You can't deny that Mint 11 looks horribly dated now

[AlbertP]

It's named Wayland and not Wayward. For many people with hybrid graphics, Wayland is the only way to get the NVidia / ATI chip working. And almost all laptops sold today are having hybrid graphics. We at Linux cannot ignore that hybrid graphics is used that much.

It should be 100% clear that Wayland is NOT a desktop like Unity or Gnome. Wayland is a replacement of the X server, or a layer that runs between the X server and the kernel.

By the way, there is not yet a distro using Wayland. We still have to wait till 2012/2013 for that.

[sjonesy]

ubuntu has never impressed me with their knowledge of public thinking. Thats the reason Im using mint for the most part.
Long Live Isadora!!!

[Nick_Djinn]

I havnt seen anyone that has confused Wayland for a DE. Its already been discussed that its a replacement for X.

[graylion]

I just moved to Katya because I dislike Gnome 3 and Unity and really really want to to keep my compiz. What is it with this trend towards lightweight anyway? i have 12 GB of RAM and 3 monitors running off 2 AMD 6950s, I really don't need lightweight. i want my features and gimmicks and wobbly windows and whatnot and not frugality

/rant

so please, dear Linux Mint, stay with Gnome 2 and Compiz!

[AlbertP]

Gnome Shell can't run Compiz but Gnome 3 without Shell is still working fine with it.
By the way, the Compiz team is said to be working on Gnome Shell compatibility. Or it was the other way round, I don't know it anymore.

[graylion]

thanks, that is good to know

[Jix]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Well I'm glad the people who invented the phone and TV didn't have that philosophy...

[gogogadget]

Cool, I welcome the decision to switch over to G3, because I don't like Unity that much. Btw. I have waited very long for the "breakthrough" of Linux, and with the release of LM12 the day will arrive...

[frodopogo]

There are a couple of trends going on in the computer world and the world in general, and I think Clement and Mark have picked different trends to follow and cater to.

Non-geeky or only semi-geeky computer users get tired of Windows' flaws and want something more secure, but want to retain Windows' GOOD POINTS... the ways in which it allows them to GET WORK DONE. Clement is trying to offer these people Mint as a migration path.
He got me... when I experience a virus attack I picked up on my favorite music forum, I knew I needed an alternative, and it would probably be Linux of some kind. I found Distrowatch, and was bewildered by all the different distros. However, I did know some friends that had tried and liked Ubuntu. But nearly everything else was totally unfamiliar. So I went down the Distrowatch rankings reading reviews until I got to Mint, and the descriptions of Mint were EXACTLY what I was looking for in a Linux Distro.
1. Large distro (and in a sense being related to Ubuntu makes it larger). I don't want something that's going to disappear next week.
2. user friendly- using the terminal is not absolutely required.
3. extra bug fixing compared to Ubuntu

However, there is another trend going on. A lot of young people are using smart phones for ALL their internet browsing... they LOVE their phones. And I can see that if they HAD to use a computer, they MIGHT be more attracted to something that worked more like their smart phone that they spend so much time on. This is what Mark is focusing on and it makes sense in a way... but the problem is, it's a gamble.
The reason they fell in love with smart phones wasn't the interface... it was size and portability. I don't see a different interface luring them back. But maybe it will... if it does, Mark's gamble pays off big time.

Clement's choice SEEMS safer, but really it's a gamble too. If Linux Mint becomes mostly popular with an aging demographic, that demographic will eventually SHRINK.

However, schools and workplaces will probably continue to use computers, forcing people to retain familiarity with them.
Because Linux is used in servers, they have IT personnel that are familiar with Linux.
So if the desktops were converted to Linux too, that wouldn't bother the IT techs at all.
And if Mint and Ubuntu retain enough inward compatibility, they could be used in the same workplace without too much trouble, using the same software.
And people could use whichever interface suited them best.

Really whether something looks dated isn't the issue...
the issue is whether it gets in the way of doing what you want to do.
If you use smart phones all the time, and shifting to a more traditional interface gets in your way, then Unity will probably be a good thing for you. For people who migrated from Windows, they really don't want the new OS to be THAT much different- that would get in the way of getting things done. "New" is only really good if it's also really "improved" as far as getting things done.

Several things could happen... if Unity catches on big time, I think Clement will want to do a Mint version.
Or, it's possible it could bomb, and maybe Clement and the team will get tired of having to make too many big changes...
they might pick another distro to base Mint on. Maybe Mint Debian is the wave of the future... or maybe the future for the more conservative form of Mint.

[AlbertP]

You can already install Unity from the repository on Mint. It does not look very good as the Mint theme is not made for Unity but it works fine.

[LISABLUEANGEL]

yues it does indeed look outdated compared to "Lisa"! i at least use kde desktop session as well as gnome classic,because i really like the two of them...... its like having the best all worlds when it comes to "Lisa", im wondering what linux mint 13 is going 2 b like?

[Lumikki]

I don't mind if something looks better or more modern. How ever, most the time the functionality doesn't come better, when something is done new ways. Example I tryed Ubuntu 11.10. Sure left taskbar icons where fine to me, but when I had program running in full screen, the issues starts. How I switch between programs. How I start new programs, if I can't anymore see the taskbar and so on..

So, to me it's not just question how something looks, but how it actually functions. I don't want fancy animation or effects or "cool" graphics, if it means I lose the functionality of my desktop.

Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong to do new "Cool" ways. I support those new desktop styles. How ever, it should be a CHOICE, not as forced to be one way or other. Like some people use more mouse and some use more keyboard short cuts. We people are different, so supporting different kind of choises is great. But forcing everyone to one type of desktop use, that's not good at all.

I'm using at the moment Mint 12 Cinnamon.