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Ubuntu 12.04 to replace traditional menus with new HUD
Ubuntu is set to replace the traditional menu system with a head-up display (HUD), enabling users to type or speak commands in its upcoming April 2012 long term support (LTS) release of the popular Linux distribution. Rather than using the traditional drop down menu, the Ubuntu HUD uses a transparent text box in which you can type or speak what you want to do to perform actions or tasks.
Canonical founder and former CEO Mark Shuttleworth announced the new feature on his blog. "The core idea [of HUD] is to get to a world where people can direct an application to do what they want," he said. "Having stated your intent, the application leads you down a simple journey to get that done."
It will use fuzzy matching and learns commands from past usage to ensure it returns the correct result during searches on the first time. Over time it will also prioritize tasks you perform more frequently when results are displayed. The feature uses a vocabulary UI, or VUI as Ubuntu is calling it, that is supposedly closer to the way users think. Shuttleworth says the tree is no longer important, what's important is the efficiency of the match between what the user says, and the commands the operating system offers up for invocation.
One major drawback would be for beginners, the company acknowledged, who could struggle without a menu in which to search if the exact commands are unknown. But they firmly believe the benefits outweigh the disadvantages in this scenario.
"Searching is fast and familiar, especially once we integrate voice recognition, gesture and touch. We want to make it easy to talk to any application, and for any application to respond to your voice. The full integration of voice into applications will take some time. We can start by mapping voice onto the existing menu structures of your apps. And it will only get better from there," Shuttleworth further commented.
He believes that even without voice support, the HUD is faster than browsing through the drop down menus using a mouse, and more simple than using hotkey’s which can change between different applications.
There is no doubt that the drop down menu system has remained the one constant feature that has continued to be integral to operating systems as they have advanced over the years. That said, it is "tried and tested" and used universally across every platform. The HUD marks a complete fundamental change in the way we interact with the computer.
It raises an interesting question about how users will be interacting with their computers in the next 10 to 20 years. Is this a feature that we’ll see other OS developers integrate into future OS releases on other platforms like Windows, or will the drop down menu in some form always be considered the number one way of performing tasks and actions on a computer?
User Comments: 42
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Welcome to the New World Order!
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"apropos" command my friend
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Definably switching to Linux Mint when I can't (as in wont get the job done) use lucid (Ubuntu 10.04) anymore
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Definably switching to Linux Mint when I can't (as in wont get the job done) use lucid (Ubuntu 10.04) anymore
That release is still supported - until April next year.
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Nobody is SELLING nothing here. We are talking about ubuntu if you remember.
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Nobody is SELLING nothing here.
So somebody must be selling something here...?
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I actually find this very useful. All of the negative comments just seem like old ways of thinking. All Ubuntu has to do is post a few videos with examples and that will nip almost of the learning curve in the behind. I think this is a great evolution in the way of navigating applications. Good job Ubuntu
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It's not replacing the drop down menu. The menu is still there if you use your mouse on the top left. People needs to chill and the author needs to actually try it out before commenting on it. The HUD basically allows you to search within the menu system. Just make a boot disk and give it a try before freaking out.
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Zilpha said:
Guest said:It's not replacing the drop down menu. The menu is still there if you use your mouse on the top left. People needs to chill and the author needs to actually try it out before commenting on it. The HUD basically allows you to search within the menu system. Just make a boot disk and give it a try before freaking out.
And you need to read the article before commenting.
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Sounds to me like a disaster, worse than the Unity move, but hey, someone said "give them a chance", which I will. I'll give them a chance to get it right, I hope they don't mind that I'll move/stay with Mint in the mean time
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God no, now will take my 5 steps to simply open a program
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It's really faster to do things using this kind of interface, except in case the user is very slow at typing. This user will prefer the old GNOME2 GUI, but as someone said: if you don't like, simply don't use it, damnit! Some people got the habit of criticising any innovation of Ubuntu because it's now a cool attitude within Linux computing. Sad...
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I admire them for their courage to do something different and there are things in this I really like but as a future primary vision of access to a desktop, no way.
The idea of having a couple of things on screen to begin with invites you to play and learn and keep you curious. A desktop with just a typing box means 90% of the OS wont be discovered and as much as it's pinned as something to suit the user, I think the user will more so have to suit it.
To take an example from the video, if I wanted to send a mail to someone in Evolution (which I have no interest in using generally, like most people), my first thought would be "Create.." or "Send..", not "Compose..". I'm not Tchaikovsky. It's a single example, but probably something applicable throughout the rest of the OS.
This system will be fine for seriously experienced and patient users, but hopeless to newcomers. Hence I hope a full desktop will be available along with this new feature.
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I would love to be a fly on the wall at these summits. Who exactly thought this was the best direction for Ubuntu. I am dissapointed with 12.04, not only does the HUD look atrocious, but I dont think its practical for new or older user. IMHO, it was a giant waste of time and effort that could been better spent on stablity, which I thought was the main theme of LTS.
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I would love to be a fly on the wall at these summits. Who exactly thought this was the best direction for Ubuntu. I am dissapointed with 12.04, not only does the HUD look atrocious, but I dont think its practical for new or older user. IMHO, it was a giant waste of time and effort that could been better spent on stablity, which I thought was the main theme of LTS.
You obviously know next to 0 about FLOSS development.
Please define how "time and effort" can be diverted from a new UI and instead "spent on stability"? Is this based on the assumption on your part that 'buntu is entirely developed by a single team of people? Some of which are pulled from other "projects" and moved to another to the detriment of those others? canonical ltd develop unity, the hud, software center and a few other bits and pieces, they don't develop the rest of the software (90% plus of the distro) - they simply /package/ it...
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Was a moderately familiar user of 10.04 LTS (meaning, I could use Synaptic, compile code, but not write programs myself). Tried 1.04. Horrid. If I don't know what something is already, where the heck is it, and how do I get to it? Why can't I fallo back to an ordinary menu, if I wish? (I tried various strategems; the new interface can be slightly customized, but generally it's take it or leave it). I cannot think of anything the new interface does for me.
Remember the Star Trek movie in which they go back in time to San Francisco, and are confronted with an our-generation computer that has a mouse? At first Kirk tries voice commands. Doesn't work. Then he thinks the mouse is a microphone for issuing voice commands. Doesn't work. It's like that, but in reverse.
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I really would like to use Linux (Ubuntu) and have finally found a replacement for Quicken, MoneyDance. Was still trying to find a replacement for Paperport. Just installed Ubuntu 12.4 and this was the final straw for all the effort I have put into attempting to convert. The complete omission of drop down menus with no option to revert is more like what you would expect from the dictators Microsoft and Apple. Time to remove the dual boot and dedicate the entire hard drive to Win Xp.
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