I personally think Ubuntu has been hijacked by Microsoft. They are surreptitiously trying to take the operating system towards a direction where you would have to pay money for every other program you download. The sudden disappearance of the Synaptic Package Manager and the push towards the Ubuntu Software Center looks as if the people running the show at Ubuntu want to control how programs are downloaded and installed in the system. Anyway, I didn't wait - simply went back to Natty and installed Gnome. Maybe I will try Mint out and if it works then stick to it.

unity is not that bad. i would prefer to choose. and i'd go for gnome. but unity is usable.

I have been using Ubuntu for a while. But now I am trying to find a substitute. Unity is the reason, why I installed Mint yesterday after trying Fedora. When I edit videos, I don't want a panel suddenly appear, when I move the cursor to the left side of the screen to adjust the time-line. Popping unity panel makes me almost crazy.

Starting and changing programs is slower with unity than with a traditional start-menu. The panel appears, when I don't want it to appear, and it does not appear, when I need it. Unity makes working with the computer slow and frustrating.

I use the computer to do things (editing videos and photos, writing, working with sound, doing things in Internet), not to watch the beautiful desktop and menus. And unity, by the way, is not beautiful. Gnome3 looks better. But it is not very practical either.

Could be Unity, not a big fan, but it is not too hard to change it to something else, it does have apt-get after all. Unity is too hard to use, so many more clicks to get to things you want and I don't see a good point in it. Should have just been an option in the first place.

As much as I tried, I never could get Ubuntu to work satisfactorily on my old & decrepit hardware. The distro that works for my purposes is Puppy Linux - Linux for dumpster divers like me. I run several versions, on anything from a 433mhz 128MB ram thin client - to a 1.7 ghz 2GB ram laptop. My desktop OS (Puppy Slacko) is carried in my pocket on a bootable 4GB usb stick. Right now, I'm on a 1.5 ghz 1GB ram mini-itx industrial computer - that serves as my email & surfing box. As long as I can watch youtube, I'm happy. Puppy Linux does my form of computer necromancy just fine. If the hardware is too old to be recognized, I back up a few years & try a Puppy version with an older Linux kernel - which has not failed to work for me yet. Maybe, sometime soon, I'll find some faster & better hardware on heavy trash day...... on that day I'll try Ubuntu again. Then, I can beeyotch about Unity. LOL

I've got an old desktop I'm using as a media center for my living room television which I put Ubuntu on. I've refused to update beyond 11.04 so that I don't have to put up with the Unity interface. I hate it! I'll most likely be switching over to Mint myself soon, as I'm sure that sooner or later it will become necessary.

I dumped Ubuntu at 10.10 I was orginaly going to mint but the install failed and it was unresolved so I went to Kubuntu it worked nice and install and replaces all my files stored on Ubuntu one. I have been a long fan of Ubuntu but the unit shell sucks for a laptop or desk top it would be great in a tablet but its a mouse clicking maze on a laptop. I might look into Xubuntu ot try the new mint 12 maybe it will install.

oh ya unity sucks

send your hate to
#unityshellsucks

Gnome3 and unity are complete disasters. Worse still, their developers insist on staying on the bridge of titanic until the end.

I'm a 4 year Ubuntu user but have switched to Debian for now. I might try the next Xubuntu or Lubuntu LTS release (12.04), or maybe Mint at some point. But for now Debian squeeze / xfce works well for me. I don't expect I will ever use Unity or Gnome3 unless they provide a LOT more customization. I have tried them both, in their current form - each would be OK for tablets or phones but neither makes sense for a desktop.

I think the reason its Unity: many people come to Linux Ubuntu for its facility of use and its amazing effects with compiz (cube, etc) I know that fx are not only in Ubuntu, but the end user thought that. For me Ubuntu is the best distro: free and free (gratis) with a great enterprise back and the biggest support for the Debian community.

Linux Mint is an ugly ubuntu. My server is Ubuntu 8.04, my desktop OS is Ubuntu 11.10, 10.04 (in the laptop).

Linux Mint is the "actual moda" a simple fashion for "to be snov". Althoug i don understund how Canonical not made more applications for Ubuntu, por example a good office pack based in LibreOffice but an interface more actual like office 2007-10, and any good 3D game o something for start up Ubuntu.

Ubuntu Unity sucks eggs. Period. It offers no new inspiring vision of a desktop that I was hoping for, and the only thing it adds for certain is an incredible amount of cognitive friction to the user who wants to do anything more than launch firefox. The worst UI designs hide the user's options or available actions neatly away from the user, which Ubuntu Unity does very well and in unique and hard-thought ways.

A real shame for Ubuntu.

Let me get this right. You post three graphs. Two are based on Distrowatch. One of those for one day, November 23rd. The Google graph can hardly be called a spiral. And you hype this as conclusive proof that Ubuntu has tanked.

I question your methodology and your conclusion. DW puts Minty ahead of Ubuntu. Google puts it significantly behind. Clem Lefebvre admits Ubuntu is about three times larger which backs Google's position and show DW to be useless as a tool for anything but sensationalism.

Imagine if Billboard made its top 100 based on a +1 instead of sales. Would that make an accurate reflection of who the best selling artist is? Hardly.

Thank you, that was a most informative post.

I've just started dabbling with Unity in 11.10, and I've got to admit that I prefer the more 'traditional' Gnome look of 10.4 (which I use all the time). However, the way things are moving in IT, more and more tablets are going to appear, and I see exactly where Ubuntu are coming from. Up until now it has been easy really, as all you've had are laptops, and desktops. Now you have them, and tablets, and smartphones. All UI designers are now trying for a one size fits all, including MS with Windows 8. Therefore I am prepared to put up with Unity. However, what is being ignored (IMO) are all those people who are not prepared to change, don't want to change, or are unable to change (silver surfers spring to mind). MS are ignoring them as well, which could be a huge mistake.

Not a fan of Unity, but I didn't find Linux Mint to be that much better when it came to performance, detecting my drivers, etc. (which is odd, considering it is a snapshot of Ubuntu). Switched to Ubuntu 11.10, changed some of the navigation features (mimicking Apple's Expose') and I have a usable machine again. Stable, too (though Gwibber still seems to be powered by drunk hamsters).

I'm using Ubuntu solely as a Desktop solution. I don't really tweak anything anymore and just need a machine that's stable and works despite the oddity that is Unity. On an actual server I use Debian which, with its command line, delivers day after day.

The Unity bar and the fact that the tool-bar menus disappear is still high on my annoyance list, but I'm noticing that I'm getting used to it to the point where I probably won't be bothered by it soon.

I am not sure if I believe these numbers, but Unity is the reason for the decline. I am still using it, but I am struggling. The next release will have to fix most of the problems, or I am out.

I have my fingers crossed.

For many years Ubuntu users have "create" a way to work on Ubuntu/Gnome
With Unity they can't anymore so : Unity is the main reason.

I would possibly accept Unity. The main drawback for me is the increased hardware demand. Ubuntu was ideal for older or weaker machines as contemporary replacement of XP. Latest version of Ubuntu is running much slowly than previous versions. I will stay with 10.04 LTS until is supported and then I will have to move to another distro. Too bad. Have been with Ubuntu for 5 years, running it on 4 machines in our family...

I agree that Unity is to blame.

I've used several distros and moved back to Debian for stability, personally, but always installed Ubuntu to my friend's with chronic computer virus problems. After Unity's release I was lost though. I'll admit that after using it for a few days (new work computer, needed hardware support ASAP) there were a few things that do work a bit better, but it's far to drastic of a shift. I ended up with Debian, backports, manual firmware installs, and a working stable *familiar* system.

What Ubuntu was doing for Linux popularity was great, and it's a shame to see them take such a dive. Ubuntu was good because it was what it was. Trying to do something so drastically different will alienate people, and I'd bet there are other techs like me out there that just don't have the time or drive to learn another UI when we have Windoze to deal with doing that already!

Personally I would like to see an OPTIONAL Unity install. I know it might be hard to fit on a single CD, but if during installation (or a separate download) I could have my pick of Unity or Gnome, I'd be happy. But that's a lot to maintain...And rolling back to Gnome, which I tried, wasn't as trivial as it seemed. It look me less time to get Squeeze working on brand new hardware I'd never worked on than it did to fail rolling back to Gnome. To me, it just wasn't worth the effort to make Ubuntu work how I wanted it to. I chose Ubuntu because I don't need to do that.