[drndown2007]

Actually, I agree with it. I'm a Linux noob, and even I (the target idiot?) can't find anything in the latest version of Ubuntu without having to constantly search. The older version was quite discoverable for me though. I'm also looking around for something more useable.

[sp332]

Is searching that bad? Personally, I find pushing the windows button on my keyboard and typing what I want (just like I do in Win7) is pretty convenient.

[ahi]

I have a lot of software installed that I use once a month or less. How do I search for something I don't know the name of? "I think I had some vector graphics programs installed. Or was that my other computer?"

[sp332]

Open the dash, then click "More Apps". You should get two lists to browse: "installed apps" and "apps available for download".

[narad]

I am a linux n00b too. Last weekend, I installed Ubuntu 11.10 is a shiny new Intel i3 machine. Just started learning the Unity interface. It is very difficult. The alt-tab does not show the each window of the open apps. The windows of the same program are clubbed together. WTF, how do I select them?

To me, Unity is a usability nightmare. As I have recently migrated from WindowsXP, this seems to be very hard. I hope I can learn to live with Ubuntu.

Also tried Gnome 3 shell, but quickly reverted to Unity as Gnome shell was even more horrible.

[jcastro]

When you get to the app you want, hit alt-` (or you can hit alt-` directly if you're already on the app you want) and then you'll get a preview of all the individual windows.

I made a video on how it works here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHFNnygpvcM

[drndown2007]

This made me chuckle after just reading a rant about someone leaving Linux and going back to Windows because of all the secret handshakes and tribal knowledge required.

[jsvaughan]

Super-tab shows each window, Alt-tab each app.

[gf3]

FWIW, only Windows behaves likes this. Most other window managers and OSes behave as you described. So this is technically not an issue of functionality, but an issue of your preconceptions of how a app switcher should work.

[slowpoke]

I usually call my programs directly with dmenu (or the Alt+F2 run dialog when I'm on Ubuntu), but even I like the way the older Ubuntu versions organize programs in the menu. It's very intuitive, especially if you're not familiar with the system you're on.