are missing).

But anyway, it’s way better, ergonomic wise, than gnome2…

Well… ubuntu are good to make OS… not the make a desktop manager! Too young, not efficient… Try gnome shell once… you will never back to unity!!!
The only people say: “I like unity” are people never try gnome shell!
It’s almost like compare the Win2k interface and Win7.

I’m going to stick with KDE and hope they never force a unity-like desktop on Kubuntu.  It’s bad enough they forced Pulseaudio on us with Maverick.

First thing I noticed is the top menu bar is not a place to desktop applets like in the old gnome system.
I particularly liked the weather applet.  Where am I supposed to put that now? huh?

First thing I noticed is the top menu bar is not a place to desktop applets like in the old gnome system.
I particularly liked the weather applet.  Where am I supposed to put that now? huh?

I never really liked the kde desk system, but have grown to like gnome.  This is simply based on simplicity and usability.  The new unity system looks nice, but hey, by a mac if that is all you want; otherwise, gnome only needed incremental simple enhancements, not wholesale changes like unity.  This was a step in the wrong direction.

I never really liked the kde desk system, but have grown to like gnome.  This is simply based on simplicity and usability.  The new unity system looks nice, but hey, by a mac if that is all you want; otherwise, gnome only needed incremental simple enhancements, not wholesale changes like unity.  This was a step in the wrong direction.

I predict ubuntu will begin a drop in the distrowatch hit list.  Gnome 2.x was simple and worked, why change it.
Firefox is now defaulted to a crippled way of looking at things.  you shouldn’t have to turn on the option for navigation bar, or bookmarks.  Of course, no big deal, but you shouldn’t have to.  Also, it’s interesting when you select customize the app menu bar come up, but goes away when you click ok. But, then hover over the glorified “apple” bar at the top and you see the menu.  If I want mac behavior, I will buy a mac.  If I want good clean interface design that works, I will use gnome, kde, xfce, and which ever other window system I like during the decade I am in.  At least in the linux/unix world, we CAN change our window manager; which is something the microsoft drones can’t say.

Under ubuntu 11.04, using unity, just how do you pull up a terminal?

This is a unix system, you must never obfuscate the action necessary to bring up a terminal, NEVER.

Hi.

I’m 41 yo, I use computers since 1982 (Sinclair ZX81).

I own a very small (but prosperous) IT and electronics shop. I sell,
repair, maintain and assist computers and other electronic devices.

I’m a programmer (PC and micro-controllers ), web designer, web master, web hosting provider and an IT teacher.

I had the misfortune to be born in Portugal, that’s why I have to do all that just to make a living.

I’m making sure that my kids learn proper English so they can escape this financial and economic hell hole.

Oh, yes… the English language. I’m really sorry for the crappy
English, but I learn English by myself, studying at home and watching
documentaries and some TV series. Nonetheless I presume it will be all
understandable.

Hey… If you prefer I can write in Portuguese

unity… unity.

Well… I just hate unity. I don’t have soft dislikes, I have major f***ing hatreds.

Linux started it’s life in the bottom, as an “ultra-geek”, almost
unusable, OS. You had to be a third degree geek just to install it and a
rocket scientist to change a configuration.

DE’s like unity and gnome 3 are making Linux hit the bottom on the other side: Now is a toy OS for stupid cattle.

Let me take a moment to clarify what I mean by “stupid cattle”:

Those sorry, shallow and marginally educated people that compose most of the human race.

That kind of low IQ people that use their overpriced crappy phones and
netbooks bought on credit (to impress the rest of the cattle) just to
check if someone like them left another moronic, badly written comment
on their pathetic facebook pictures.

Hey… Don’t complain! I’ve warned you: I have major f***ing hatreds!

So… unity hit the DE bottom. Which, paradoxically… is good!

Because nowadays 90% (if not more) of all computer users are stupid
cattle who can barely read each others comments on “Face5″ and “HiBook”.

A fully graphic oriented OS is an added value for people like this.
Letters are way too complicated and confusing for them, let alone easy
access to configuration settings. Wow… That would be a major
liability! Someone might accidentally change the colour of a “little
picture” and have to throw the “ubuntu computer” away.

On the other hand this philosophy to make everything easy and “learn
free” is a major contribution to make the cattle even more stupid. Which
is possible, although difficult to believe.

Like I’ve said I’m an IT teacher in a public university. I don’t know
how are the students in other countries, but you cannot possibly imagine
how stupid, dumb, ignorant, uneducated, unrespectful and, at the same
time, arrogant is the average student here.

There are of course some rare bright sparks, but the rest is just as
dark as a coal mine, as dumb as sac of potatoes. Just a bunch of cells
walking around on a pair of shoes.

Let’s face it: That appalling piece of software (unity) is exactly what
the cattle need to run the only three “applications” they will ever use
in their void and meaningless lives: facebook, messenger and “the
internet”.

The most “enlightened computer experts” will use a fourth application to
make lame and pathetic “power points” about some kind of god or some
fake kid with a disease that will cause very deep and primary emotions
to the rest of the cattle.

Yeah… That’s it Canonic, just go ahead with that moronic DE. That’s
what the majority of the users need to be able to use a computer and be
entertained with bright colours and sparkling pictures.

But be aware: Ubuntu will loose it’s reason to exist (as an alternative)
by trying to be like the mainstream OS’es (Windows and MacOS). If I
wanted to use a cr*p OS I’ll use an original one, not a copy!

Personally I’ll stick with GNOME 2.3x for a long time.

Yes, I am very disappointed with the path of humanity and miss the times when Darwin laws kept our species evolving.

If you feel offended by my statements: (Hold on to your hat) You are part of the cattle and I’m not interested in your comments!

Best Regards.

Epic fail which will see Ubuntu popularity wane/

Unity isn’t that bad.  You can customize it using CCSM (download using Synaptic) to make it more visually appealing.  It’s actually a very efficient system once you get used to it.  Using the super/windows key to open the search box, I can find applications and files very quickly, much quicker than looking through menus and folders…   

Also, keeping everything in the top and left of the screen is very smart.  Most applications have their menus in the top left, so having system menus up there means you’re not moving your mouse around the screen as much.  And a huge plus for me is that the Launcher is easy for my girlfriend to use, and she can’t mess anything up.   

While many people might hate Unity right now, it’s a huge step in the right direction towards making Linux a true universal operating system for the masses.   For those who suck at using computers and just need basic functions it works perfectly, and there’s still all the functionality of Linux for the rest of us (just need to think about things a little differently).  Unity is really more efficient…  

I have tried to like Unity but I do not. I guess because I have been working with traditional menu’s and UI for so long with Windows,OS X and Linux. I prefer what is familiar to me. This Unity reminds me a lot of Mobly from Intel. Its has that Netbook setup. In Unity I seem to have to do a lot of searching at first to find applications. Is this really better? What I like is that 11.4 could be installed and uninstalled as a application through Windows to duel boot. That is a nice featue and allows for a easy uninstall if you don’t like Ubuntu. I personally had enough issues with Unity and some really bad issues with Classic as in the login screen freezing  that I just unistalled Ubuntu. My own thought is why dose’nt developers on Ubuntu concern themselves more with stability issues and getting hardware to work correctly then designing a new UI like Unity which for me is a step backwards for Ubuntu.

Simply put it sucks. after several weeks I gave up and went to the login menu settings and changed it back to unbuntu classic and today I did a search to find out how to get rid of that dumb overlay scrollbar just to hard to deal with on my laptop using the touch pad.

Steven Smith

Overall, I like it. Sure it needs some work, but I think it is a step in the right direction. I could see this actually helping Ubuntu become more popular.

My only complaints are the lack of settings by default. (Even Mac OS X let’s you change the position of the dock.)
Secondly, a poster mentioned that the option to log in with “Classic Ubuntu” will be removed in the next release. If true, I think thats a mistake. The main reason I use Linux is because of OPTIONS.

At least I can always use Xfce.

ctrl+alt+t

Was that so hard?

man, you could be my bro!!! definitely!!! it’s like I hear myself…. wow. I didnt know there were people thinking exactly as I think.

Bill from Greece. ECE.

Hi Bill.

I’m really happy to read your comment.

There are some people that also think like we do, but don’t have the guts (courage) to admit it. We are the proud few

Best regards to you.

l also wish the best of luck and a big pile of miracles to our countries
(Greece and Portugal). Because anything short of miracles will be a
f***en waste of time.

Rui from Portugal.

Hahah, your rant made my day. Better use a non-bloated OS such as arch linux. Keep up the good work

yes

When you have to memorize ctrl+alt key combinations to perform basic functions there’s a problem. We might as well go back to CP/M and WordStar!

Install gnome-session-fallback in Oneiric and you’ll be happy. Also Gnome isn’t the only desktop. Try KDE, XFCE or LXDE and you’ll be fine

To quote Bart Simpson,  “I didn’t think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows!”. I’ll hold on to Ubuntu 10.04 and Gnome 2.3x for as long as I can, but I fear for the future. Seriously, if I wanted a Mac, I’d get a Mac, and if I wanted to stick my head up my own arse, I’d figure out a way of doing that too. Gnome 3 sucks as well, what with that awful sidebar and everything else. And since I’m not too fond of KDE, Xface and most every other desktop environment, I have no idea what will I do when support ends for 10.04 on April 2013. I hope the Mayans were right and that the world really does end in December 2012, just so I don’t have to deal with this then. Either that or a fork of Gnome 2, which by now seems just as likely.

Unity is awful if you like move-focus instead of click-focus.  Oh look, the menu is now at the top of the screen.  I’ll just mouse up and…fuck!  I accidentally passed over a different window, now my menu is gone.  I’ll just mouse back down to my window, and mouse carefully up, avoiding other windows….oops, gone again!  What a clusterfuck.

Unity just really sucks! Canonical is crazy to make this the default and to force its adoption! What a shame! Maybe Canonical is learning well Microsoft’s and Apple’s footsteps.

Who the hell put the graphics snobs in charge?

Functionally, these snobs have taken us back 20 years to Apple’s horrible stationary, multi-app, have-to-move-your-mouse-all-the-way-up-to-the-top-of-the-screen, changing menu-bar.

Us power-users usually have quite a few windows open and we rely on the elegance and power of mouseover window focusing, which is not even possible with your caramelized apple crap.

And hiding the menu?  That is the hight of idiocy. You should take a tip from Apples original and once brilliant guidelines on UI and above all, make things obvious and logical. Make things work the way they appear they should work, not the opposite. One real-world example I distinctly remember was Apple’s analogy of a door which has only a flat push plate no pull handle – it is obvious to the person approaching the door that you have to “push” it.

At this point, I am even suspect that you snobs have infiltrated the great Ubuntu effort in order to fragment it (e.g. divide and conquer). Maybe you actually work for Microsoft or Apple?

I’m in the same boat as the rest of you.  Unity is absolutely horrid!  Secondary terms that I could use include the following:

1. Awful
2. Terrible
3. Ugly
4. Uncustomizable
5. Unintuitive
6. Waste of space
7. Step in the wrong direction
8. FAIL!!

Gnome 2.x was brilliantly simple and everything was organized exactly where you’d logically think them to be.  I tried to get used to Unity in 11.04 for about a week but gave up and went back to Gnome Classic.  It was a huge drain on my productivity overall.  Now that 11.10 is out and Unity is fully baked in, I am officially making the switch to another distro.  I really hate to do that as I’ve been in love with Ubuntu since 4.10.  Sure, I could install Gnome Shell and switch back to (quasi) classic, but I’m not motivated enough to do so. 

Sorry Canonical, you lost me and the corporate environment that I make custom images for.

Brilliantly composed!

Now with Ubuntu 11.10 I just want 11,04 back running in classic mode -yes I did the classic down load for 11.10 and figured out that the system pull down menu really under applications as other that I renamed system, but 11.10 is still a cock up just like windows 2000 and XP was over Windows 98SE layout. That thank God  I only use from time to time to retrieve some old data.

sorry , rui ,but that’s bollocks.
I understand your position and it’s ok that you hate Unity and simple DE-s,but to think of it as a main reason or a result of the stupidity of people is too easy.Most people are not power users,they just want to browse the net or listen to music or play a game.I fail to see why you are angry with them.
The programmers and office workers,people who have to use computers efficiently are those with different needs.Unity is just an interface.If you don’t like that DE,don’t use it,or change it (that’s what open source is about) to work as you wish.There are problems with it , but it has good sides.I like the idea of dash and the possibility to search so easy (it’s faster to type a program’s name or a file’s name,than to search it yourself). However it’s a bit slow still.
And the people have been like that always.Arrogance is one of the reasons we are succesful species.Your post is arrogant as it’s my reply.Deal with it.

Rui, thank god I finally read a countryman writing like you. I couldn’t agree more and wish you the best on your endeavors.

My only question is: how the f*ck can you still try to teach 18 year old pricks anything useful? Read my remark: They don’t care! And can’t be bothered!

On topic… Unity?! WTF is that?

h.udo

Hi h.udo:

Although we both read and write Portuguese I’ll reply in English.
Otherwise everyone else could thought we were plotting to rule the
world, like we did 500 years ago. But this time, instead of using
caravels, we would use our “mighty debt” as a weapon. LOL

First things first:
Nice haircut! I use the same: Clean cut every month or so

“how the f*ck can you still try to teach 18 year old pricks anything useful?”

Short answer: I don’t try. It’s useless!

Because, exactly like you wrote, “They don’t care! And can’t be bothered!”

I try to focus on the ones that WANT to learn. The “bright sparks”!

Don’t get me wrong, the “bright sparks” are the ones that WANT to learn, despite the intellectual capabilities they born with.

Those are the ones that will be an added value to the society, the ones
that will leave this debt hole as soon as they can. They will go to
“greener pastures” were the productive and able members of the society
wont be raped with taxes to feed the ones that “(…) don’t care! And
can’t be bothered!”.

If you or anyone else want to contact me directly, send me hate mail or
just a plain and simple death threats can do it to:
teixeirainfo@gmail.com, BUT please insert a dot between “teixeira” and
“info”. This is a “trash email address” that will be hand filtered for
relevant messages.

Muito obrigado. Um abraço de Almeirim.
In English: “Thank you very much. Regards from Almeirim” (That’s my town’s name)
Rui,Portugal

Thank you for your reply
Alexander.
I really liked to read it. It’s very well written, with clearly
explained ideas and, unlike me, I don’t think you weren’t committing the sin of
arrogance.

Lets start with the only thing I disagree:
You claim
that my post was “bollocks”. I don’t agree. I wrote it as a
“rant” (to speak or declaim extravagantly or violently; talk in
a wild or vehement way; rave.)
It’s suppose to be aggressive, offensive
and arrogant.I think I’ve made a good job (You will be the
judge of that). Thus I think it cannot be considered “bollocks”.

Technically I agree with
you about unity:
It still have a few bug and problems, but I believe those will
be quickly solved. I don’t like it, but (as you wrote) I don’t have to use it. I can install another DE or switch to
another distro (I did! Mint).
I Also agree with you when you wrote that unity is easier to
learn and to work on basic tasks. Yes it is! Perhaps it’s too easy.
That’s the problem!

Things that
need a clarification:
You might ask: “So… Why do you hate it?”Technically unity is just a simple and basic DE that doesn’t suit my needs and I
don’t want to use. I just hate it on a philosophical level!
I’m not angry
with anyone for not being a power user. I’m angry with canonical
for going along with the mainstream OS’s. They are pushing a
default DE that is (on my opinion) unnecessarily limited and simply castrating. It will keep casual
users (most of them stupid cattle) from evolving.

With unity “search feature” users don’t
need to know where are their files. Hell, they don’t even need
to now what a file is!
That’s why I think “too easy” is bad!
I don’t believe that things should be handed over in a silver
plate. Difficult things to master are the most rewarding. That’s
what make people learn and push their limits.
This “knowledge free” society, this “ready to use”, “pre-installed”, “just
press one button” philosophy is the one that’s producing stupid
cattle.

This doctrine is digging so deep that I wont be very surprised
when “Fantastic Burger” announce their “pre-chewed delight: We
chew it for you!”

People in the western society are willingly falling in this trap
thus letting themselves be kept in ignorance, easier to control
and to command. Hence “stupid cattle”.

That’s what the rant is all about.

One more clarification, one that I should have explained on the first post:
Those who are “stupid” by birth, those who had the misfortune to
be born with limited capabilities, have my sympathy and help to
learn.
Those who choose to be stupid (low IQ by option), those who let themselves be kept
ignorant out of laziness, have my disdain and rant.

Your well placed, well explained and very pertinent comments forced me to explain myself. I truly thank you for it.

My best wishes to you, Alexander, and to everyone else reading this posts.

Rui, Portugal

I tip my hat to you sir
Thank you very much and the best wishes to you.

Rui, Portugal

I got into linux after many years of being a Windows slave.  I like customisation which ubuntu 10.04 was grear for – i could have an mac o/s bar on the bottom and a great status bar on the top if i wanted.  Unity takes all that away – can you move it to another side of the screen, can you change the icons on the top bar??? it’s mostly a step backwards. I do like the menu’s being on the top bar though; but overall where’s the customisation???

Before any one says anything i have ccsm (compiz config settings manager), but this doesn’t scratch the surface…

Indeed, Unity needs to be Ubuntu. As far as I have noticed, the freedom we had is ending as the time goes by. I’ll still use my UBuntu 10.10 as long as I can(actually until April/2012, when Canonical’s support for this version meets its end.) I’m afraid I’ll probably need to move to another LInux distro =(

Unity is anything but unifying.

I hate it, but you can change the position of the dock. Just dig around a bit. 

Trying Ubuntu 11.10 with Unity… WTF!

Feeling the same way… In fact, I’m thinking seriously in try with Debian…

It still “blows and sucks” in 11.10.  Things Unity did to me:
1. For some reason it looked like the side bar was not popping up.  Moving chromium out of the way, I realized it was popping “under” chromium and so was useless if chromium was maximized.  It wasn’t originally doing this, it just started doing it of its own accord.   That sucks.2. Its still wouldn’t let me change any of its behaviour.3. Close, Minimize and maximize buttons on the upper left of a window is dumb.4. You can drag a window so the top of it falls under the top menu bar.  If that happens, you cant get hold of the window again, so it ends up stuck. If you try and grab it to move, you just activate the top menu bar.  I couldn’t find a way to move it so had to kill the app. (Actually it just happened again, and the way to move it is right click on the bottom right corner of the window, when it gives the re-size pointer and select move.)5. I find myself constantly using alt-tab to find windows, cause the side bar is so useless as a task manager.Things that don’t make sense to me about Unity:1. Why does it need OpenGL to run when it seems to do Sweet F.A.2. Its designed for netbooks, but its specs exceed what most netbooks provide.  LXDE is a much better option for netbooks.  My Netbook wont run it.  3. Its supposed to make the screen cleaner, but if I use LXDE with the bottom task bar hiding itself, I waste exactly 2 vertical pixels of screen real estate.  Unity would waste more (if it ran).4. Its designed for netbooks, but its forced on unsuspecting desktop users.5. I tried to use it and like it, but the more I use it, and understand it, the less I like it.Unity is a piece of crap.  I still don’t know what problem its trying to solve, but I do know all it does is create problems.  Even my kids (10 and 16 respectively) think its crap.  I haven’t used Mint but I am about to change.  I used to try and convert my windows friends to Linux with Ubuntu, but now I couldn’t in good conscience try and convince anyone to try Unity.

UNITY = Unnecessary Non-Intuitive Tedious Yawn

I have use unity  interface for for 2 months and I am still frustrated with it. Very difficult to find application to open as well as find active applications. It is total suck. I had used OS2, windows (3.0 to 7), Hummingbirds, Mac, and Next.I would say Unity is the worst of them all.

The slogan for Unity ought to be ‘UNITY!  Dumbed-down computers for dumbed-down people!”

UNITY SUCKS. LEAVING UBUNTU BECAUSE OF IT. WHAT IDIOT DESIGNED IT.

 hi
we all need to tell the unity team what we think, and the only way to do that is to voice our feeling’s and technical issues with them.i don’t care if they have unity but they could spend a little time giving us a choice and adapt gnome 2.3 to the 11.10 server
this is the link to ask unity team questions

http://askubuntu.com/questions/ask?tags=unity 

Unity does not simply suck; it is the suckiest piece of suck that ever sucked.

While I still prefer the old Gnome 2 desktop, Canonical has made significant improvements to Unity, so I’ll probably stick with the standard Ubuntu distribution. 

With regards to the criticism of Unity in the article:

. Stability – I’ve had no problems with stability in the current version.
. Beauty – It’s still somewhat of an ugly duckling, but Ubuntu has never been known for its beauty and selecting different wallpaper helps. 
. Speed – Much improved over 11.04, and Dash is actually quite intuitive.
. Efficiency – Again Dash is much improved. The placement, however, is awkward. Not sure how I’d fix that, though. I keep pulling up Dash when all I want is to close a file.
. Consistency – It’s getting there, but lack of consistency isn’t a major drawback to me. It’s mainly a matter of getting used to where things are.
. Simplicity – I find this criticism odd. I know where things are on the menu bar and moving my cursor to the left side of the screen pulls the bar right up. It’s an efficient use of screen space. If what I need isn’t on the bar I can use Dash.

I wouldn’t mind seeing a Gnome fork based on Gnome 2, however. Or at least a Gnome 2-like interface in Gnome 3.

Hey Rui,
classic mate! I agree all the way. This modern world’s bent on teaching kids to be useless, dumb, arrogant little fuckers. A bit older than you, I am in IT and teaching as well, and my forehead is becoming flat from me slapping it in frustration all the time. The bright students are getting fewer and further between and the cattle are getting dumber. To ensure a graceful swan-dive into oblivion, the school keeps lowering the bar to make these people pass. Great World made by great thinkers.
Cheers from Australia my brother,
dave.
PS. Unity is awful and that is being kind

Unity is very disappointing.  I am really surprised that Ubuntu is forcing this clumsy and non-intuitive interface on its users.   I prefer Windows – that’s how bad it is.

I agree with most of what you said there. I wrote this post six months ago when Unity first came out. 11.10 cleans out more major issues, and while it is not perfect, nobody can deny that it has improved a lot since 10.04

I just upgraded from ubuntu 10.10 to 11.10, and I am overwhelmed by the sheer fucking uselessness of unity: Ok, fresh system, lets set up all my launchers to my scripts: nope, we don’t allow custom launchers. That unity bar is strictly for installed applications and you can’t touch it. Wait, since when did linux start mandating behaviour, this is like windows 7? And it doesn’t end there, what if I have 10 terminals open and I care about their titles? What good is a single terminal icon with 10 little triangles next to it? I KNOW I have ten terminals, vanilla gnome would at least stick them on a panel (with titles) for me to click on damnit!

I can’t find a single redeeming quality in this supposed enhancement to my user experience. I can’t even open multiple terminals without Alt-F2 because my mouse doesn’t have a middle button wtf? Did nobody think this through?

I can only hope that I can switch it back to gnome 3 without hours of trawling the internet and messing with configuration files.

How somebody can love one thing that not permit be changed, that other decided by you, that is a bad imitation of other products?

I tried unity on my Thinkpad T61 for a month or so, as I was determined to move with the times. However, I found it just plain frustrating. As a long-term Linux/Ubuntu user I’m used to being able to quickly park my favourite application launcher icons on the panels of the Gnome 2 interface. The left-hand menu in Unity sometimes fails to auto-hide, leaving the left-hand-side of the open window, of a current application, partially obscured.

I have fallen in love with Ubuntu One cloud file synchronisation, so will have to settle for using Ubuntu 11.10, running Gnome 2 for the time being. It’s really useful to have Tomboy notes synchronised automatically between desktop and laptop machines!

Let’s hope they sort-out Unity for the next Ubuntu LTS or an option to drop back to Gnome 2 would be good.

Addendum to my previous remark about running Gnome 2 on Ubuntu 11.10. I meant to say, “I’ll have to settle for running Gnome 2 on Ubuntu 11.04, for the time being.”

Unity web player is the worst thing since fuckin cheetah men, oh wait! It’s fuckin worse than that it lags, has terrible internet connection, and is a pain in my ass because i can hardly even play the cool games that are related to unity. I dont understand how 3d online games got into this shit. Thank God unity didnt try to screw up tf2 that would be fuckin terrible nobody could hardly even stay there for 2 seconds without unity fuckin disconnecting!

Thank you! You couldn’t put it better!
A fellow greek programmer.

I’m 35 years old and have 20 years in cars and tractor trailer repair.

I’m master ASE certified, have a B class CDL, EPA certified for R-134a systems, have 8 years of Caterpillar engine experience, and certified for diesel aftertreatment  systems. I built street rods when I was a kid and drove cars and trucks like 40 fords and 56 100′s in high school.

My point is that I can disassemble your car or any truck out there, to it’s bear frame, sub-frame, etc. throw it in a pile and put it back together. Do I expect you (stupid cattle) to do the same?????

I have no love for unity and also found it confusing and difficult to use there sidebar launcher.  I like Linux for its open source and custom building OS.

 I think of myself as above average with a computer. I am looking for non-Windows  OS that is stable, easy to use, pretty on the eyes and very customizable.  I can use command lines and have use command lines BUT, do I want to???? do I  wish to know how to write programs, become a web master or sit my fat ass in front of a computer or TV day in or day out.

I think Gnome 3, (with some more work) can give Windows or Mac is run for it’s money.

The problem with people like you is the same in my field. They think they are better then everyone else and forget to have a open mind. They fall behind on times because they are so high on there pedestal they forget to look down to see people pass them by.

We come a long way from horse and buggy, manual brakes, manual steering, vacuum wipers, or double shifter sticks. People now what easier, more comfortable, more affordable (open source would be nice!!)  and bright colours and sparkling cars. We also want the same for our OS.

Even though I take showers and shit, I do not wish to be a plumber. And so if you get your head out of your ass and read this, I hope it will open your eyes, if not……….  I guest being ” part of the cattle” is better then being where you are now.

 I agree with you that the original commenter (Ubuntu) might have had his head in his ass just a little bit, but you must understand the frustration that Unity evokes in people like me (and evidently him).

Ubuntu became my go-to OS because I could configure things and make things work like a wanted, but things also worked out the box (unlike many other Linux distros) . To me, Ubuntu adding Unity is the equivalent of a car manufacturer who I love and have bought from for years suddenly saying that on their latest car, you cannot adjust anything. You cannot open your windows or adjust your seat, you cannot even change a tire when things go wrong.

I am not talking about engine modifications and stripping things bare, I am talking about your day-to-day usage of the operating system. I don’t think that its unrealistic to expect that a new version of Ubuntu should not add so called “features” that only serve to fuck with your workflow and make you frustrated.

I also agree with the original commenter that Ubuntu should not try so hard to be like OSX and Windows. C’mon we have those already, I am not above using other operating systems for things they are better at, lets not lose what made Ubuntu awesome just so we can try keep up with irrelevant features of other operating systems.

Haha , that’s really kind , thanks Rui ( I am not absolutely sure how sarcastic you were,but i guess I deserve it).
Well , bollocks wasn’t right word,sorry.
Hm , about “With unity “search feature” users don’t
need to know where are their files.”
Exactly.
If you need to know where they are,you still can find out that easily.And power users would know.But when you try to access them,you don’t need to manually traverse the filesystem tree when the computer can do it for you(it’s faster).
You have options.You can do it the easy way and if that doesn’t work for long you’d have to learn the hard way and that kind of interface will be changed.
Otherwise I agree with you.

I have had some stability problems: crashes, slowness, stuck applications, no response from dash.
I would like more customizing options, i.e. the ability to either add specific or all FOLDERS to the unity launcher bar on the left (always visible), also to the desktop, or have them in the quick-launch menu (currently a right click on the home-folder icon, but only for certain folders) visible by hovering the mouse over top to save a mouse click.

Having to use keyboard shortcuts is VERY CUMBERSOME, as I often work one-handed, and this also makes the computer disability-UNFRIENDLY (I HATE keyboard shortcuts! [my personal opinion])

I do not like the mac-like feel (I like the hardware of Macs, but the software is wanting, and too cumbersome to use. Ubuntu compared very favorably with Windows AND Mac, because of ease of use and complete customization ability).

Other than that, I do not mind the changes. I also got my global menus back onto my windows, for example, and made some other changes, as I do not have a cell-phone, but a 24 inch screen. Large and small screens may need different approaches.

I am hoping for a lot more customization options, a faster system (the slowness sucks), and increasing stability. I think, there is hope, because it is all very new yet.

As someone coming from a windows machine I really can’t see the point in building this kind of interface. Linux will never replace Mac or windows on desktops and should focus on the core audience and build a fast, clean interface instead of eye candy.

Update: Also, I recently installed fedora and found the desktop refreshingly clean.

A lot of the issues people have with unity is just getting used to it. For instance, I thought tat first that I couldn’t get a simple list of media programs like I used to be able to with the menu, but then found the “filters” list in the dash. Still a lot harder to get to, but at least it’s there. What I don’t understand about some things (such as that) is they seem to make it harder for people new to the system to find their programs rather than easier.

Where is the benefit?

A huge problem I have, is with workspaces. I work with a 3×2 workspace system, the top 3 for work related stuff, and the bottom 3 for play. I put the browser in the top-center since I am there most often. It makes it easy with a keyboard shortcut to navigate left or right to get to terminals, or down to get to the “play” area. I don’t have to remember hotkeys for all the workspaces, just the workspace-x key and the arrow keys.

Now, with ubuntu 11.10, it’s screwed up. The dock shows a 2×2 which is not accurate. Also gone is the nice little workspace widget that showed all the workspaces at a glance. You could even drag windows around on it, which I used occasionally. Now I have to go to the big expose thing, which does show my 3×2 layout, but takes 2 clicks to actually get to an application. But navigating up, down, etc no longer works. When I go workspace right, it shows 6 workspaces arranged linearly. So there is only left and right. Breaks my whole workflow.

That’s just for starters. Menu at top is terrible – who thought this was a good idea? It was a bad idea when Macintosh did it 10 years ago. It’s one of my most hated features of macintosh computers – and now it’s infected my beloved linux? It makes sense when a window is maximized, but makes no sense when you are using a small window. What if there are several windows open and you want to quickly access the menus of each? Not all that uncommon, and now, impossible.

I love that chromium is my most frequently used internet app, when I’ve never opened it and use firefox lol. But that’s just a bug. In general I like te features provided by the dash, if it were more accessible, and in addition to the menus of old.

Just upgraded to Oneiric, DO NOT DO IT!
Then you get horrible unity that completely sucks, the 2d version is less buggy but still practically unusable. The design works for phones but not for desktops they are not meant for the same thing!
Also do not think gnome-session-fallback is a real gnome2 its a stupid gnome3 which is completely buggy(for example with a dual monitor machine you don’t even get an application menu you get nautlius menu bar instead and you can’t boot gnome-panel)

Conclusion going to debian, already had it on an old machine works perfectly well and at least is tested before released as stable!

Man I just love your post. The world (or Canonical at least) needs leaders like you.

Ubuntu users are flocking in droves to Xfce, which seems to be the only remaining desktop that isn’t trying to turn our desktops into overgrown smartphones.

Ubuntu has really jumped the shark with this one.

Yep Xfce is clearly a very good alternative, i did not see the difference with gnome 2!

I’ve been using computers since 1977 and one thing I can say without a doubt is that Unity is terrible. The whole common menu at the top of the screen sucks the most. Whoever thought up that idea should be drawn and quartered. The whole interface gives me a feeling of imprisonment.

SUCKS! X1200 fails, Compiz fails, more clicks to go somewhere, Connect to server does not work (connecting to another PC of mine), closes slow…
Back to 10.04 LTS !!

Oh..the other choices, 2d, Gnome etc.. Also sucks!

This article was written about 6 months ago and Unity is still buggy as hell and ridiculously slow. I can’t believe I gave 11.10 a chance after seeing how bad 11.04 was.

Goodbye Ubuntu, hello Mint.

just like you I’m saying hello to OpenSUSE

BEST……COMMENT…EVER…..

*COMBUSTS INTO MILLIONS OF ORGASMS*

Damn  man  ,   i just can’t agree  with  you  more 

It is a diagrace. Its the best way to loose time!

If you think Unity sucks, add youself to this online petition and share it around: http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/ubuntu - we should let Canonical know how frustrated we are.

argh, jezz.. back to MS? Haven’t even tried Kubuntu or Mint? Anyway, even if it’s too late, give this a try: http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/ubuntu

I wanted to choose the “hate it” option but the “vote” button didn’t work… should I blame unity?

I can’t find stuff that used to ge all together in the old dropdown menus.Try running something in wine, close it and see how long it takes you to find it again.  c: drive? forget it

Unity is like an older brother that’s constantly tormenting you.

Ubuntu has jumped the shark.  Existing users of Linux overwhelmingly hate Unity and as a result, we are abandoning Ubuntu in droves.

For me, the destination was a stock Debian build with Xfce desktop.  YMMV.

Ubuntu just lost me as a user. It has been my favorite distro since I started using Linux, but since they striped classic Gnome out of the default install, I can see the writing on the wall. I don’t care that I can install the classic shell if I want to (even though when you do it is all screwed up (many icons missing)), I just want the better classic UI to be present in the install and working well. I agree with the article in every way. I don’t hate change, but bad change sucks. Unity is slow, clunky, and inefficient. It does not lend itself to admin or developer related use, maybe for web-surfing or document editing, but not serious use. 

Weston

UNITY SUCKS
FULL STOP

[...] more about Unity badness… [...]

*Can’t open another home folder via dock when file is trasfer in progres
* Need to be able to re-click icon to open another window of the same app.
* icon click than Rick click than action never works first try. ie click, right click, quit
* no copy paste in dash!
* dash takes up way to much room/ icons to big
* recomending apps shouldn’t be in dash , see above
* software cente needs to be right size to see search window
* software center has avertising in it/ layout to busy (see google   home page for right idea / clean )
*windows get stuck under top bar
* snap feature to buggy to use.
* when window is drug over top bar burry outline remains even after window under it is gone.
*sofware center really freaking slow

Unity is utter crap. I absolutely hate it. My scrollwheel no longer works, and surprise surprise there’s no fix online for this besides changing out my nice USB mouse for a 10 year old PS2 mouse or installing xfce. The interface looks absolutely awful. Linux, as a whole, used to be such a nice group of OSes before the idiot group thinkers that write Ubuntu (and the other distros) tried to make it compete with more complete frontend operating systems like Microsoft’s and Apples OSes. Now the difference between Windows, Mac and Linux are quintessentially small and like newer bubble cars, all looks the same. As a technician that has used Linux since the mid-90s, this sickens me, and I’m literally about to scrap this machine as a linux box in favor of v7. It’s sad Debian can’t get their shit together, or I’d flock there, but lets me honest, outside using it as a server OS, Debian is uglier than cute girl with short hair. I know the loonix nerds might make fun of me for this, but honestly, I have a 4 year engineering degree, can program in several different languages, and have worked as a IT consultant for 10+ years. I think I know what I’m bitching about a little more than some douche that sits on Freenode all day jocking Canonical, that discovered Linux because they think it can run everything from their toaster oven to their television set. An operating system is only as good as the needs of the user that uses it, and as of right now Ubuntu 11.10 (aka Ubuntu Vista) is doing nothing but pissing me off.

Hi Ubuntu , while I do see your point,I find it hard to understand that you chose Ubuntu as your Linux flavor of choice.

Ubuntus’ aim had always been to target there OS to non-technical users, and have the GUI do most of the hard work for them,this just seems to be the next stepping stone for them to do so.

While I am not 41yo old, my first PC was a 286sx, and I haven’t been around that long, I understand that I am a PC Engineer, Programer and Embed designer by trade and as a result I consider myself a “Power user”.

Thats why I need a OS aimed at me, so I use Fedora and Opensuse as my Linux flavors of choice, and they fit my needs pretty well.

 Maybe its time you switch over aswell?

I made a google search: “unitiy seriously sucks”. That brought me here. What may be my opinion? I’ll try gnome shell 3, and if it does not bring back karmic koala’s speed and reliability, back to WIN XP.
A shame.

While it may just some Facebook Machine to some rich “cattle”, I marvel over the hardware capabilities that go wasted on some of todays’ computers. 

Is it the economy that makes you guys arrogant assholes, or being arrogant assholes makes economy goes bad?

Recently updated the Ubuntu half of my system (I was dual-booting Windows 7 x64 and Ubuntu 10.10 x64).  Spent a day trying to make Unity do anything the way I wanted.  Nothing worked.  Got depressed, missed GNOME.  So I switched from Ubuntu to Debian, and now everything is okay again.  Never going back to Ubuntu.  I am now happily running a dual-boot of Windows 7 x64 and Debian 6 x64.

Loved your post! Posts like this can make my otherwise dull & dark day lively, bright & happy. According to an insider information MS$ paid Ubuntu launch guys hefty dollars to choose such a DE (desktop environment) which on the surface looks fancy but is outright clumsy to use. Fancy on surface is good feed for “Stupid Cattle” (as referred in above post) and that keeps them busy for *uck sake. But certainly, if MS$ has its ways, open source has bad days ahead! Be warned Open Source community!!

Unity certainly is the worst thing happened to Ubuntu after Bird Flu epidemic.
If Alexander was alive today, he would have chopped his PC into 2. Unity made me feel sick!
When the desktop showed for the first time, I was scared to death that my screen burned, but soon I discovered that it was the default wallpaper with Ubuntu 11.10 which looks like a screen burned! Even when I tried to change the default wallpapers from the installed set of wallpapers, none of them looked good, leave alone pretty. Why they couldn’t find a better set of installed wallpapers? Ubuntu has already seen its best days, now good bye Ubuntu!

I only tried it for a day before I went back to 11.04, but that was more than enough. My menu with my launchers was gone and the disappearing menu is annoying. The left menu isn’t intuitive, and is slow. I’m starting to back up in text files so I can switch to mac when 11.04 isn’t supported. I don’t need linux to have someone tell me how my gui will look and run. What happened? Ubuntu sucks!

Unity is rubbish

Overall nice interface but is so restricted, I feel so restricted as when I work on Windows shame !!!

It’s a shame, because I’ve been happy with Ubuntu since v7 – but there’s no way I can use this, so will have to find another distro to use from now on.

NOOOO DONT….DO…IT

Hey i totally agree with you. But I’m pretty sure you can switch back to the normal interface too from the Log in menu. Don’t take me to court on it because I’m not 100% sure…
Your Friend,
The 14 Year Old Geek….

The primary reason Unity is a failure is that it violates the primary rule of good interface design – Give the User Control. The graphic artists, etc. can debate all they want, the problem is that configuration of it is far more complicated (if possible at all) compared to its predecessors or other desktops. How nice and simple was it to right click and add or remove items from a panel. Beginning and end of debate right there even. It is a terrible shame that Ubuntu has gone down this route. Underneath the desktop is a generally good system, but for those of us arguing for all the positives of Linux/Ubuntu as a Windows replacement, you have just made us look like idiots by saddling us with a default interface so lacking. This is just development in a box without considering flexibility, configurability. No two users are alike. Now the option is throwing on extra desktops that invariably don’t play completely well with what is underneath Or pursuing some Ubuntu fork that isn’t as reliable either. There is a certain point in building anything where you have to have the patience and perspective to recognize when not try to to take something to the next step. Unfortunately this is a hard thing to do with community software, and sadly it has bolstered the proponents of proprietary software.

I am so depressed.  Ubuntu is finished.  Who makes these decisions?  really!?!?   Do they defend it?   Time to find a new distro.  I did love how Ubuntu was easy to set up.  Guess I’ll have to revert to my geek past.

I hate hidden panel’s that pop up when I hover while doing something else. I much prefer to permanently lose part of my screen and work on what is available.