[TriLUG] Ubuntu 11.04 Release Party, April 28, Chapel Hill

matt at noway2.thruhere.net matt at noway2.thruhere.net
Mon Apr 18 09:12:17 EDT 2011


> Not to be an ass, but why not stay with main line ubuntu and just
> install gnome-desktop and remove unity?
>
And similarly, not to be either an ass or a smart-ass, your mentioning it
is the first time I have even seen this as a suggestion.  I had wondered
about it as a possibility, and I do realize that Linux is largely about
choice, but it doesn't seem to get air time as a viable option.  It seems
to me like the main-line Ubuntu Overlords, or whatever you would call
them, have decided that Unity is the way it is going to go and that the
change will be forced upon the users; as opposed to making it an option. 
In my opinion it would have been better to make it an option, even to the
point of offering it as a prompt at installation.

My other reason for wanting to get away from Ubuntu is that I feel that I
have, for lack of a better term, out grown it somewhat.  The package
management system is nice and its hardware support is very good, but I
have reached that critical mass point where I have enough experience to
both want and have the capability to customize my applications a bit more
than Ubuntu is designed for.

For example, I was looking yesterday at downloading a package from source
and being able to customize the build options.  Unfortunately, there
doesn't seem to be anything like the equivalent of a Slackbuilds script,
where you can cleanly specify the options.  Rather they seem to be
"hidden".  This in fact, I think has become one of the Ubuntu
characteristics - that it hides the details.  This is likely what makes it
friendly towards beginners, but as a more experienced user it is becoming
a turn off.






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