If it is for free, what do people expect? Lets use the example of tap water. It is plain and simple. Do people expect it to come with different flavors?
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Rule one of economics 101: There is no free lunch.
If you want something to be conform to your standards, customizes it yourself or pay someone to do it for you.
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If you're asserting that people should shrug off or become indifferent about quality because something is free, I'm going to have to disagree. Undermining free software efforts, open source projects, and many web applications would be quite terrible.
To the op, what specific gripes do you have with Ubuntu's usability?
Did I undermine free software efforts? Did I say that? Read again. As I mentioned before, "There is no free lunch. If you want something to be CONFORM to your standards, CUSTOMIZES it yourself or PAY someone to do it for you. ... " Not all free software is good. Not all paid software is good too.