Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? | Ubuntu Summit 25.10

Canonical Ubuntu · 509.7K views · 2025-12-11 · 43:30

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Overview

Scott Jenson, a veteran UX designer formerly at Apple and Google, argues that the 'UX/UI' split pits programmers against designers and narrows ambition in open source. He makes the case that desktop UX has stagnated and that open source projects could lead experimentation beyond current interaction models.

On Hacker News

HN commenters cite it when discussing stagnating desktop UX, Apple's design decline, and open source's chance to experiment with new interaction models.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2025–2026

Topics

UX & UI design Linux & open-source ecosystems GUI, HCI & interface history

What people said

finnlab · 2026-01 · Recommendation
I’ve always respected macOS for being the 'stable' choice for not-as-techy people. But recent versions feel like a mess. Running Tahoe on my 2019 Mac Pro (Yes the cheese grater one) has been surprisingly frustrating. Simple things are broken: Ableton couldn't even trigger a microphone permission prompt, forcing me to meddle with a SQLite database, which is definitely not meant for end users to touch, just to get it working. Logitech’s software is stuck in a loop denying it has Bluetooth access (Which it has). And with the added graphical glitches (Apple likes to call them liquid glass) and weird window artifacts (For some reason, all my windows had a black, rectangular border one day), it’s honestly less reliable than my macOS-style Linux rice from 2015. I've recently watched this talk by an ex-apple UI/UX engineer: [VIDEO] I think what he's talking about is precisely what got lost at apple.
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bsimpson · 2026-01 · Recommendation
Scott Jenson - who worked on the classic Mac for Apple, and Android for Google - recently gave a talk on this: [VIDEO] The tl;dw is that copying UX lets others invest energy in identifying the paradigm. Linux, which tends to be starved for resources, has historically been reasonably well served by letting Apple and Microsoft define UX, while Linux focuses on implementing it. However, those headlining companies haven't been investing in desktop UX excellence in recent years. It's time for open source projects to embrace experimentation and take the mantle of cutting edge UX, because Apple et. al. aren't paving the way anymore.
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glkindlmann · 2026-01 · Recommendation
It may have jumped the shark, but it may be that now there's space for actual experimentation and innovation again. This talk from Scott Jenson (who worked at Apple in Human Interfaces) was thought-provoking and gave me a little optimism: [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by Canonical Ubuntu, played through YouTube.

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