Well, the new version of Ubuntu 11.10 arrived yesterday and is getting reviewed in the world's front running tech' pages. I upgraded to 11.04 in April, but didn't get on with the controversial new Unity graphical user interface, so I took advantage of the provision made to use the alternative Gnome 2 desktop, which has served me well over the past five years or so. To my mind it's far better than all the various Windows desktop and file handling resources I've ever used. Not that I've been persuaded me to abandon Windows entirely, even though 70% of the time at home it's Linux I use rather than Windows. 10% of time using Windows seems to be eaten up with installing updates and patches. Ubuntu does this mainly in the background once you've given permission to proceed.
MS Publisher 2000 however, is still less demanding to use in desktop publishing than open source Scribus. Better the devil you know than the devil you should get to know. Also true of MS Works database. I've used it for over a decade to manage data, and have lots tied to it. It runs only on Windows. Works data formats are not freely exportable to any database engine I've found, though raw data can be passed to other programs by copying and importing from a spreadsheet. It's easier to keep Windows and run Works databases than find and learn a new program capable of running on top of other operating systems. One day, I may install a copy of XP on a virtual machine running in Linux, just to retain data attached to Works. It'd save learning a new program and going through the pain of migrating data to a Linux database if I could find one friendly enough.
Anyway, back to the 11.10 upgrade. Gnome 2 has been ditched in favour of Gnome 3, with radically changed user interface, also controversial. The early version I tried was buggy and crashed on me, leaving me with little zeal to adapt. Unity and Gnome 3 may be exciting innovations, better for people who learn new habits quickly maybe, but I'm not patient about unlearning old habits and acquiring new when it comes to using tools that are meant to help me get thoughts on the page quickly and easily. So shall I bother with 11.10? Or shall I switch to another Linux distribution that gives me the choice of user interface I don't need to re-learn? I simply don't need a user interface that resembles that of a smart phone or a tablet, because I own and use neither of these devices, and again, the extra learning, however easy it's promoted to acquire is not what I want. The same will be true when Windows 8 appears. It's not that I can't learn new things, but that I've got better uses for my learning skills.
The question is, do I ditch Ubuntu for Linux Mint to support my computer usage habit? Or go to Kubuntu? I used KDE on various Linux versions and off, six or seven years ago. It was good, but Gnome 2 suited me better. New versions of KDE look great, but are perhaps more complex to set up initially because of the vast range of options to waste time playing with. XFCE and LXDE are good and simple, great for elderly machines, but often appear unpolished working on a newer machine. So it's time to start thinking about what will be the least painful basic change to make to may everyday working environment. It's as bad as having to buy clothes and new shoes. Even worse, slippers.
I laugh at myself when I think how much of my working life I spent helping others to interpret and come to terms with change!
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