The default position of the window controls will remain the left, throughout beta1. We're interested in data which could influence the ultimate decision. There are good reasons both for the change, and against them, and ultimately the position will be decided based on what we want to achieve over time.
Moving everything to the left opens up the space on the right nicely, and I would like to experiment in 10.10 with some innovative options there. It's much easier to do that if we make this change now. I appreciate that it's an emotive subject, and apologise for the fact that I haven't been responding in detail to every comment - I'm busy moving house this week. But the design team is well aware of the controversy, your (polite) comments and more importantly *data* are very welcome and will help make the best decision.
When we have a celebrity bug report like this, it's a real exercise for our values of communication, civility, and ubuntu. Thank you to those who have pointed to the code of conduct when things get heated. And thanks even more to those who FELT heated but didn't let it show :-)
So the buttons might be moved to the right somewhere between beta 2 and the release of Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid depending on the data gathered data, but that would be a bit in the way of the changes planned for Lucid+1 (10.10).
What do you think Mark Shuttleworth is planning on introducing to the top right corner of the windows starting with Lucid+1? Could it be some indicator messages or some sort?
