[Wolves] Ubuntu reverting to GNOME

[Peter Cannon]

On 05/04/17 21:03, Adam Sweet via Wolves wrote:

> I await the shit storm of fanboi and naysayer responses (or just the normal
> tumbleweeds).

So lets get some "Shit" out the way before I start.

The whole 'Convergence' idea is/was a massive white elephant for Ubuntu-née-Canonical. Microsoft and Apple had/have masses (read years) of experience in the desktop PC and Laptop prior to getting into mobile phones, building on that experience it was a small step for them when Tablets came along. Ubuntu-née-Canonical have a great core product but I've always been of the opinion Mark is desperate to run before he can walk. I've always felt that his sole aim was to be the 3rd distro of choice in the world (Obviously he's like to be number one but hopefully even he isn't that crazy?) but his desperation could potentially be his downfall. The constant plethora of half truths and pretence over the years has tarnished the reputation not to mention the failed projects. The thing about failure is you can wrap it up how you like "We ran out of money, there was a lack of interest, there was unresolved difficulties" it's still a failure and people will always remember your failures as opposed to your successes.

Now I await the deluge of "Where is your evidence?" Or the accusation of "More of Cannon's byle!" which is designed to make less enlightened people 'toe the (Ubuntu) party line by the way.

I have no experience of the Mobile phone market other than selling the damn things for a short period back in 1987/8 and of-course being a consumer of Android, probably the most dominant mobile OS to date? I, along with many others, was stunned that Canonical intended to get involved with mobile phones. It struck me as a kid whizzing round the streets one day on his shiny roller-skates and then turning up the next day attempting to drive a 40 Tonne truck! Please don't insult my intelligence by saying "You've got to try these things Pete." there's a difference between R&D and trying by pure marketing techniques to break into a sector.

I said all along that Ubuntu-née-Canonical missed the boat when Tablets were release, that was something they could have really got their teeth into and would have been a stepping stone to the mobile market. At the time they actually had some of the prerequisites in place such as a music store and on-line storage. But then just as they get into the mobile market they start killing off some of the very features that the consumer expects when buying a phone! Madness.

I too moaned about Unity, I moaned about the loss of desktop real estate (Until the auto hide feature was implemented) I moaned about the buttons being on the left for no valid reason other than A: Copying Apple and B: Setting Ubuntu apart from all the other distributions. I've been using Ubuntu full time at home for about three or four months now and I have to say I've gotten used to the Unity menu bar, it's not that dissimilar Fedora for example. I still hate the buttons on the left and setting up the workspaces the way I'm used to working has been an annoying inconvenience but not impossible. The point is, I've come around slightly to the distribution and here's an interesting thought. Ubuntu-née-Canonical already had 'Convergence' with Gnome for example. To you're average user Convergence means it looks the same on any device, they really don't care what's under the hood.

Ubuntu-née-Canonical is doing really really well in the boring markets that have no sex appeal. They're really cleaning up in the Enterprise market with the OS running on that many different systems its hard to give you a definitive list. At work I obviously get loads of Trade magazines and marketing stuff, I can guarantee Ubuntu gets a mention in 90% of them, whether it's an article about sensors or network infrastructure Ubuntu often gets a mention. So while yes Adam, I did do a little "I was right!" jig at 5am this morning I honestly think Ubuntu-née-Canonical is not dead just hopefully growing up. :-)