It’s no secret that I have long praised the elementary OS project. On this blog I have even gone so far as to say that it’s the greatest thing that has happened to the free software world in the past five years. The developers’ passion for great design, superb user experience, and unmatched attention to detail is what sets it apart from all others. Previously I have used the elementary apps, like Noise, Maya, Audience, and Pantheon Files to name a few, with Ubuntu. Together they were the perfect free software combination.

I am a CS student in college because creating the absolute best software (both in design and usability) possible is what I am here to do. I don’t have the technical skills to write the code yet, but I am passionate about the union of free software, beautiful design, simplicity, and user experience. I am working at learning more about software development every day, and I can’t imagine doing anything else for the rest of my life. I am excited.

Four years ago I first tried Ubuntu, and it changed my life. Through thick and thin I have stuck with it, supported it, recommended it, and contributed to the project in various ways. That support and dedication will not go away.  With Ubuntu I’ve had an immense amount of fun, a great computing experience, and have come to be part of one of the greatest communities ever. The people that work on and use Ubuntu are some of the greatest people in the world.

But the time came for me to make a change. The past two years have had highs and lows for the project, but I’ve stuck with it because I believe in the ultimate goal: great free software that fits the needs of the typical, everyday, non-technical user. But as the project evolved, I’ve felt less and less in tune with its goals.

I’ve always been of one opinion about open source software: each project should focus on doing on thing, and execute on that thing to the very best level possible.

Why Ubuntu is Losing to elementary OS for Me

  1. If you're going to focus on a great desktop operating system, then focus on that: don't try to tackle other worlds. In particular, a desktop operating system shouldn't also be a phone operating system or run televisions. When you lose focus of where you're going, you will never get there.
  2. For the past three or four releases, stability has been a huge issue. Constantly, even with stable releases, I would get crashes. Unity would crash. Compiz would crash. My parents, who aren't technical users, also get crashes, and have to contend with them. Putting up a dialog every couple hours that 'randomly' says "System program problem detected" isn't helpful and should never happen. My parents shouldn't see that message just because some dumb daemon crashed in the background. Also, both of my parents' computers have had a reoccuring issue in the past few months where Compiz would crash/bug out and window controls would be on the wrong side of the title bar. That just makes for a poor user experience for them.
  3. Performance. Compiz is a slow, dated resource hog and a full desktop shell should not be built on top of it. In the past two years, since the inclusion of Unity, performance has taken a dramatic hit. Performance matters more than some people think. When someone opens an app, something should happen, and it should happen quickly.
  4. Releasing before it's fully baked. Ubuntu releases every six months. While that is good for constantly keeping development in high gear, it doesn't make for stable, memorable releases. If it ain't ready, you shouldn't ship it.
  5. Drifting too far away from the desktop metaphor. Don't get me wrong, I like Unity. I have always defended it since it came out. I like that it was designed to bring your computing experience together by integrating apps, files, and content. When you start adding tons of useless information, creating 'lenses' and 'scopes' just for the heck of it, and integrating shopping recommendations and useless results when I'm just searching for an app, it really takes away from the experience of it all. At the end of the day, I want a desktop, not a magic portal to the universe.

A Concise List of Reasons Why elementary OS Fits Me

  1. A consistent, elegant, and well-implemented HIG.
  2. Built on top of Ubuntu's outstanding foundation.
  3. Rock-solid stability and unmatched performance.
  4. A desktop experience that works well.
  5. Default apps that make sense.
  6. Simplicity while retaining functionality.
  7. Slick design, especially with workspace switching and window management.
  8. Elegance under the hood.

An app can be beautiful on the outside and written poorly on the inside- elementary OS is as beautiful on a technical level as it is on the surface.

Wrap-Up

My loyalty has been with Ubuntu for four years, and it isn’t going away any time soon. I still am committed to what Ubuntu hopes to accomplish. elementary OS is built on top of Ubuntu, so I’m not leaving: I’m just giving up on the rough parts to make room for some much-needed polish.

So here’s to Ubuntu, present and future, and here’s to the beginning of a great experience with elementary OS.