Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing

Bug #625193 reported by Seb24
This bug affects 249 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Low
Ken VanDine
Nominated for Maverick by Seb24

Bug Description

It is clear this wallpaper (same old wallpaper with some brightness changes and three red dots upon it) has not made most our users satisfied (including me). I think for Maverick Meerkat this wallpaper is simply unexpected, we all request change or replace this one with better one.

Tags: maverick
affects: ubuntu → ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu)
Revision history for this message
Ngassam Nkwenga (cyrildz) wrote :

who the hell has put such a thing in the new coming maverick?
sorry for all, I know that you have done good things for Maverick and I really enjoy it, but why with some effort made, do you want to set this as a default wallpaper ? I have seen the 17 selected wallpapers for Maverick and they all look nice at least without the "warty-final".
Please let change this default wallpaper
 Thanks for all the great jib you do

Revision history for this message
JarekJ83 (jarekj83) wrote :

i agree, its completely joke..its ugiest thing i have seen since UBU 10.04 ...
i hope u will change that...something u callin wallpaper.

Revision history for this message
Isaac Trumbo (itbcn8) wrote :

How can we get this bug report to the very top of priorities?!?!?!

Revision history for this message
GuivalinuX (percheronguillaume-gmail) wrote :

What a joke! Be serious like everytime and please give us a refresh wallpaper.

Revision history for this message
Vallery Lancey (muscovy) wrote :

I would normally mark something like this as "opinion", but I believe this is truly an issue that needs dealing with. Posters, please use constructive criticism.

summary: - Official default Wallpaper, the worst thing have ever seen.
+ Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing
tags: added: artwork maverick wallpaper
Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Tom Pino (metalsmith-rangeweb) wrote :

I will admit, that it is different than the wallpaper for 10.04. It no longer looks like grape juice and cottage cheese vomit.

It looks like some chemically flavored frozen orange desert was added to the menu.

Revision history for this message
Benjamim Gois (benjamim-gois) wrote :

I really do not believe in my eyes when i saw the default wallpaper ! That strange orange dots destroy all the beauty of the lucids wallpaper. Common canonical, maverick is an awesome release it's not time to die on the beach !

Revision history for this message
Vallery Lancey (muscovy) wrote :

Please only comment here if you have something relevant to contribute. If this becomes a flame thread, no one from Canonical will bother reading it.

Thank you.

Revision history for this message
David Turner (dwt) wrote :

I loved the lucid default wallpaper. But it is amazing how such a little change has made this new default wallpaper so unappealing.

What a shame...

Revision history for this message
Thomas Boxley (tboxley) wrote :

I definitely agree. This wallpaper is BAD.

Come on Canonical, do something original and good.

Revision history for this message
Jiri Grönroos (jiri-gronroos) wrote :

C'mon, it's a joke! Just wait and you'll see the final wallpaper. They (Canonical) have done the same previously with usplash theme etc.

Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → In Progress
summary: - Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing
+ Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing for the normal user
Revision history for this message
Daniel Añez Scott (danielscott171) wrote : Re: Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing for the normal user

They should make a community 'contest' for the default wallpaper, like they do with the picture wallpapers. Giving some rules and a color palette to choose from.

Revision history for this message
Mohamed Amine Ilidrissi (ilidrissi.amine) wrote :

@Seth: Please don't mark the bug as "In Progress" unless you are working on it. If you are, please confirm it by assigning the bug to yourself.

Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
status: In Progress → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Vallery Lancey (muscovy) wrote :

Here's a simple edit with less clashing colours. Something like this would be nice (to me at least).

Revision history for this message
XFACT (avinandan) wrote :

I agree, this just the similar with little color changes and three unexpected red dots on it, totally not good for me. I also request please change this wallpaper. We want Maverick to be great completely and I am sure there are better wallpapers out there.

Revision history for this message
Benjamim Gois (benjamim-gois) wrote :

If they just remove those orange (red) unbelievable dots it would be enough to avoid this kind of reaction

Revision history for this message
Vish (vish) wrote :

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Unfortunately, we can't fix it because your description didn't include enough information.

Kindly add information as to why the wallpaper is 'the worst' or why this is a bug?
As a bug report there is no information why this bug is about!

From reading the comments here 'Ugly' , 'Unappealing' , 'bad' are the words used, these are highly subjective words.
Can someone provide an artistic critique/evaluation of the wallpaper rather than being subjective?

The blog linked does not have any information either about the problem reported here. Its just an article announcing that the default Maverick wallpaper was released. [Hence, I'v removed the unnecessary blog link] Kindly do not re-direct to blogs, and update the bug description *here* as to what this bug is about.

Launchpad comments are not place to add a 'me too'. If you find the need to add a comment just saying "me too" use the ' This bug affects NN people. Does this bug affect you? ' link on the top instead.

You may find it helpful to read "How to report bugs effectively" http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html. Thanks!

description: updated
summary: - Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing for the normal user
+ Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing
Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Wishlist
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
tags: removed: artwork wallpaper
Revision history for this message
Itai Molenaar (imolenaar-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Vish, you must be joking. You don't have to write an artistic critique to convey that the idea of taking a previous picture, adding a few splotches of color that really does not go well with the theme, (orange and purple have no relationship with each other, which is why NO ONE LIKES IT, as it does not please the aesthetic perspectives of our brains) is a really bad idea. Assuming this is actually a joke, a serious attempt by the guys who "improved this" can only be considered pathetic at the most, as the differences are literally just a couple of orange splotches, the quality not something that can be considered anything beyond a subjective idea of "ugly" although I will admit that design is COMPLETELY SUBJECTIVE. My point being, is that thinking that all of this is a good idea is quite a bug, if not with the wallpaper itself (although it is) then with the guy who made the damn changes. If you can get a professional to design a new font, you can pick a damn homeless guy off the street to design something as simple as a wallpaper.

Canonical, save this for April 1. Really.

Revision history for this message
Maia Everett (linneris) wrote :

Vish, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but aesthetics are by definition subjective.

Now, if you were submitting it to an art gallery, I would agree that "an artistic critique/evaluation" of it would be warranted. As it stands, you're delivering an aesthetical element to a desktop operating system used by a diverse community of people with different backgrounds, very few of whom are art critics. This is a case where aesthetics are decided by popular vote. If they don't appreciate your supposedly "artistically sound" masterpiece, you should change it.

Revision history for this message
jhfhlkjlj (fdsuufijjejejejej-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

That call for hard data made me really consider recording people's reactions to a random pool of wallpapers. I am so absolutely certain that it will be negative.

Please tell, me, really. I'd be willing to dedicate my time to make a survey that would prove this: just to get this off the default desktop. This image, garnering no appreciation from the last release, was not tossed and considered a failure that could have been learned from: Instead a very crude attempt at patching up the Frankenstein resulted in an even more chaotic mess.

Revision history for this message
Melvin Garcia (virtualspectre8) wrote :

I would love to see something like 8.04/8.10 those were the best wallpapers ever released. This is too blurry and doesn't make any sense. The orange circles look like they are forced to be there because of the new Ubuntu palette.

I don't know if this is the final version (it looks unfinished) but, please listen to us! The ayatana team has done many great things for Ubuntu, but this is not what we expected to land as the wallpaper.

Revision history for this message
Vish (vish) wrote :

Maybe I wasnt clear in my previous comment regarding the bug status change!
I dont disregard the opinion of reporter or others who have commented here. And I did not say the wallpaper is perfect.

But *as a bug* , this bug has nothing more that subjective comments about the wallpaper.
Which does not make it a valid bug, but rather an Opinion.

Here is how i read the bug, its an "I dont like this, so change it!" , hence I ask "why dont you like it?" :-)
This is a similar question which will be asked on any bug report, which requests a change in the behavior of the app or the OS.

No one is expected to be an artist here, I'm just questioning why this is a bug!

People interested in discussing/questioning the wallpaper can rather bring up the discussion on the Ayatana mailing list.
A launchpad bug report is *not* the place for discussions.

@ Maia, I did not make the wallpaper. There is no supposed 'artistically sound' master piece of mine here! ;-)
And what do you mean popular vote? who voted? where?
Just because a tabloid's comment section spews with hate comments does not make it a popular vote of the entire Ubuntu community. Lets not drag unnecessary mentions on this bug report here and kindly stay on topic for this bug!

Revision history for this message
Rudd-O (rudd-o) wrote :

It's hilarious to me that the bug is being dismissed because "ugly" is a subjective word. Clearly, a wallpaper is an artifact that is to be judged and evaluated BOTH in terms of how functional it is and ALSO on how BEAUTIFUL it is. Demanding that people give you engineering reasons why a wallpaper is ugly, is just plain and obvious silliness.

And even if it made sense to reject, dismiss and disregard people's subjective appreciations of the wallpaper on the basis that appreciations are in principle subjective, you have to recognize that these appreciations are UNANIMOUSLY "this wallpaper is ugly as sheeeit". That ought to be reason enough to regard people's appreciations as equivalent to objective disapproval.

Revision history for this message
Mathieu Comandon (strycore) wrote :

Putting the bug back to confirmed, it has enough information to be fixed. If not here's more info :

Overview:

 Default Ubuntu wallpaper is not a wallpaper for an OS which aims to be the best looking OS on the planet.

Steps to Reproduce:

  Install or upgrade Ubuntu 10.10

Expected Results:

  Expecting a cool and awesome looking wallpaper for "the perfect 10" because Ubuntu is awesome and therefore the wallpaper should reflect this awesomeness.

Actual Results:

  - My eyes ! They're melting !
  - The 10 is not perfect with this wallpaper
  - MacOS X "Snow Leopard" and Windows 7 have better default wallpapers
  - Does not inspire awe
  - No one likes it, I haven't found any positive feedback on this wallpaper

Build Date & Platform:

  Up to date Ubuntu 10.10

Additional Information:

  - Slows down the work of the Ubuntu Manual team
  - Was listening to "Metallica - The thing that should not be" while writing this comment

Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
mucku (dereinsameberg) wrote :

Yes,
I can confirm this bug.
Please change it to something appealing or leave the OLD one (10.04)... it was at least nice to look at. Orange is over now... you can't bring it back... don't get nostalgic...

Cheers

Markus

Revision history for this message
Vish (vish) wrote :

meh!

Can people stop adding 'me too' now!

Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Triaged
Revision history for this message
Niko Lewman (nikolewman) wrote :

Inspired by Chauncellor, here are the results of a mini survey:

I changed the default wallpaper in our office (9 workstations running lucid). 5 out 9 tried first to adjust their screens and then called the helpdesk claiming that their monitor is out focus and that they can't fix it. 2 other's were onto me and simply changed the wallpaper, and the remaining to were the ones that actually made me worry about this, they worked half a day with this image and during lunch the went home because of severe migraine and the other said that he had such a strain on his eyes that he could not continue...

Summary:

So this new wallpaper cost me during one day:

5 calls to helpdesk, resulting 5 hours of delayed work time.
1 sick leave and 1 fatigued, 8 hours of lost work time.

Not your wisest pick for default wallpaper...

Revision history for this message
JarekJ83 (jarekj83) wrote :

i hope they will change it...MM 10.10 overall is a joke like now...netbook remix aint workin with my nvidia...i dont see shit! - same was with desktop version...i am mad now...i will stay with 10.04 LTS for 2 years and hope to see some big changes in another LTS. thank u

Revision history for this message
Alessio Bolognino (themolok) wrote :

I agree that "ugliness" is subjective, but seriously, 82 persons in less than 2 days confirmed that they find this wallpaper ugly; that is, 82 persons with an account considered this wallpaper so ugly that they checked on launchpad if there was a bug report about this and confirmed it, even though changing the wallpaper takes like 10 seconds!

The preview of the new GTK theme was also released recently, but the same audience that is complaining about this wallpaper think it's nice, or at least not so bad to actually complaining so vigorously. Is there a very active bug report saying that the new theme is ugly? Has the Ubuntu Community ever complained SO much about the wallpaper?

To me all this should be enough for the developers to reconsider the default wallpaper.

Revision history for this message
Ralf Nieuwenhuijsen (ralf-nieuwenhuijsen) wrote :
Download full text (3.8 KiB)

@Vish

>No one is expected to be an artist here, I'm just questioning why this is a bug!

I think everybody here understands that something like this isn't an actual bug.
It's also true that what's pretty can be highly subjective. But that doesn't mean it's distributed equally. If we have a poll about every wallpaper out there, you'll see that there will be a strong general consensus about most of them.

But you wanted some actual arguments about the wallpaper:

1. Two bright colors on the opposite side of the color spectrum are considering to clash according to color theory.

So, soft orange can be mixed with soft purple, but not bright orange with bright purple.
A good way to find colors that actually match is by using a tool called Agave, available in the Ubuntu repository.

2. This wallpaper has misdirection associations

Originally (in Lucid) it looked like a shiny purple surface. Which provided a nice strong contrast with the panels and the windows.

But now that faint association is gone. It no longer resembles a shiny surface, because of the non shiny orange spots.
People are now having faint association with a zoomed in picture of something biological. Combined with the clashing colors, they associate it with a decease. This is I think a bad thing.

3. Because of the lucid wallpaper that was the basis, people will focus on the transition, which makes it look sloppy

So Maverick is just like Lucid, but with orange spots? We visually separate the spots from the purple surface, because we know the old wallpaper so well. This makes Maverick look very sloppy, because the spots by themselves are very easy to make, and are judged by themselves.

So, what are the properties a good default wall-paper should have?

1. it should be easily distinguishable from the icons on top of it (people put files on their desktop!)

  - it shouldn't use any colors that used a lot in icons or the label underneath the icon
  - it shouldn't use any colors that appear the same to a colorblind person as colors used in the icons or the label
  - it should be easy to separate the 2D icon grid from the wallpaper in your mind. (in other words, it should be easy to tell for every pixel on the screen whether it belongs to an icon or the wallpaper). Possible ways to do that are:

      - use a 3D wallpaper
      - use something that has a strong contrast in color
      - use something that has a strong contrast in texture

2. people should generally find it pleasant to look at

    - the color should not clash. (clashing colors can easily be lookup, or you ask any person that consciously dresses themselves in the morning, rather than putting something on randomly)

   - it should have a positive association. If you take a look in a poster store, you'll see a lot of posters of animals, nature, landscapes, people and history rich objects. This seems to suggest those types of posters sell better, because a larger group of people find them pleasant to look at. A quick survery of most popular wallpapers in the community contest as well as the most popular wallpapers on gnome-look suggest these assumptions to be true.

To summarize:

 - the current wallpaper is bad f...

Read more...

Revision history for this message
Ralf Nieuwenhuijsen (ralf-nieuwenhuijsen) wrote :

>People interested in discussing/questioning the wallpaper can rather bring up the discussion on the Ayatana mailing list.
A launchpad bug report is *not* the place for discussions.

You really prefer these 80+ people here, to spam a mailing list and clog up internal discussion of the design team?
The point was simply to cry out and reach you guys. I think for everybody's sake it's better to keep this wrapped up in a single bug report. Since it's not really a debate, nor an information gathering thing. It's just a way for the community to shout out, and to make sure we are notified when it is resolved.

Revision history for this message
jaduncan (jaduncan) wrote :

"meh!

Can people stop adding 'me too' now!"

The issue is that a wide range of people agree that the wallpaper is substandard. This is an unusual reaction - none of the previous wallpapers have provoked a formal bug. Since this contributes to the overall impression of the OS, it is important to the community.

Since you asked for data, I have asked 25 people if they preferred the new orange dot wallpaper, or the old pure purple wallpaper. 23 said they preferred the former. This is aesthetic testing. You have substantive data.

Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Vish (vish) wrote :

@jaduncan: Kindly dont change bug status, if you dont know what you are doing.
Bug has been set to status triaged. Refer to bug status for more information: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status

description: updated
Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Triaged
Dorian (ikolpm)
description: updated
XFACT (avinandan)
description: updated
description: updated
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Shane Fagan (shanepatrickfagan) wrote :

Vish: We should mark this as an opinion instead of triaged. Opinion is only new but it was made for bug reports like this.

Revision history for this message
Bilal Akhtar (bilalakhtar) wrote :

Shane:
Opinion is used as a replacement of Invalid. Clearly this bugs is very much valid, right?

Revision history for this message
Erick Brunzell (lbsolost) wrote :

I caught wind of the big kerfuffle regarding this wallpaper at Ayatana and I must say, I just don't see the big problem.

It still blends well with the default "splash" screen and I honestly rather like it :^)

Revision history for this message
Shane Fagan (shanepatrickfagan) wrote :

Bilal: Im pretty sure its not a replacement for invalid its more of a valid but an opinion. We dont really need more info for the bug we can act on it now.

Revision history for this message
Jeremy Nickurak (nickurak) wrote :

The purple and orange are nice colors for a theme.... but when you put them on a gradient, they mix together. Purple+orange mixed gives you a very unappetizing brownish color. If you could come up with a Purple+orange+brown theme that worked, this would be okay. The gradient however adds colors to the overall theme that are just don't belong in the Purple+Orange.

That, I think, is the unintended consequence of the design of this background, which is what makes it a bug, and not just an aesthetic difference of opinion: the brown is (I think) not intentional.

Revision history for this message
lelamal (lelamal-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Before the SABDFL comes out to remind us this is not a democracy, I'll add my voice to the choir: I agree with Melvin (#21), those two wallpapers portraying the animal of the current release were particularly loved by the community. They seem to have set their stamp, and they actually made sense because, in users' minds, they related to the name of the animal they used to call their favourite OS.

In my view, a nice AND maverick meerkat would accomplish this again, an abstract selection of colors randomly blended would not. Otherwise... why do we even use these code-names, after all?

Revision history for this message
Philip Muškovac (yofel) wrote :

Shane: actually no, Opinion counts as closing the bug and hides it from the default search. Again, see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status

Revision history for this message
Greg A (etulfetulf) wrote :

I think the point has been made.

Andrea Cimitan of the Canonical Design Team has stated in blog comments "Who said this is the default wallpaper? A new blog post about future wallpapers and design decisions will follow next week." [1]

In other words, everyone is kicking up a big fuss over nothing, this is not going to be the final wallpaper, keep an eye on the Canonical Design blog.

[1] http://design.canonical.com/2010/08/second-update-to-the-ubuntu-light-themes/

Revision history for this message
Vallery Lancey (muscovy) wrote :

"Kindly add information as to why the wallpaper is 'the worst' or why this is a bug? As a bug report there is no information why this bug is about!"

The contrast with the orange feel too bold. Purple and orange can be combined together very nicely. I honestly think the Ubuntu home page is one of the prettiest sites I've ever seen. As was said earlier, it could work with a less dramatic shift, perhaps using more of that magenta colour used on the top of the lucid wallpaper (and putting orange in the centre).

Revision history for this message
novatillasku (novatillasku) wrote :

Yo como usuaria novata de Ubuntu, pensé que los bugs eran para dar cuenta de un error, no de la opinión sobre si algo gusta o no gusta.
Es lamentable que se cree aqui un debate por que a una persona se le ocurrió que está en el derecho de poner aqui su rabieta.
En primer lugar hay que tener respeto por el trabajo de los diseñadores.
Y en segundo lugar, Ubuntu ya nos da opciones para cambiar si algo no nos gusta.
Me parece feisimo que se discuta donde no es su lugar.
Si se admite ésto se creará precedente para que si a alguien no le gusta la musica de inicio también lo ponga como error.O si no le gustan los programas que se han elegido por defecto.
Entonces los bugs de Ubuntu ya no será un lugar serio donde se trata de arreglar problemas, sino un lugar donde volcar las quejas.
Un saludo!

Revision history for this message
Mohamed Amine Ilidrissi (ilidrissi.amine) wrote : Re: [Bug 625193] Re: Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing

novatillasku, the majority of Ubuntu and Launchpad users speak
English. Next time, please write your comment in English.
Here's the translated message (in Google Translate):

Me as a novice user of Ubuntu, the bugs were thought to account for an
error, no opinion on whether something like it or not.
It is unfortunate that a discussion is believed here that a person
occurred to him that is entitled to put his tantrum here.
First you have to have respect for the work of the designers.
Secondly, Ubuntu and gives us options to change if something we do not like.
I think ugly is discussed where it is not their place.
If we accept this precedent will be set up so that if someone does not
like the startup music so put as error.O if you do not like programs
that have been chosen by default.
Then the bugs in Ubuntu is no longer a serious place where he tries to
fix problems, but a place to dump the complaints.
Greetings!

2010/8/29 novatillasku <email address hidden>:
> Yo como usuaria novata de Ubuntu, pensé que los bugs eran para dar cuenta de un error, no de la opinión sobre si algo gusta o no gusta.
> Es lamentable que se cree aqui un debate por que a una persona se le ocurrió que está en el derecho de poner aqui su rabieta.
> En primer lugar hay que tener respeto por el trabajo de los diseñadores.
> Y en segundo lugar, Ubuntu ya nos da opciones para cambiar si algo no nos gusta.
> Me parece feisimo que se discuta donde no es su lugar.
> Si se admite ésto se creará precedente para que si a alguien no le gusta la musica de inicio también lo ponga como error.O si no le gustan los programas que se han elegido por defecto.
> Entonces los bugs de Ubuntu ya no será un lugar serio donde se trata de arreglar problemas, sino un lugar donde volcar las quejas.
> Un saludo!
>
> --
> Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/625193
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

Revision history for this message
novatillasku (novatillasku) wrote :

Sorry and thank's for the tranlsation ;-)

Revision history for this message
Donovan (donovan2014) wrote :

Same wallpaper with 3 more dots = no fantasy.
I think that this community can make much better.

Revision history for this message
Jacopo Moronato (jmoronat) wrote :

This wallpaper won't be the default.
Be patient and everything will be fine.

Revision history for this message
Donovan (donovan2014) wrote :

The problem IMHO it's not if it will be default or not. It's the idea of an upgraded release wallpaper made with 3 more dots. It sounds like a joke.

Anyway, it's not a big problem, and of course it's not a bug. It's only community FUD, but really interesting to understanding *how* this relationship work (beetween Ubuntu community, Canonical and mass BlogNews on the Web) on decisional side of dev for Ubuntu.

Revision history for this message
Benjamin Humphrey (humphreybc) wrote :

In this case, the mainstream certainly does not like the wallpaper. That's obvious. I also don't believe this wallpaper was landed in Maverick with the intention of it being a temporary one. This has never been done before, it was landed right on the UI freeze. If the default wallpaper does change between now and Maverick, it will be as a result of the backlash from the community rather than something that was planned all along.

Regarding giving more information: I shouldn't have to tell the design team what's wrong with it, they're paid to design good things, they should know. When somebody does bad work, they should be ready to face the consequences - most of the time criticism. This is true in all other areas of the world. Grow a thicker skin.

The problem with open source is that no one has the guts to stand up and call people out on bad work for fear of getting a telling off from the community - I should know, I'm usually the one standing up.

If no one points out mistakes, then we will never advance. This wallpaper is a mistake and it needs to be fixed so that we can forget about this and release the quality distro that Maverick is without users projectile vomiting when they boot up for the first time.

Revision history for this message
Robert Xu (bravoall1552) wrote :

This "default" wallpaper certainly has created lots of discussion here.
And I've been an Ubuntu user, and I know this isn't what most of us expect.

If, after reading through the comments, you cannot find what mistakes you made, maybe you should read them over. There are clearly labeled mistakes that are pointed out. VERY CLEARLY.

Would the Ubuntu Artwork Team or anyone care to share something that might look more appealing? That way, instead of this criticism thread, we the users can see something or contribute something and the developers might get a clue on how we feel or how we can have more, errr, difference compared to the last release.

Revision history for this message
Далибор Ђурић (dalibor) wrote :

Generraly speaking, I am against compalining about things like this, but now all this gon too much away. Please, please get a rid of this ugliness. I am KDE user, but a i feel sorry for millions of Ubuntu users arround the world, they should be saved from this thing.

Revision history for this message
konjic (konjic-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Wallpaper is something that we barely see (if we are actually using our computer) but that doesn't mean that we need to have an ugly one by default. THe current wallpaper is better and the one that will ship with 10.10 is actually ugly since developers decided to use those ugly (let me say that again: ugly) orange dots. Remove the dots or use Lucid wallpaper. YOu should focus on bugs not on stupid wallpapers (the current theme is pretty good and the wallpaper is nice in Lucid). +1 for this "bug" from my side.

Revision history for this message
Mike Grunewald (mikeg32) wrote :

I am at a loss for words on how this UGLY wall even made it in the iso

First impressions Last forever do not ever forget this

Revision history for this message
Tom Pino (metalsmith-rangeweb) wrote :

  On 08/30/2010 03:01 PM, Benjamin Humphrey wrote:
> In this case, the mainstream certainly does not like the wallpaper.
> That's obvious. I also don't believe this wallpaper was landed in
> Maverick with the intention of it being a temporary one. This has never
> been done before, it was landed right on the UI freeze. If the default
> wallpaper does change between now and Maverick, it will be as a result
> of the backlash from the community rather than something that was
> planned all along.
>
> Regarding giving more information: I shouldn't have to tell the design
> team what's wrong with it, they're paid to design good things, they
> should know. When somebody does bad work, they should be ready to face
> the consequences - most of the time criticism. This is true in all other
> areas of the world. Grow a thicker skin.
>
> The problem with open source is that no one has the guts to stand up and
> call people out on bad work for fear of getting a telling off from the
> community - I should know, I'm usually the one standing up.
>
> If no one points out mistakes, then we will never advance. This
> wallpaper is a mistake and it needs to be fixed so that we can forget
> about this and release the quality distro that Maverick is without users
> projectile vomiting when they boot up for the first time.
>
The projectile vomit would, however make their screen look a lot better.

Revision history for this message
Vish (vish) wrote :

From > https://lists.launchpad.net/ayatana/msg03579.html

No longer a wishlist.. So raising importance.. ;-)

Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
importance: Wishlist → Low
Revision history for this message
Ralf Nieuwenhuijsen (ralf-nieuwenhuijsen) wrote :

@Vish

I've read up on most of the mailing list stuff.
But they never actually state that the wallpaper will change.

The sort of clear communication people are begging here for, is still not there.
Nor is there any debate or talk about the actual arguments of the wallpaper.

They mostly are discussing just how offended they are that people don't like it.
And how it's OMGUbuntu's fault or something, for not properly censoring comments that contain criticism of the design.

The wallpaper is important, but the reaction on the mailing list is kind of shocking.
I've worked with a lot of designers, and i've never seen this kind of attitude.
Are these people being paid by Canonical to worry about their ego's all day?
Do they realize, that Canonical, the company they are working for, is trying to make money of Ubuntu and that the popularity and satisfaction of its' customers matters?

They use the word community to exclude people rather than to include people.
It's like the inner circle of Gentoo, Debian or some other 'we are the elite and you are not welcome' crowd.

It seems Ubuntu has much bigger problems than just the wallpaper.
You seem to be very neutral and carry the sort of professional and constructive attitude you would expect from a payed Canonical employee, like a light in the darkness, on that mailing list. You are not even taking sides, just trying to get them to have a constructive conversation.

Is there are any way we can help to resolve this?
I understand everybody just 'shutting up about the wallpaper' would make it seem the problem would go away, but that would just encourage and reinforce this kind of behavior.

As to Ubuntu One, for example, it's kind of hard to accept we would indirectly pay these people to address the larger community like this.

Wasn't the point of not using the volunteer community for design work, but actual paid professionals to prevent exactly _this_ kind of behavior?

Revision history for this message
Ralf Nieuwenhuijsen (ralf-nieuwenhuijsen) wrote :

@ Vish

I've finally caught up with Marks intervention.
I should have just clicked your link.
It's good to read that Mark's on top of it and said the magic words.
Finally.

Let's hope he will also remind the team, they they represent Canonical, and remind them that Canonical wants to sell its services to everyone, not just the inner circle of Ubuntu. The word community should not be used to insinuate that some users aren't 'proper' users and hence may not provide feedback or talk about your product on whatever platform they choose.

And that the attitude of the community at large towards the design team is not a constant, but the result of a two way interaction. You can't and shouldn't blame random blogs for outbursts of frustration.

It's easy to prevent this kind of stuff. Keep your ego in check, and _communicate_. If more than 100 people ask the same question, they should at least bother to answer it. If it reaches thousands of people, the proper response is not to get offended, but to use it as a moment of reflection, and to realize that maybe, clarity should have been provided earlier.

Revision history for this message
Isaac Trumbo (itbcn8) wrote :

I for one am very turned off by this whole incident. The wallpaper was ugly, everyone that commented on OMG!Ubuntu! that day agreed... But at least on OMG!Ubuntu! you could feel like you had a voice and people were listening.

Then as people got wind of the hugely negative reaction (developers, canonical, whoever @Vish is), it seemed like we got a very rude pushback by them. I am not a programmer or "geek", but I LOVE Ubuntu. I always thought the point of open source was that you could have constant feedback to the community and everyone would help test, give feedback, report bugs, etc...

Now, Vish, why do you have to be so condescending? You KNOW that nobody really got confused with what "bug" means. I personally came to launchpad and found this because I didn't know where else to go! And honestly, after reading how cold you and others have been in reacting to us "stupid end users" (or whatever you consider us), I am honestly thinking about forgetting about Ubuntu... (you don't care, I know, and that's kind of the point).

Hey, you might have to PAY for Macs or Windows PC's, but at least they don't treat you like shit if you give them feedback! You didn't see Microsoft saying "suck it" when everyone hated Vista.

Guess what, there are more than 2 types of people in the world (GEEKS/NON-GEEKS)... try listening to people when they say they don't like a wallpaper, they are probably designers, artists, etc, and probably have better taste and a better eye for these things!

Anyway, I'll stop before I get too upset thinking about how hypocritical the "Ubuntu Community" is... It's just a bunch of jerk elitist geeks, or at least that is the impression I got from reading this activity log.

FU!UBUNTU!

Revision history for this message
jhfhlkjlj (fdsuufijjejejejej-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

I believe that harsh criticism is very healthy for anyone; however, blatant insults are NOT.

Vish has done an excellent job with many things bug/community related. Petty insults are really not going to get anyone anywhere. It's already been decided that the wallpaper will be changed, so there's no more need for screaming and yelling.

Revision history for this message
Isaac Trumbo (itbcn8) wrote :

@chauncellor,

OK, I apologize for the things I wrote that are offensive. I honestly did not mean it that way (it's just words that are in my day-to-day vocab, not pulling out stronger ones for here).

I bet Vish has done a lot of great things for bugs/community, etc... I just wanted to point him out as being especially cold and condescending in this activity log.

Hey, I'm out, no more comments, sorry to bother you guys, like you said it's being changed no more whining...

Revision history for this message
Jay S (topdownjimmy) wrote :

@Jeremy Nickurak

<em>"The purple and orange are nice colors for a theme.... but when you put them on a gradient, they mix together. Purple+orange mixed gives you a very unappetizing brownish color. If you could come up with a Purple+orange+brown theme that worked, this would be okay. The gradient however adds colors to the overall theme that are just don't belong in the Purple+Orange.

"That, I think, is the unintended consequence of the design of this background, which is what makes it a bug, and not just an aesthetic difference of opinion: the brown is (I think) not intentional."</em>

You've hit the nail on the head here. It's the gradient from orange into purple.

Revision history for this message
jhfhlkjlj (fdsuufijjejejejej-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Isaac:

You still are and will always be welcome here, it's just requested to have a slightly more polite tone =).

Perhaps it would be best to confront Vish if his behavior is unacceptable to you. We're all (sadly) human here and as such we are all susceptible to being wrong. The thing that sets us apart from the simians is the fact that we sometimes succeed at resolving things without cracking heads open with bones.

Revision history for this message
Vish (vish) wrote :

@Ralf Nieuwenhuijsen : Contrary to the common mis-perception, there are no two sides... ;-)
Everyone wants to improve Ubuntu, so i dont need to take sides. :-)

@Isaac Trumbo: Looking at your lp account, it seems that you are new to launchpad and bug reporting.
So lets get a few things right. As i said earlier , everyone is entitled to their opinions , and the best thing about opinions is there can never be a wrong opinion ;-)
But as a bug report, it needs alteast a little bit of description as to what the problem *is* , to get a bug fixed.
And you need to say a few words than point out to a blog's comment section filled with expletives. [You might want to look at Bug #627541 , which is a similar design issue. But since there is information we proceed to improve the design. Note its also a similar wishlist being raised to a higher priority.. ]

As I mentioned earlier, since there needs to be discussion about such changes, this was brought up in the Ayatana ML, and we got a reply.. Else we can keep yelling everywhere with no results and blame the developers for not listening.

Developers do listen if people take the time to actually use words to speak.
We need to know the proper channels for discussion to actually improve Ubuntu, rather then to just spread FUD that developers dont listen.

Hmm, not sure what you find cold! But i dont think anyone needs to get as emotional as your earlier comments to actually get bugs fixed.. But launchpad is not a forum for discussions , feel free to send me a mail [use the contact user link from my lp account], if you want to discuss further. ;-)

And to maintain a respectful atmosphere, please follow the code of conduct - http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct/ .

Revision history for this message
Andrew Heil (heilandrew) wrote :

This entire thread brings up some interesting questions. Such as:

- Launchpad may not be the place to complain about ugly default wallpaper, since it's not technically a bug, it's a feature - but where else is there to complain about it?
- Why does it seem like the first reaction of Ubuntu devs to the negative criticism of this wallpaper (and also to the placement of the window buttons in the last release) was to (a) throw out the CoC and (b) act as if it was the "developer tribe" vs. the "horde of unwashed users," instead of just acknowledging that there was a problem? Why did end users essentially have to scream and shout and stomp their feet before they get taken seriously? (Add the reaction to OMG! Ubuntu's posters on the Ayatana mailing list discussion from September entitled "The new default wallpaper" as more evidence of this.)
- Who was responsible for creating the wallpaper?
- Why isn't there any mention of the (mostly negative) reaction to the wallpaper on the Canonical Design site?

Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Confirmed
summary: - Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing
+ Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing (Bad design)
Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → Seth Woods (alekasethm)
assignee: Seth Woods (alekasethm) → Kubuntu Users (kubuntu-users)
Revision history for this message
Shane Fagan (shanepatrickfagan) wrote : Re: Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing (Bad design)

Dont mess with the bugs Seth if you dont know what you are doing.

summary: - Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing (Bad design)
+ Official 10.10 wallpaper is unappealing
Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
assignee: Kubuntu Users (kubuntu-users) → nobody
status: Confirmed → Triaged
Revision history for this message
Shane Fagan (shanepatrickfagan) wrote :

Thanks Mohamed for changing it back I couldnt figure out how to do it :)

Revision history for this message
Mohamed Amine Ilidrissi (ilidrissi.amine) wrote :

@Shane Fagan: you have to be part of the Ubuntu Bug Control team to be able to do that.

Revision history for this message
Shane Fagan (shanepatrickfagan) wrote :

Yeah I know I completely forgot though back in the old days anyone could do it.

Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → Ken VanDine (ken-vandine)
milestone: none → ubuntu-10.10
Revision history for this message
Thibault Févry (thibaultfevry) wrote :

 This should be marked as Fix Comitted and then when it finished building as Fix Released.
 My sources to say that are the Webupd8 post and the changelog from ubuntu-wallpapers.
(http://www.webupd8.org/2010/09/final-ubuntu-1010-default-wallpaper-is.html ; https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/maverick/+source/ubuntu-wallpapers/+changelog)

 Thibault.

Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Fix Committed
Changed in ubuntu-wallpapers (Ubuntu):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Simon Baconnais (smon-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Is this what you can do better?

Revision history for this message
jhfhlkjlj (fdsuufijjejejejej-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

I happen to think it's quite lovely. Great job, and sorry for the hassle, guys.

Revision history for this message
Alin Andrei (nilarimogard) wrote :

Kind of bright, but looks ok. Thanks for the new wallpaper!

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