Linux thoughts

I closely follow updates happening in Linux desktop software releases. Especially Ubuntu, which has reached 11.10. It is hard to believe that I had been using - or trying so to speak - Ubuntu since 5.10 - the breezy "badger".

Good stuff - things that improved along the way :

• Font rendering (anti-aliasing) - Current on-screen font rendering beats Windows and OS x by miles.
• Speed - yes most of the OS's had been focusing on this and Ubuntu also has improved it constantly. Currently 11.04 boots up in 20 seconds in my Intel Atom based Netbook.
• Multimedia/flash - Nothing to credit Ubuntu, but these work better in Ubuntu than other (Fedora) notable distros. Also plenty of free tools to manipulate all kinds of media.
• Updates - If you like living on the edge, Ubuntu can offer you about two OS releases every year.
• Gnome2 - The Gnome user interface and applications were maturing in a nice way.

Now to the bad stuff.

Do you remember the days of Compiz vs Beryl days ? Gnome vs KDE arguments?

If not, don't worry, it is all stories from the past. Welcome to the Unity, Gnome Shell and Gnome2 melting pot. The confusion around next big user interface is definitely going to impact popularity of Linux as a desktop operating system. Most of the Linux fans dislikes   It is going to be more of an OS for "interest groups".

Big names like Linux Torvalds have already despised these.

Since this is my blog, I am going to air my opinion. Gnome Shell and Unity were a bad move. It not only discourage new users but slows things a bit too. All the applications (such as Nautilus, Ubuntu update managers etc) looks really armature and confusing. Compatibility is completely broken between Gnome2 and 3 themes. There are great theme engines and themes that were created since 2006 - all will go waste unless someone spends time porting those. Instead, more focus should have gone in to improving performance of Gnome2 and polishing already existing applications.

I just hope that Ubuntu spends more time in fixing quirks of Unity and making all over user experience better in the platform. As long as Gnome Shell is concerned, I have serious doubts about its future unless it undergoes some radical changes.

State of clientProperty in OS X Java 1.6

Started looking at my pet Java Swing application - jSpent. This time the attempt was to create a leopard-like unified toolbar. I was so excited to see that there is a clientProperty "apple.awt.brushMetalLook" - By setting this as : 

myFrame.getRootPane().putClientProperty("apple.awt.brushMetalLook", Boolean.TRUE);

This will cause OS X to render the title bar in the unified style. But unfortunately, there is no good clientProperty setting for the toolbar itself. So we end up with a light gray window title bar. The toolbar appears like a gray box, painted in different color. Not sure if this is a bug in Apples Java. However, I had to again resort to pick and choose and paint my own gradient just below the window title bar to make it look "Unified". So, here is the output. 

But oh well, I need to repaint the toolbar in ligher gradient when the window goes out of focus.. hm.. that's too much to do!

More to Awesomeness!!!!!!!

Came across http://www.goowy.com accidentally during a Google search and I was totally taken in!! This is an "on-line desktop", your own personal computer over the internet. They call it a "Web Top".
The user interface is so cool that it can compete with any modern desktop environments. The beauty is that you have all your apps - mail, calendar, chat, widgets of interest available on an online deskop no matter where or from what you are accessing it. Here is a screenshot from Firefox.

Putting together a modern UI using Java swing.

I had been working a lot with Java2D and graphics in my free time. So, when I thought of a little utility application for myself, I thought of applying all sorts of "Swing hacks" that I came across so far. Thanks to swing gurus like 'Roamin Guy' and 'John Lipsky', I am able to build somewhat beautiful UI. A lot of time is being spent in putting all the components together and testing while I am losing focus on the real task in my hand - building my little utility application. Hm.. some day I will build it. Here is a screenshot of the work so far for now.

Java has come a very long way in terms of UI and graphics performance. I am only an entry level programmer when it comes to graphics and swing painting. But this application is running pretty smooth on both windows and OS X and it only can be attributed to Java 6's performance.