Friday, March 12, 2010

2 reasons not to use when claiming Lucid changes are bad

This blog is in response to http://humphreybc.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/its-the-little-things-that-count/

1: Ubuntu users aren't used to the change
I'm getting pretty sick and tired of the Ubuntu users out there that revert to saying that all changes that canonical has made to Ubuntu for 10.04 are bad "because Ubuntu users aren't used to them".  I don't really see how you can consider anything change unless something has ... well ... changed.  Yes, these same people that are making those claims are the same people that are out there complaining about there being no changes.

What's wrong with there being change for the sake of change?  I learned Ubuntu not by someone telling where every little button is, but by playing around with the UI and seeing where everything is for myself.  Even the typical egghead when it comes to computers knows that there will be a close/maximimize/minimize button somewhere in the top of a window.  Just because it's magically been moved to the other side doesn't mean Ubuntu's gone to the crapper.

2: Windows users will get confused if they want to switch
I'm kind of expanding on my last statement here, but it's not exactly rocket science here trying to find out where things are on the Desktop GUI.  I would imagine that most people that want to make the switch to Ubuntu aren't going to go crazy and get depressed because things "aren't where they should be".

I don't see the macintosh users out there going "hmm, I'm not sure if the windows users who switch over to macintosh are going to like that the title bar menu options are now right next to the window title" or "oh gosh, windows users are going to spontaneously combust when they see the close/maximize/minimize buttons on the left hand side".

The ability for the new Ubuntu user to use their common sense is something that too many people are ignorant of.  There is no reason that a single change made so far by the team at Canonical should be seen as something any new Ubuntu user can't get a grasp of with the use of a little common sense.

I for one am happy that Canonical has finally decided to make some decent UI changes to Ubuntu, because thats something that I get to look forward to on a constant basis as I test of the newest versions of Ubuntu.  There are too many lazy users out there that just aren't willing to accept the changes because IMO they have gotten into such a routine with their daily computer lifestyles that any and all changes are the straw that broke the camels back.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

District Of Columbia LoCo Team Meeting Minutes 3-06-2010

The meeting minutes are as follows.  Thanks to crimsun for chairing this meeting!


Attendees: Magilum, bcurtiswx, lfaraone, kjcole, crimsun, throughnothing
[DONE] Magilum to discuss DistrictOfColumbia LoCo intent pending imminent Ubuntu SSO policy (02/27)
  • No real contention based on non-regression (non-Free nature) of SSO/OpenID implementations
Local Community Activity Discussion
  • Waiting to see what comes of OCTO's first DC Community Broadband Summit and Ward 1's request for computers
  • kjcole handed out quite a few CD's at the Broadband Summit


    • [DONE] kjcole replied to Sanjay
    • [ACTION] kjcole will try to connect with Sanjay to hand off some CD's -- or maybe even make it to the lunch.


  • [ACTION] Phil Shapiro and kjcole to meet with Lawrence Guyot on 03/07, owner of http://ette.biz/ (Empowerment through Technology & Education).
    • Lawrence has space that he may be willing to make available for free, for "good causes" like Ubuntu events. (Space is the Woodner Ballroom. 3636 16th Street NW, Ballroom, Washington, DC.)
  • [DONE] bcurtiswx updated wiki for March meeting notes and readied for monthly Team Reports
[ACTION] crimsun to blog about GC uses (02/27)
  • Apologies: high priority audio bugs
[ACTION] lfaraone to follow up with meetbot owners (02/27)
[ACTION] Magilum to chair 03/13 meeting (03/06)