Unity And Ubuntu Will Fail
By Michael Marr
Expert Author
Article Date: 2011-05-13
Mark Shuttleworth has set Ubuntu up for a tragic shortcoming. At the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Bupdapest, Hungary, Shuttleworth set a goal for "200 million Ubuntu users in 4 years". This may have been a realistic goal on the previous path Ubuntu was taking. However, Natty Narwhale's release in late April took a huge step in the wrong direction. Ubuntu has long been considered the flagship Linux distribution that could potentially compete as a desktop/workstation alternative to Microsoft Windows. Why is this is no longer a possibility? Unity.
Status Quo
I held off passing any judgment on Unity until I had a chance to use it fully. Albeit my typical workspace is full of terminals, I have had a chance over the past few weeks to explore Unity's features and functionality. I'm not a fan, but I'm not a hater either. Unity is not a bad thing. However, Unity isn't a great thing either. It's very different from what the general public are familiar with. People fear, and consequently avoid, change. Users aren't going to willing change what they're used to, and that's why Microsoft has been able to dominant the market over the past two decades. A viable competitor to Windows should be as Windows-ish as possible.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Gnome on Ubuntu was working. Why? Because Gnome is enough like Windows that a non-Linux user could sit down and easily figure out how to start a web browser, word processor, play games, and do anything else they (an average user) would normally do. This ease of transition coupled with great speed, stability, and malware/virus free made Ubuntu an attractive alternative to businesses and individuals alike. Oh yeah, it's also free. Well sure, all the latter points are still valid for Ubuntu. Now, because of Unity, the former selling point of easy transition isn't. I'm an expert computer user, regularly study and develop UI/UX, and still encountered 15 minute or so of "How do I..." and "What is this?". My fifteen minutes of lame easily equates to much more time for an average or novice user.
Hi, I'm a Mac.
Although Apple is an easy case to cite against the argument above, Apple did it with marketing. Users were more willing to overcome the UI/UX transition by being constantly reminded on how the other end of the Mac rainbow involved stability, speed, and unicorns without the fear of malware and viruses. Well, maybe not the unicorns part. As noted, Ubuntu had and still has these same advantages (minus the unicorns). Ubuntu does not have a multi-million (billion?) dollar marketing budget. Thanks to the iPod, Apple had this money available to market their Macs. Even with some serious cash flow into Ubuntu, what angle does Ubuntu take to combat Microsoft that Apple already hasn't?
Although 200 million users by 2015 isn't viable for Ubuntu, look for spin-offs like Linux Mint to build off the stability that Ubuntu 11.04 brings and continue down the path forsaken by Shuttleworth and Ubuntu.
About the Author:
Michael Marr is a IT staff Writer for WebProNews.
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