Discussion on:

10 things you should know about Ubuntu Unity

I typically use Fedora and Opensuse ( two different machines) , and I have been looking to get my 70+ year old mother ( who otherwise is very intelligent) to use a computer. Everyone claimed that ubuntu 11.04 has the most user friendly interface, but for my neophyte mother it just didn't work. Given that she is 1/2 around the world and it is during my annual 3 week vacation ( it isn't a vacation when you are trying to teach someone) that I try to teach her how to edit soft copies of her books, is this really the single best desktop for neophytes?

Jack, I probably spend less than 1% of my time on the computer navigating or even thinking about the desktop, or even the operating system (this, of course, wasn't true back in the days when I used the "other" operating system). Most of my time on the computer is spent inside applications. I am wary of both Unity and GNOME 3 not because of the features or lack thereof- I am worried about the impact on how my applications function. This goes back to the old days when upgrading from, say the 95 version to the 98 version rendered much of the software unusable, and required replacing hardware because the printer vendor would rather sell a new printer than provide an updated driver compatible with the new version. One of the most important features of Linux for me is backwards compatibility. If I have to rebuild my entire computer environment when I upgrade, no fancy background peripheral feature is going to encourage me to do this.
So, how to legacy applications perform under Unity?

But, I get the distinct impression from the above article that, Unity is primarily keyboard driven.

If so, isn't this a reversal to the evolution of desktops?

I'm still using Ubuntu 10.04 LTS with Gnome and after what I've read, and a short trial of an earlier version of Unity I'm very hesitant to upgrade. I don't see how constantly using the keyboard to search for the app or file I want, is an improvement over what I'm using now.

Having applications that do one thing well is a key design feature for Linux. In my Ubuntu 10.04 LTS desktop I can scan through all my installed applications and choose the one I need for a task, or download an application if nothing is applicable.

Most times I use the major applications (Open Office, Lyx, Octave, Gimp etc) but lots of times I want a specialized application. I probably have close to a hundred separate applications on my machine. The point is that I want to browse through what I have because I can't remember all the names. Playing "where's Waldo" with my apps isn't my idea of progress.

How does Unity help me with daily productivity?