Ubuntu's planned Heads Up Display - Why I'll at least give it a try.

Several days ago, I was checking out a few technical websites when I found Russel Barnes' post on LinuxUser's site, "HUD to replace menus in Ubuntu 12.04 – a further kick to the hornet’s nest?" Having more or less successfully worked through two versions of Ubuntu's Unity interface and reached a working accommodation with the new features added in both Ubuntu 11.04 and 11.10, the title caught my attention. Without much other explanation, I played the YouTube video below. (You can also click through to the YouTube page for the larger HD version of both videos on this page.)

Based only on the video and brief description in Barnes' above post, the very first impression that could be printed on a family blog was, "We are NOT amused!"

Luckily, there was a link to the official announcement on Mark Shuttleworth's blog in the Barnes' article. For everyone's sanity at this point, Ubuntu users should first read Shuttleworth's original explanation of what may or may not appear in next version of Ubuntu, version 12.04. Read the full explanation of the Heads Up Display or "HUD" before the weak faint and strong men's heads explode. Yes, we're talking about a new twist on how to interact with a computer, but the new HUD builds on years of effort.
See: Mark Shuttleworth, "Introducing the HUD. Say hello to the future of the menu." markshuttleworth.com, January 24, 2012. Available online: http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/939

Now, after reading Mark Shuttleworth's more detailed and measured introduction of the Heads Up Display, he also says,

We’ll resurrect the (boring) old ways of displaying the menu in 12.04, in the app and in the panel. ...But hiding the menu before we had the replacement was overly aggressive. [Amen to that.-Ed.] If the HUD lands in 12.04 LTS, we hope you’ll find yourself using the menu less and less, and be glad to have it hidden when you are not using it. You’ll definitely have that option, alongside more traditional menu styles.

So if I'm reading this correctly, current menu-driven users will have their menus, and those who want to explore the new HUD system can enable that method for an unlimited "test drive." If people like menus they can still use them, but Shuttleworth and his developers are betting that some currently unknown fraction of Ubuntu's current and future users will adopt the new HUD. It sounds as if Ubuntu is seriously trying to build a bridge to the future.

While in the infantry, I've waded across shallow creeks, swam or floated across deeper rivers, even crossed one or two upside down hand over hand on a single rope. Believe me. Bridges are better, and more troops, or in this case Ubuntu users, can reach the other shore. In their haste to get ready for Gnome 3's clean slate approach, both Gnome and Ubuntu created changes that were deeper than the developers first thought. Some users were lost in their attempts to get the new interfaces to work for them - they didn't make it to the other side and were lost. More likely, some users had too much work to do to make more than one or two attempts and even switched to other flavors of Linux like Linux Mint, Xfce, or a host of others. That's why real change agents have to think about building a bridge.

In my own case, I found a way to get across without waiting for the bridge. I've used a program found in Ubuntu's Launchpad called Cardapio in both 11.04 and 11.10. Cardapio can be installed and updated from its own PPA. In 11.10, I changed the icon to one of my choice for the Cardapio launcher, placed it right under the big Ubuntu icon (BFB?) and fine-tuned the "Main Menu" (it's still there) to make all the various menus categories work the way I like to work.  Check out Ubuntu Vibes' very detailed article on the set up and uses of Cardapio. Ubuntu Vibes also posted the video. Click on the small video below to view a larger version on YouTube:

In addition to menus, I like multiple windows open on the same workspace and switch back and forth between windows frequently. I also don't like icons, menus or scroll bars to appear or disappear. I want them to be in the same darn place I left them and don't want to wait even a second while they reappear. I'm not sold on the dash where some icons show up now and maybe totally different icons show up later. I like consistency on my big dumb screen but so far I still have the option of making those changes that help me work "my way."

After those minor adjustments with Cardapio and other tweaks, HUD's promised voice commands and learning how we work certainly have the potential to become a useful addition and that could help a transition to HUD. I may even be able to teach my big hulking HP quad core desktop to understand Anglo-Saxon voice commands. Ubuntu users need a little time to adapt to new ways of working but it looks like all of us at least now have the promise of the bridge that has been missing in the last two Ubuntu editions. So in the meantime, I suggest we hold our ire, save Shuttleworth's original HUD post for further reference and try to keep an open mind as 12.04 moves toward beta versions.

For the record, I've used menus since my first 9" black and white Macintosh replaced my earlier Kaypro and Apple IIe's. I actually tried one of Jef Raskin's early interface ideas that Shuttleworth mentioned in his article on a plug-in card added to an Apple IIe. Back then and in today's environment, testing new interface ideas is a normal part working with technology as long as we can take back a step if things don't work out as the developers originally planned.

Thankfully Ubuntu remains a high quality free distribution and I'm actually encouraged Ubuntu developers are extending the interface with new ideas. I also believe users will try to spend some time with HUD IF the Ubuntu developers give all of us the option of making the software work "our way" or if we can easily back up a step or two while HUD is further refined. Otherwise, we can also reload and relearn KDE's desktop after an early "April Fools Day" on March 26, if HUD and Ubuntu's 12.04 release doesn't work as advertised.

Ubuntu's developers and its larger community have always provided options and choices. As to Shuttleworth's article, no harm, no foul, play on!