Ubuntu 7.04

Ubuntu Linux 7.04 is slated as the most newbie friendly Linux distro yet. OK then.

Its not a review. I’ve not got that far in the install yet.

I’m on the first screen. And this is what I see;

This is a screenshot from the VMWare server for Linux, running at 800x600 resolution so I can see the whole screen on my 1024x768 monitor (hey, its 7 years old and its not broken :P)

Anyone notice anything unusual?

Maybe the lack of buttons?

Or a scrollbar to get to them?

An 800x600 screen resolution shouldn’t really, in this day and age, render the installer useless. And I do mean useless; clicking maximise doesn’t help, it doesn’t maximise, a problem I’ve noted with Railman on Ubuntu; hiding the panels doesn’t reveal enough of the buttons to be able to read them properly; the only way to be able to read the buttons is to move the panels to the sides, which leaves me with this lovely screen;

|image1|

To be fair to Ubuntu, the GNOME people do this as well, eg with their GDM setup application, and it annoys the hell out of me when I goto resize a window and it moves instead. The GNOME people really need to get it into their skulls that useability studies, Human Interface Guidelines etc all go out the window when you don’t allow the user to take control when needed to.

Such as when the buttons are off the bottom of the screen with no other way of saving your work.

It may come as a shock to the GNOME/Ubuntu people, but the user sat in front of the computer is in charge, not their app.

Newbie friendly indeed. You can tell I’m a huuugeee fan of Ubuntu, can’t you? :P