Public bug reported:
In
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/739812/comments/5 ,
Mark Shuttleworth said,
"... we have the Classic desktop fallback in Natty, but will not in
Oneiric."
This is worrying. Any attempt to remove support for the Classic desktop
is likely to cause serious problems for many Ubuntu users, either
because Unity doesn't work on their hardware for some reason, or because
they just don't like it -- and it's abundantly clear that many people
don't like it.
For the purpose of this bug, it doesn't really matter why people don't
like Unity or why it breaks for them. (In my case, it's because I have a
4480x1440 total display area, for which many of the tablet-oriented
design decisions in Unity make absolutely no sense.)
It could be argued that that anyone who doesn't want Unity can stay with
Maverick or Natty. However, since those aren't LTS releases, they are
only supported until April 2012 and October 2012 respectively (including
for security fixes). So that's not really an acceptable alternative to
continuing to provide the Classic desktop until at least the next LTS
release. In my case, I switched from Windows having no idea that Ubuntu
would make such drastic changes to the interface in the very next
release. (If I'd known that, I might have installed Lucid instead. But
downgrading from Maverick to Lucid to get the LTS support doesn't make
sense; that would just cause stuff to break.)
It is possible to switch to KDE or some other alternative to Unity, of
course (although making that switch from a GNOME/Metacity-based install
is not without problems). Other environment/window manager combinations
are usually selected using the same login screen menu that is used to
select Classic vs Unity. Assuming that menu is still there in Oneiric
(it will be, right?), and assuming that all the classic desktop packages
are still available in the Oneiric apt repositories (they will be,
right?), I wonder what simplification is really available from removing
Classic as one of the environment/window manager options. If no
simplification is available, then there is no justification for removing
the option.
So, we need some clarity:
* what does "we will not [have the Classic desktop fallback] in Oneiric" mean
precisely? Does it just mean not installing packages needed for the Classic
desktop *by default* on new installs (but keeping them in the repositories and
in a working state, and not messing about with them on existing installs), or
does it mean more than that?
* will anything that might be necessary for a particular setup currently using
the Classic desktop to work, be uninstalled or disabled on an upgrade to
Oneiric? (such as disabling the proprietary NVidia drivers as in bug 772019,
for example)
* if a user has explicitly changed the default environment back to Classic
desktop in Natty, will installing Oneiric override that preference, and if so
will changing it back again cause regressions like there were with the
Maverick->Natty upgrade? (bug 734373 and bug 735861, for example)
* for those users who do use Unity, will critical usability and accessibility
regressions such as bug 654988, bug 739812, and (not specific to Unity) bug
762806, block the Oneiric release?
** Affects: ubuntu
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/830404
Title:
Proposed removal of GNOME Classic desktop would be a serious usability
and accessibility regression
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