Ubuntu Lucid "Aero" style* GTK posponed to Lucid+1

By , Published February 3, 2010

The awesome RGBA packing GTK+ enhancements and client side window decoration we told you about a few months back, targeted at inclusion in Lucid, have been postponed until Lucid+1. This

This isn’t really a great surprise as there were many applications that wouldn’t play nice, bugs were spouting out here and there and, lets face it, Lucid is all about the stability factor. No rocking the boat, y’hear!

Thanks to reader danielwiberg

*I know people hate the fact i call it “aero” style, but for casual, non-nerd users
that is the closest comparable thing to liken it to; RGBA means nothing to them.

Article originally appeared on omgubuntu.co.uk

Related posts:

  1. Ubuntu Help Centre To Get Major Overhaul For Lucid?
  2. Ubuntu Lucid To Get Windows Aero Style Look Thanks To Enhanced GTK+
  3. Ubuntu 10.04 Named 'Lucid Lynx'
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  • Anonymous

    A shame although its quite understandable. No biggy, I can wait personally.

  • http://www.linuxmint.com/ Jimbo

    This is what, the 4th time Ubuntu announce plans for a new theme/style and then change their minds?

    • Anonymous

      Understandable in a way though, if this is to the LTS version it needs to be as stable as possible. You cant really blame them for putting stability ahead of aesthetics.

      • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

        This also wasn’t “announced” – Mark said back in October that there would be no new theme in Lucid only a new Metacity. This GTK+ stuff was kinda a last minute proposal and it was always going to be a longshot. it seemed like it was going to make it but… this is for the best.

    • Cheese

      You can’t blame them, it’s not their faults they aren’t good at software development.

      Blame upstream.

    • Anonymous

      This is like, what, the 4th release of Ubuntu for every release of windows or Os X?

    • Wim

      This isn’t a change of mind. It was something that bratsche, one of the Ubuntu (and upstream gtk) developers was toying around with and working on, but it was becoming too intrusive of a change and was breaking apps and he didn’t have time to debug it all.

      This was never an announced feature for Ubuntu, it was only extra awesomeness that bratsche was working on. And hopefully he’ll get it done in L+1. :)

      I hear there will be a new theme though, it just won’t have RGBA support yet.

  • ely

    i hope it will at least be in lucid 10.04.1 or 10.04.2

    • Yfrwlf

      Only security and bug fixes are allowed in to a distro when it’s done usually, hence the “won’t make it”. 10.04.1 and .2 etc is re-bundling the iso with the latest security and bug fixes so that you won’t have to update so much after installation.

  • Mohan

    Damn! Well I rather have something that’s stable and not have it buggy.

  • Ant

    This fancy transparency wont fix the major usability problems of the gnome GUI. It’s a pity that Gnome 3.0 is not going to do that either.

    • Anonymous

      What’s unusable about the gnome gui?

  • http://www.thekiplingconspiracy.co.uk christiegrinham

    To be honest, I’m quite happy. I don’t think I could stand all those semi-transparent windows.

    • http://lusepuster.wordpress.com/ lusepuster

      christiegrinham; it would be optional anyway. I personally can’t stand the transparency mania, I find it very neat for the terminal and little else. But if people like it, I can’t see why Ubuntu shouldn’t include an optional theme that does it.

      • http://www.thekiplingconspiracy.co.uk christiegrinham

        totally agree, but I don’t think it should be default. I have the background of my terminal a semi-transparent white, but thats the only use i have for it!

  • Anonymous

    Stability Above Anything Else.

  • bhm

    Good, I’m actually aiming Lucid to be my next fresh install. 04 editions are mostly more stable and reliable/bug free for me.
    Feisty, Hardy and Jaunty -love ‘em all.

  • daas88

    It’s nice, but unnecessary. I know it’s not the same but danrabbit’s nautilus modification already has some of this “aero”. http://yfrog.com/04pantallazo01j

  • Anonymous

    I hope they don’t put too much of an emphasis on it. One of the main reasons I prefer Ubuntu to Windows is that it can look stylish even without the transparency effects.
    I am stuck using Windows 7 for work these days and aero was really distracting. In “Aero Basic”, 7 looks pretty ugly – a far cry from Ubuntu’s slick GTK Themes.

  • Anonymous

    That’s a shame because the theme looks great, and in my opinion just the eye candy that’s needed for a new release.

  • AndyP79

    Okay, that’s cool. BUT…. has anyone figured out how to make it happen by doing it themsleves yet? I tried the whole thing with the Murrine project, but I never got anything working…..

  • Anonymous

    That’s a shame. I was looking forward to seeing this in action. I’ve tried before, but could never get it going.

    I guess stability’s the main issue here, and my desktop still looks fantastic.

  • http://ammonkey.posterous.com/ ammonkey

    well in fact it’s not really a problem of stability, but not all applications are rgba compatibles furthermore when an application choose to support rgba then compiz can have some drawing problems on the windows like not draw shadow etc…

    We have the same problem with nautilus-elementary.

    • Yfrwlf

      Basically, you’re meaning that Compiz already gives some of the same effects and hasn’t been configured to work nicely with this enhanced GTK? If so, not a huge surprise, but that’s just a communication and standardization problem I’m sure. GTK and Compiz need to make it clear to each other when each other wants to take over things like shadows and whatnot. ^^

  • sfsff

    Transparency by default sucks. It makes you confused and difficult to find windows.
    This is even more annoying when you can only see the contents of the application while don’t seeing any menu bars or buttons properly. Power users and educated + sensible people hate this.

  • sfsff

    Transparency by default sucks. It makes you confused and difficult to find windows.
    This is even more annoying when you can only see the contents of the application while don’t seeing any menu bars or buttons properly. Power users and educated + sensible people hate this.

    • Guest

      Personally i like transparency combined with blur (like Windows’ Aero) for my desktop. I find it makes orientation easier, your eyes notice what is behind window frames and menus without being too much distracted (because of the blur). The windows in the background are not fully hidden, so you don’t have to look for them.
      In my opinion it gives the desktop some elegance as well, but that’s of course a question of taste.
      For me it doesn’t matter if it is enabled by default, but it should be easy to switch.
      And of course stability goes over look. I just hope that the support grows.

  • Ken

    I want ubuntu to make a new approach. Don’t tell us a feature or theme is going to be there and then take it all back and just say sorry; couldn’t work it out. Just don’t get our hopes up and then crash them. It would be a LOT easier to get people to come over to Linux if it worked on the looks. I want Ubuntu to win as the 2010 OS but it has to produce some good new stuff to do that.