Ubuntu dumps brown theme

...and I was waiting for this nice bronce theme to come for KUbuntu... :-(

Thanks Gilbo, I remember now that VirtualBox needed the guest addns. compiling but I never used it much having lots of older kit around to try various distros on.

I suppose I was trying to get the idea across that for most users Linux is now pretty easy to install and use.

It's clear that the comment from 'bastard' was an amusing fake 'troll', there's no need to elaborate on that in comments.
And since the theme is changeable what is changed is how new users are introduced, and perhaps a more light theme is perceived as more welcoming? Or more modern? I don't know, but I do know that you have to change things once in a while else people will perceive you as stale, it's all well known and documented and used by all, from makers of cars to makers of dish-washing detergent, you have to change the bottle-designm and art once in a while.

Yeah, that's a fair point. Packages in distro repositories largely tend to take care of themselves with custom built modules tending to be a lot more sensitive to kernel changes.

VirtualBox Guest additions, though, is a good example of an 'installation' that requires compilation as a part of the install procedure.

Doesn't happen often but it can be a bit of a pain in the bum when it does.

Just to clarify - when I said I'd never HAD to compile anything I meant during an installation (someone was spreading FUD about this recently).

I compile my own programs and other like Cinelera ( now that was interesting).

As for modules my understanding is that as long as they are in the kernel tree they get automatically maintained/updated

Well I've been using during and since the years when you HAD to compile the kernel up to the modern era where it's usually all sorted. I've used SuSE and OpenSUSE in the last decade and never had any problems and certainly not with kernel changes. I'm Microsoft free and use it on 2 workstations, a fileserver, laptop and netbook + a desktop at our holiday home. Guess I've just been lucky ?

I can only assume then that your 16 years of exposure to Linux has been exceedingly limited.

Several times now I've had modules and drivers break the second the kernel changed versions, and many times now I've HAD to compile something that wasn't available in binary / packaged form.

Can you give an example of the 'drive' compatibility problem?

16 years I've been using Linux and I've never encountered this.

In the last 10 years I've never HAD to compile anything

And for the ignorant or malicious you don't NEED to use the CLI for installation or routine use

Linux being a monolithic kernel has not much choice but to become quite bloated to support more and more hardware.

That, and the fact that driver (in)compatibility between Linux versions is such a mess, is why widespread adoption hasn't happened. You can easily write a drive that will be neither forwards nor backwards compatible w/o a recompile and possible changes to source code.

Until the kernel developers get their collective heads out of their butts and standardize things, it will never be anything but a geek's toy.

Meanwhile, Micr0$ucks LoseDoze continues to throw it weight around as the incumbent bloatware a-la-cart.

Sweetness is able to watch DVDs on the computer without expensive ($50) proprietary software. And make back ups of the kids' movies. (At last count we had 3 store bought copies of Finding Nemo, 2 copies of Shrek, all because the first ones broke)

Purple and orange... Makes me think of the Zergs critters swarming in star craft.

This has nice overtones to it :()

lol

Don't anyone tell him how much of Windows OS-level is simply imitating Unix (badly).

Nor tell him that Bill Gates used to be considered a geeky nerd.

Funny how M$ users are reactionary bigots, while under the illusion that they're computer science experts merely because they play games on the Windows platform. Had one fanboy state that he had "nothing left to learn" about XP, but he couldn't come up with even an outline of its boot-up sequence.

It's not surprising that Ubuntu gets so many column inches when a change in theme colour and wallpaper warrants this kind of attention.

If Cannonical were serious about developing Linux for "human beings" they'd just hand over complete GUI control to Linux Mint and be done with it.

Linux had a decent looking file system. I can deal with just about everything else, but can't stand the file structure. If they hid the usr/bin crap and had a user friendly file system the the average user could find the stuff they need. Until that is sorted then the rest of the GUI makes no difference.

Hey, it's just a theme. The new looking Sorbet theme is also very nice. At the end of the day this is not what turns me off ubuntu.

What does turn me off ubuntu is the ability to update your twatter account straight from the desktop in Lucid. Click on your name and there's IM and twatter. No thanks.

"Linux is shelfware archaic command line garbage."

Yes, and this article detailing the change in colour themes of the Graphical User Interface concurs with your educated analysis/commentary.

"Unix has been the OS of the future and it always will be."

UNIX is more CLI driven than Linux.

So to summarise, your points...

1. Linux is crap because it's old and CLI driven.
2. UNIX is the future, even though it's arguably more archaic and more CLI driven.

This is a bit of a half arsed attempt. If they were going to go "light" in design terms they really should have shifted the colour spectrum. I think blues with some deeps but mostly pastel, would have worked really well and appealed more broadly. As it is it seems like a grudging first step on the the stairs out of the basement.

Are all linux people Goth or something?

I can't believe I waited so long to start using Linux. Much better than Windows in just about every way. Lots of useful apps. Firefox runs great. Great documentation. Lets you tinker under the hood. Better security. I even like the icons better, both Gnome and KDE. My only nit-picks. Still no Adobe equivalents, yet. OpenGL lags the support of DirectX, for now. And there needs to be greater inter-process communication between the GUI applets that interface with the underlying OS such that they stay better in sync with one another. Which is really dependent on a greater attention to detail by the programmers. Pretty good now, and will only get better with time. I swear I never thought I'd be using Linux after trying it seriously for only a week. Linux has come a long way baby!

Linux is shelfware archaic command line garbage. Until Linux becomes user friendly it will remain at it's 2%-3% kook nerd market share. Then there is the Windows 3.1 like software. It is comical really.

Unix has been the OS of the future and it always will be. Lets here it from the Linux clown trolls now.

its customisable!
You can even make it work like an iPod apparently - presumably you just empty your wallet down the nearest drain and feel special.

Actually, I was more impressed with the changes to Kubuntu with KDE 4.4.1.

Button arrangements, themes, colors, etc, can all be changed relatively easy. It's really what's under the hood that makes a difference.

also, If they've speed up the boot times from 9.10 much more they're going to start ripping holes in space/time.

Excellent work on Canonical & the Linux community's part. Now if I could just buy a computer with Linux (other than a dell) instead of windows on it from a major manufacturer.

Now if VIA would just get off their butts and support Linux better like everybody else maybe I wouldn't have the urge to vomit every time I saw a netbook.

Looks like the buttons have moved back to the right hand side...

http://www.webupd8.org/2010/03/update-on-new-ubuntu-themes-dark-and.html

I'm in two minds about the theme, looking at the title bar on my current install of Ubuntu (9.10) it appears the brown is pretty similar to what they had in the early days (4.10, 5.04 etc).

At least one thing, no one will be able to moan about the brown theme anymore.

I think out of light and dark I prefer the light theme myself, but the purple background is going to take a bit of getting used to.

Still maybe this might appeal to more folks out there and I'm sure it'll be possible to switch back to the older style window decoration (or download themes to change the decoration).

Rob

The buttons at left seem to be a one-off in only that screenshot; later report says they're where supposed to be.

But fiddling with colors and shapes is trivial. I'd rather see a GUI that offers choice between shift-click selecting in a geometric block (the stupid Windows way), or as a series of text-like lines (more or less the OS/2 way). But there isn't any real flexibility in GUIs: you're stuck with numerous such single methods.

I like Ubuntu, I really do, it's a great project with a nice product, but this new theme is an utter disaster.

(I don't see any in the article, for some reason -- google 'ubuntu light screenshot' if you want to see what I'm talking about)

The purple and orange doesn't really go together, much less when you throw in the charcoal grey they're using for the widgets. They've moved the minimise/maximise/close buttons from the top-right to the top-left of the window, which serves no purpose -- it won't even make OSX users happy, since the buttons are in a different order than they are on the Mac.

I can only presume this mess was motivated by a feeling of "let's be different". I hope Canonical and the wider Ubuntu community can learn from this experience, as otherwise they have the best all-round Linux distribution.