A SEAMLESS END-USER EXPERIENCE ISN’T ONLY ABOUT TECHNOLOGY— IT IS ALSO ABOUT COORDINATION, AND BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS.

 

tional cube, grouping windows, and task switching with live previews, can offer real productivity enhancements.

The official name of Linux’s 3D desktop is “compiz,” but in its effort to present a friendly face on nerdy underpinnings, Ubuntu calls it “desktop effects.” The 3D desktop is not enabled on install, but you can find it in the appearances control panel. I clicked to enable desktop effects. And in just a few seconds, ta-da—”desktop effects could not be enabled.”

My laptop uses a video card by ATI, one of the largest such vendors. It is definitely new enough to handle 3D acceleration. When I installed Ubuntu, it automatically chose drivers for the ATI card, but these drivers do not support desktop effects. To use desktop effects, I would need to install the “official” drivers by ATI. Reading the directions at ATI’s website, I would need to download the source code to the drivers, download the Ubuntu packages for compiling programs, and then compile the drivers myself. Oh, fun.

It turns out that there is a handy third-party app—named Envy—that does all this work for you. Using Envy, I had the official ATI drivers installed in a couple of clicks. My desktop effects were enabled. I was happy, albeit a little fatigued.

Linux advocates—or apologists, depending on your point of view—will tell you why all of these problems came up. Usually, the answer is because it is the software ven-

dor’s fault. After all, how is Ubuntu responsible for the shortcomings of Adobe or ATI in making their Linux software easier to install? Technically, this argument is correct. But as a user, I don’t care about those things. I just want stuff to work. And this is where creating a seamless end-user experience isn’t only about technology—it is also about coordination, and business relationships, and all the logistics work that go into making sure all of the pieces of the puzzle are actually in the box the puzzle comes in.

Today, this remains Linux’s biggest challenge on the desktop. There is a disconnect between what users want and need, and what Linux vendors can deliver—even Ubuntu. But the gap is narrowing, and for some people Ubuntu might already offer everything they need. It does for my mother. She uses it every day to shop on EBay and read her Gmail, without even knowing what it is, and I no longer have to clean malware from her machine. And I use Linux every day, too. Despite the initial hassles, I now boot my laptop into Ubuntu rather than Vista nine times ou~t of ten. It’s _{getting there. So…very...close.}

DOI: 10.1145/1377016.1377026

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