I would rather say that it is sad to see Ubuntu going in a direction that doesn't align with your tastes/needs. I personally think Ubuntu is better today than ever before (for the most part).
Personally I think Linux on the desktop is in a far worse shape than it was 12 years ago. Sure, Linux works much better on laptops then it used to, but what good is that since the software provided by distributions is less stable and of a lower quality then it was 12 years ago. It's all anecdotal evidence, but I've had far more success 10 years ago introducing Linux to non-so-technical users, previously exposed only to Windows 95/98, by using a default Gnome/KDE environment then I'm having now introducing them to recent versions of Unity/KDE/Gnome.
Linux became worse when the commercial alternatives only got better.
Is Ubuntu going in a direction that aligns with the tastes/needs of anybody?
After the dumbing down of the past few releases, it isn't really any easier for non-technical people to install and use.
The dumbing down has also driven away a lot of the more technically-inclined users. Unity makes it damn near impossible to get any sort of real work done.
The majority of kids and teens, along with the elderly, could not care any less about it.
It's a lot like Firefox. Yeah, it's still around, but without any real focus. At some point, the stragglers who are still using it will move on to something else, and there's nobody new coming to replace them.
No. Ubuntu 12.10 breaks a great many things. And I don't mean "this doesn't work like it used to!"-broke. I mean, "this doesn't work! It used to!"
see: wifi; hdmi out; webcam.
I hate Unity 3D but whatever, that's the direction they're going. I don't care about the search "lenses". But just breaking shit from 12.04 to 12.10 is ridiculous. Whoever/whatever is in charge of Canonical needs to be fired. They're ruining the reputation of the brand, not to mention making many consumers absolutely dread the idea of new releases.
