I love traditional desktops. I love the feel of switching between open programs using a taskbar, I love using a file browser to navigate the backstreets of my hard drive, and I love the way programs and files arrange themselves on a virtual desktop that I can navigate. Sure, I’m stuck in the past, but I don’t want any of that to change.
So when I heard that Unity was going to be the default desktop experience for Ubuntu 11.04 ‘Natty Narwhal’, my jaw dropped wide open. Having messed around with Unity for a while, I immediately switched back to the default GNOME environment. The first thing that killed me was that I felt Unity was ugly. This isn’t meant as a Unity-bashing, or to start a flame war, but it doesn’t appeal to me as a user. It looks a little unpolished. From a technical stand-point, it leaves a lot to be desired. It’s GPU intensive, it’s sluggish, it’s buggy, and it’s confusing. I missed by blessed GNOME Menu, and I really missed Nautilus.
But the more I think of it, the more I’m open to the change. I know Canonical is committed to making this release a success, and I’m sure that it will turn out to be a work of art. It’s going to be based on Compiz, and be tailored for use on a Desktop. Still, my past experience is burned into my head. I hope that it’s a complete 180 from how Unity is now. I look forward to having Unity enhance my desktop experience. Make no mistake about it, though; if it detracts from my usability, I’m ditching it at the first possible moment. I love the way traditional desktops work, and I will not let anything sub-par take its place. And, in total attempt to be as dramatic as possible, you can pry my file browser from my cold, dead hands.