Developing for the “Average” User

I like awesome stuff. Most of us do. However, there has been an unfortunate trend in the Linux community as of late. The major distributions have been gravitating towards a Linux that goes for awesome a little too hard. Gnome 3 and Unity have driven the major Linux distributions to be completely unusable to the average user. The Linux community isn’t solely to blame. Microsoft has had similar usability issues with their new Windows 8 design. And yes, I’m aware that the “average” user isn’t the typical demographic for Linux users, but, isn’t that the community’s end goal?

Gnome 2 wasn’t broke. However, Ubuntu 11 implemented Unity as their default desktop environment. Fedora 15 chose to switch to Gnome 3. Unity and Gnome 3 aren’t broken either; they are actually both kinda awesome in their own ways. However, they are not awesome for the average user. The average user knows the Windows environment, but both “modern” Linux environments ditch the conventional UI patterns for their own interpretation of what the user experience should be. Again, these things are not bad, just bad for Linux. In a time where Ubuntu made claims to become a dominant desktop environment in both the business and personal market, selecting Unity as their default environment was a complete step in the opposite direction.

Businesses aren’t going to spend money to train their employees on how to use an unfamiliar desktop environment, and the Linux community doesn’t have the funds to perform the type of marketing campaign Mac performed to persuade consumers to switch to a Linux distribution. In fact, the Mac is a great example of how difficult it is to get consumers to switch away from PC familiarity. Mac OS has been more stable than Windows for a long time, and is actually runs on a Linux kernel. Mac OS, mainly because of its small market share, has always had limited virus issues. Apple has always packaged its operating system with its hardware to ensure proper hardware and software compatibility and usability. However, it took millions, if not billions, of dollars in marketing campaigns to convince users to go outside their comfort zone.

The team behind Linux Mint gets it. When Ubuntu switched to Unity, Mint opted for a Gnome 3 and MATE. MATE is basically a bug of code to lay on top of Gnome 3 to make it look and work more like Gnome 2, which looks and works like the traditional Windows environments. Since that time, the Mint team has started developing it’s own UI named Cinnamon. If you want to convert businesses and/or consumers to a Linux distribution, it needs to be as painless as possible. Unity and Gnome 3 are awesome, but will never be effective in converting the masses.