Ubuntu 11.04 to ship Unity as default desktop?

By Benjamin Humphrey, Published October 24, 2010

A blueprint suggesting a that a variant of the Unity netbook interface should be used on the desktop edition for Natty Narwhal has been approved by Mark Shuttleworth for discussion at the Ubuntu Developer Summit this week.

The Unity Netbook Interface

The blueprint suggests that GNOME Shell isn’t ready for the prime time for use in Ubuntu, and probably won’t be by April next year when 11.04 is scheduled for release. Rather than ship with GNOME Shell, the blueprint author Kenny Strawn has proposed that a “desktop-oriented form factor of Unity [should be used] instead of GNOME Shell in the Natty Narwhal.”

What makes this interesting is that the idea has been approved for active discussion at UDS by Mark Shuttleworth himself after he initially said that Unity was for netbooks only earlier this year.

The proposed solution involves the following key features:

  • A floating Unity Dash that can be moved to all edges of the screen
  • Floating, overlapping windows with their title bars and controls on them, not on the top panel
  • The home screen consolidated into a simple pop-down menu that extends down from the top left of the screen and allows you access to your programs and desktop search

It summarizes: “Basically turn Unity into a UI that can match and exceed the OS X user interface in regards to visual effects (such as transparency and Mutter-like effects). Of course, this would be for the desktop edition, not the netbook edition.”

Gnome Shell

GNOME Shell has come under much criticism ever since the concept was born, with many citing that it’s not user friendly and a step backwards in terms of the desktop experience.

Unity hasn’t been without critics either, with Ubuntu exclusive hardware manufacturer System 76 choosing not to ship Unity in their Starling netbook series citing that it’s “slow” and “confusing” for users.

While this is simply an idea that has been approved for discussion, does it represent the beginnings of a move away from upstream GNOME as Canonical pursue their own design paradigm? We will certainly find out when this session runs next week.

Related posts:

  1. System 76 Starling netbooks won’t ship with ‘slow, confusing’ Ubuntu Unity
  2. Mark Shuttleworth talks Unity at DebConf 10
  3. GNOME Census is out, reveals Canonical commit 16x less than Red Hat, shit hits the fan
Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
  • Anonymous

    very sad… gnome is ignoring us and now the ubuntu team wants to go idiotic on us -_-

    I like GNOME without the shell, and unity without *by itself* not as an everyday DE. AND I like to have compiz + gnome-panel + whatever… =(

    will we be stuck on maverick now?

    • http://twitter.com/chuche17 Jesus Galvan

      Only if you can’t accept change, sir.

  • https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkUZV8SCQhCyLolvjf_Bj0TmIrnqaJM4YQ iCalPer

    Please don’t turn Natty into Nasty.

    • Anonymous

      They won’t, this will turn it into pretty.

      Besides, this is just a discussion. The purpose of it is to judge the mood in the developer community, to find out whether this is a good idea or not, not to bulldoze it through.

    • Anonymous

      They won’t, this will turn it into pretty.

      Besides, this is just a discussion. The purpose of it is to judge the mood in the developer community, to find out whether this is a good idea or not, not to bulldoze it through.

    • Anonymous

      They won’t, this will turn it into pretty.

      Besides, this is just a discussion. The purpose of it is to judge the mood in the developer community, to find out whether this is a good idea or not, not to bulldoze it through.

  • Anonymous

    I kinda like this idea. I installed Unity on my full size laptop and it works pretty well. I think that the ideas set out thus far in the post make sense, and would help to make it fit better to a desktop setting. I don’t think there’s any problem with wanting to save space in a ui, no matter how big the screen real estate may be. So I’m looking forward to how this turns out….it might be interesting.

    • http://www.xnlab.net Xeriab Nabil

      You said “full size laptop” what about the classic desktop users ? I guess a lot of people does not like this idea :) if the made the change Ubuntu will die alone in a dark empty room :D

      • Anonymous

        Well I think the size of most desktops is about the same? –My display is 1280 x 800, which is actually more than my desktop at home’s ever been (but that monitor is OLD son! ;) ) But I agree with whoever else said that people are getting used to more simplicity with smartphones, etc. So I think it’ll happen and we’ll get used to it, like we got used to cellphones in the first place 10 or 15 years ago. It’s a sea change, you know? Paradigm shifting et al. But I think Unity has a good idea, esp. with the panel on the left, etc. There are some things that should happen though, and I’d like to put in my two cents sometime. Idk where to do that though. I’m not a coder.

        • http://www.xnlab.net Xeriab Nabil

          I agree with you but you know Creating a distribution based on something new is a problem (I was happy when I heard that Ubuntu is making a distribution for notebooks) but making the Unity officially a Desktop Environment is new at less for me and make me not comfortable :)Sorry for my bad English.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/L7L7TGYKNBABWM3N7ELVBTLV3E Virgil

    If Unity gets more stable it will probably be pretty good. I am open to give it a chance. I would use it in the current form except the appmenu does not get along with me with every program.

  • http://twitter.com/funkyman1122 Gabe Martin

    I think they should have unity as the default DE (with adjustments for desktop) and have an option in the installation to use “normal” gnome (for us tech junkies). Just my humble opinion ;)

    • http://twitter.com/threeblackdots Goran Crnkovic

      I would take it it would go something like:

      sudo apt-get remove unity….

      It really isn’t that hard to do it via the current method just adding a button is kinda pointless.

      • http://twitter.com/funkyman1122 Gabe Martin

        Um… for the people that want to use gnome but don’t care for wasting time in a terminal (or don’t know how to use a terminal). Ubuntu is built for end users, not back-end users. :)

  • http://twitter.com/nicoburns Nico Burns

    Hmm… It depends how much they can improve unity in 6 months. That dock would have to be improve a lot and it currently does not run at all on my ATI card. It also needs some way of working with compiz instead of mutter.

  • http://twitter.com/nicoburns Nico Burns

    Hmm… It depends how much they can improve unity in 6 months. That dock would have to be improve a lot and it currently does not run at all on my ATI card. It also needs some way of working with compiz instead of mutter.

  • http://twitter.com/kent_stor Kent Storbakken

    I sure hope not…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EYUKEOG7MSTDQ6WFIRCLVCKR3U Anthony

    No.

    • http://twitter.com/threeblackdots Goran Crnkovic

      Many Ubuntu users actually change the panels so they are not in the two panel configuration… clearly something is unappealing about the interface. Moreover, Ubuntu has had the same old panels since the beginning. The look is getting very dated and is going to be increasingly hard to win over users from Windows or OSX if it stays like that for a few more years. So change is needed.

    • http://twitter.com/threeblackdots Goran Crnkovic

      Many Ubuntu users actually change the panels so they are not in the two panel configuration… clearly something is unappealing about the interface. Moreover, Ubuntu has had the same old panels since the beginning. The look is getting very dated and is going to be increasingly hard to win over users from Windows or OSX if it stays like that for a few more years. So change is needed.

      • http://twitter.com/drsjlazar drsjlazar

        Change for the sake of change is not a valid reason for change.

        Yes, Gnome looks dated. But I think that is more an issue with the GTK toolkit. Refresh that and the whole UI will benefit. IMO, instead of building these new UIs, Canonical should throw their weight behind Gnome3, making it the best it can be.

        Look at KDE. They made their leap of faith and worked hard on KDE4. And I can say KDE4 is the most modern and cohesive desktop on any platform.

        [edit] Then again, Mark made it clear that Ubuntu is his baby and he will do as he pleases. He has every right to do that. Anyway, I don’t use Ubuntu or Gnome so I don’t see this affecting me.

      • http://twitter.com/drsjlazar drsjlazar

        Change for the sake of change is not a valid reason for change.

        Yes, Gnome looks dated. But I think that is more an issue with the GTK toolkit. Refresh that and the whole UI will benefit. IMO, instead of building these new UIs, Canonical should throw their weight behind Gnome3, making it the best it can be.

        Look at KDE. They made their leap of faith and worked hard on KDE4. And I can say KDE4 is the most modern and cohesive desktop on any platform.

        [edit] Then again, Mark made it clear that Ubuntu is his baby and he will do as he pleases. He has every right to do that. Anyway, I don’t use Ubuntu or Gnome so I don’t see this affecting me.

      • http://twitter.com/drsjlazar drsjlazar

        Change for the sake of change is not a valid reason for change.

        Yes, Gnome looks dated. But I think that is more an issue with the GTK toolkit. Refresh that and the whole UI will benefit. IMO, instead of building these new UIs, Canonical should throw their weight behind Gnome3, making it the best it can be.

        Look at KDE. They made their leap of faith and worked hard on KDE4. And I can say KDE4 is the most modern and cohesive desktop on any platform.

        [edit] Then again, Mark made it clear that Ubuntu is his baby and he will do as he pleases. He has every right to do that. Anyway, I don’t use Ubuntu or Gnome so I don’t see this affecting me.

        • http://twitter.com/rumrogers_jr Rum Rogers Jr.

          There was a GTK hackfest last week. Has Canonical sent developers there?

      • http://blastfromthepast.se/ Tommy Brunn

        Even more people don’t change the two panel configuration. Your point being?

      • http://blastfromthepast.se/ Tommy Brunn

        Even more people don’t change the two panel configuration. Your point being?

        • Anonymous

          Take a poll, most people on here are likely running Docky or AWN, yet they apparently LOVE those gnome panels, right? :rolls eyes: I think change on the Ubuntu/Gnome desktop is WAY overdue. We know it’s not happening soon enough for Gnome, but there’s no reason for Ubuntu to hold back.

        • Anonymous

          Take a poll, most people on here are likely running Docky or AWN, yet they apparently LOVE those gnome panels, right? :rolls eyes: I think change on the Ubuntu/Gnome desktop is WAY overdue. We know it’s not happening soon enough for Gnome, but there’s no reason for Ubuntu to hold back.

          • Anonymous

            you talk about the people who know more about ubuntu than the average user, which ubuntu aims at with its focused simplicity. those normal users don’t know anything about docks and so on (e.g. some stuff-sites like OMGubuntu) and are quite satisfied with their 2panel-config, because it is obvious how it works. Though, i work with docks, and different configs for my desktop and laptop. But you cannot generalize “people like this” or “people like that”, and you CANT make a poll on this site which aims to provide an overview what ubuntu users want, because most of them are just using it satisfied and not surfing on websites like this…

          • Anonymous

            you talk about the people who know more about ubuntu than the average user, which ubuntu aims at with its focused simplicity. those normal users don’t know anything about docks and so on (e.g. some stuff-sites like OMGubuntu) and are quite satisfied with their 2panel-config, because it is obvious how it works. Though, i work with docks, and different configs for my desktop and laptop. But you cannot generalize “people like this” or “people like that”, and you CANT make a poll on this site which aims to provide an overview what ubuntu users want, because most of them are just using it satisfied and not surfing on websites like this…

          • daas88

            just like my father, my sister and her kids. When they look at my panel layout, and compiz edge shortcuts, it’s like I’m doing magic, they prefer the top panel for menu and notifications and bottom panel for window list.

          • daas88

            just like my father, my sister and her kids. When they look at my panel layout, and compiz edge shortcuts, it’s like I’m doing magic, they prefer the top panel for menu and notifications and bottom panel for window list.

          • http://twitter.com/mickstep Michael Stephenson

            Apple ships with a dock, they seem to get away with it alright…
            No other mainstram desktop ships with 2 panels, meaning gnome is the odd one out. So therefore for most people in the world 2 panels is confusing.
            And the simple fact is look at the future of gnome, it’s gnome-shell.
            That is a much more jarring change to the desktop metaphor than ubuntu having a dock on the bottom, and a snazzy menu at the top left which is what is being described here.

          • http://twitter.com/mickstep Michael Stephenson

            Apple ships with a dock, they seem to get away with it alright…
            No other mainstram desktop ships with 2 panels, meaning gnome is the odd one out. So therefore for most people in the world 2 panels is confusing.
            And the simple fact is look at the future of gnome, it’s gnome-shell.
            That is a much more jarring change to the desktop metaphor than ubuntu having a dock on the bottom, and a snazzy menu at the top left which is what is being described here.

          • Anonymous

            I do not use Docky or AWN, mainly because I just don’t really like docks.
            I like the structure and organization of the two panel configuration.

            I am interested to see how this works out, and am all for keeping up with other OS’s/Innovating.

    • http://twitter.com/threeblackdots Goran Crnkovic

      Many Ubuntu users actually change the panels so they are not in the two panel configuration… clearly something is unappealing about the interface. Moreover, Ubuntu has had the same old panels since the beginning. The look is getting very dated and is going to be increasingly hard to win over users from Windows or OSX if it stays like that for a few more years. So change is needed.

  • http://www.xnlab.net Xeriab Nabil

    If so i will switch back to Slackware or Fedora :D

  • http://twitter.com/mordalo Mordalo

    When this happens, I’ll be looking for GUbuntu.

    • http://twitter.com/qoa qoa

      Same.

  • Daniel Foré

    Remember the session we had last UDS called “Make Nautilus Awesome”? Complete with a blueprint and specs and use cases and all that fancy stuff? Remember? Yea…

    • Anonymous

      I don’t know why so many people are going hysterical about a discussion.

      I really like the idea of change. As long as it’s an intuitive and fast UI that I can tweak, I’m happy to go with it.

      Now, please let us use Docky and Compiz!!! I really hate mutter. :p

      • http://twitter.com/mickstep Michael Stephenson

        With the unity interface compiz can live on, you can run unity on top of compiz. Gnome-shell will absolutely kill compiz by forcefully removing it’s userbase, without unity compiz would become a dead project with a userbase of only gnome2 diehards.

      • http://twitter.com/mickstep Michael Stephenson

        With the unity interface compiz can live on, you can run unity on top of compiz. Gnome-shell will absolutely kill compiz by forcefully removing it’s userbase, without unity compiz would become a dead project with a userbase of only gnome2 diehards.

    • Anonymous

      I don’t know why so many people are going hysterical about a discussion.

      I really like the idea of change. As long as it’s an intuitive and fast UI that I can tweak, I’m happy to go with it.

      Now, please let us use Docky and Compiz!!! I really hate mutter. :p

  • http://CoryClaxon.com/ CoryClaxon

    I really hope this isn’t true. Unity had a lot of potential, and Ubuntu made it slow and clunky.

  • Anonymous

    A change would be Nice. Ubuntu UI has been frozen for too much time.

  • http://twitter.com/ayortano Federico Leite

    I can’t see the screenshot

  • Anonymous

    Love the idea. The worst thing ANY Linux distro can do now that touch interfaces are coming of age, is to cling on to the aging desktop interface. Like it or not, People are becoming used to much simpler interfaces on their phones/tablets and Ubuntu would be smart to keep ahead or on par with Apple’s UI advances for desktop interface. Of course this being opensource software, users will always have the choice of running regular gnome and Ubuntu can offer the classic desktop as default for those who want it at install. A simple way of instantly switching between Unity and regular Gnome would be they best way to go.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Q22SYNAEZXBJHHLXN6SLQ6BAMI misterpah

      i agree. there should be a button ‘change to gnome’ and vice-versa.

      • http://twitter.com/threeblackdots Goran Crnkovic

        Isn’t there one of those already in GDM?

      • http://twitter.com/threeblackdots Goran Crnkovic

        Isn’t there one of those already in GDM?

  • Anonymous

    maybe it’s the last version of ubuntu i will use. next time i will use mint maybe. or opensuse

    • http://twitter.com/chuche17 Jesus Galvan

      You won’t be missed. Good luck “zyppering” your way in SUSE.

    • http://twitter.com/threeblackdots Goran Crnkovic

      There is a reason why Ubuntu is more popular than those Distributions. It makes decisions like this! There has always been a small backlash against almost everything Canonical/Ubuntu did but it those were smaller, smarter and not just about the interface (including the darn buttons). These kind of decisions for change are needed.

      • Anonymous

        And how did moving those darn buttons help again? All close icons inside of apps are still on the right side. The appearance preferences dialog still shows buttons on the right. It’s the details that matter. I have a feeling this will be a half-ass job just like the buttons.

      • Anonymous

        And how did moving those darn buttons help again? All close icons inside of apps are still on the right side. The appearance preferences dialog still shows buttons on the right. It’s the details that matter. I have a feeling this will be a half-ass job just like the buttons.

      • Anonymous

        And how did moving those darn buttons help again? All close icons inside of apps are still on the right side. The appearance preferences dialog still shows buttons on the right. It’s the details that matter. I have a feeling this will be a half-ass job just like the buttons.

  • Anonymous

    Really good news! I think Gnome is a horrible interface for end users and consumers. Not only it looks bad, but it’s very limited.

    A Desktop environment designed from the ground up with the user experience in mind is certainly gonna be a major step for Ubuntu and the Free Desktop in general.

    • Anonymous

      I totally agree. Ubuntu has to take the opportunity to continue to push the Linux desktop forward and keep it from stagnating and becoming completely irrelevant. People who want to run gnome and only gnome will be able to do so, just like you can remove Unity from the netbook edition. But I think some people just love to complain, for the sake of complaining.

      “I don’t like the colors… I’m switching to Fedora.”
      “I don’t like the wallpaper… I’m going back to Windows.”
      “I don’t like the way Mark Shuttleworth pronounces the word “developer”… I’m switching to Mac.

      Seriously, Ubuntu needs to focus on expanding Linux users beyond the current user base and just ignore those people who complain about every little thing. Those people will never be satisfied anyway.

      • Anonymous

        While I like Gnome the way it is and plan on keeping it, I agree with you that these comments about switching to Debian or Arch are ridiculous. It’s trivially easy to install any of the available desktop environments and window managers on Ubuntu. Why would you switch? So you can go through the hassle of building an environment from the command line up on Arch? The DE or theme are not reasons to abandon a distro.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YHKXBBBH4VCWW7MCSTSQVS24II Predrag Vukovic

        Why “Ubuntu needs to focus on expanding Linux users beyond the current user base”? Is there any good reason for that? Is there some popularity contest linked with Linux market share?
        Linux needs expansion of developer base, not user base.
        Ubuntu needs Ubuntu users, it has nothing to do with Linux. Canonical needs more users and their money. For this purpose Ubuntu is created like self-centered tool, serving Canonical corporate interest.
        Ubuntu is one big disappointment for me. Version after version they trash things that worked and presenting half-baked solutions (like Unity). I don’t need desktop that does not work, at least GNOME does not need 3D acceleration.
        My opinion: Ubuntu is best tool for discredit good name of Linux.

  • http://twitter.com/stee1rat SteelRat

    OK, it would be a time to switch to another distributive.. probably Debian. Sad. Current Ubuntu is very beautiful and clean.

    • Anonymous

      And what will you do when Gnome doesn’t offer the old desktop anymore?

    • Anonymous

      And what will you do when Gnome doesn’t offer the old desktop anymore?

  • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/TheMerkinman Merk

    I like how all the comments in here are like “nooo my panels!!” ignoring of course, that the long term alternative (in any GNOME based distro) is NOT the current UI, but GNOME Shell.
    If you prefer GNOME Shell to Unity, that’s fine, but the GNOME Panel interface you’re most likely currently using won’t be around forever…

    • Anonymous

      Merk has a point though. Eventualy we’ll all swich to Gnome Shell and, honestly, I hate that thing.

      Really, I tried to like it, to have faith on it’s development, but I’m out of hope now. All I saw about Gnome Shell is arrogance and disrespect.

      I was thinking this days how Ubuntu will incorporate Gnome Shell but, the perspective that they could make something different, for me, is great.

      I mean, I like Gnome as it is now, but honestly, that desktop paradigm is becoming old and old. It’s time to go to something new and, let’s be honest, Ubuntu really need a innovative look and feel.

      Anyway, I’m tired of panels and really looking forward to a new thing,

    • Anonymous

      Merk has a point though. Eventualy we’ll all swich to Gnome Shell and, honestly, I hate that thing.

      Really, I tried to like it, to have faith on it’s development, but I’m out of hope now. All I saw about Gnome Shell is arrogance and disrespect.

      I was thinking this days how Ubuntu will incorporate Gnome Shell but, the perspective that they could make something different, for me, is great.

      I mean, I like Gnome as it is now, but honestly, that desktop paradigm is becoming old and old. It’s time to go to something new and, let’s be honest, Ubuntu really need a innovative look and feel.

      Anyway, I’m tired of panels and really looking forward to a new thing,

      • daas88

        Eventually we’ll all switch to gnome shell?
        Eventually we’ll all switch to other desktop environments.

        There, I fixed it for you.

      • daas88

        Eventually we’ll all switch to gnome shell?
        Eventually we’ll all switch to other desktop environments.

        There, I fixed it for you.

  • http://www.martinsmucker.com Michael Martin-Smucker

    For 11.04? Not a chance in the world. Has anyone put in any significant time into test this on desktops? For the fun of it, I ran a live USB of UNE 10.10 on my desktop, only to boot up to a completely blank screen (wallpaper and mouse pointer, but no panels or icons). After moving my mouse around for awhile, I found at that the entire desktop was there… just invisible.

    I didnt report a bug because I figured my desktop system isn’t the target audience for a netbook operating system. Please, please tell me that my desktop system isn’t the target audience for a netbook operating system.

  • Anonymous

    sounds interesting if they can make it stable then a more attractive interface than gnome is a step in the right direction imo

  • http://twitter.com/explodingwalrus Carl Draper

    No. Do Not Want, I don’t see what’s wrong with Gnome right now (apart from overuse of indicator applets/tray notifiers/whatever they’re called these days)

    Oh and “touch interfaces are coming of age” er..yeah right how many people use touch-screen desktop monitors?

    • Anonymous

      There are more laptops, netbooks and tablets being sold now days than desktop PCs. All of which use touch as their primary input.

      • http://blastfromthepast.se/ Tommy Brunn

        Laptops and netbooks use a touch interface as their primary input? Interesting. I’ve only seem a small number of devices that do that. Seeing as how half the point of netbooks is to keep the price down, it would seem odd to tack on touch screen support before it has become cheap to implement.

        • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/hushnecampus Sam Illingworth

          We’re talking about trackpads, which are standard on, as far as I know, all laptops and notebooks.

          In particularl, multitouch ones, which are already standard on OS X laptops and will, I suspect, become standard on many Windows 7 ones too.

    • http://twitter.com/miguealeonm miguelangel leon

      I think in a near future keyboards will be touchscreens tablets for desktops PCs

      • Anonymous

        Not for anyone who wants to type. It’d be really easy to hit the wrong key (or none at all) if a person can’t feel the physical press of the keyboard. Not to mention that rapping your fingers against a rigid unforgiving touchscreen would be hell on your fingertips before too long.

        • Daniel Foré

          that’s not true.

          I can’t speak for a separate keyboard and monitor setup, but typing on an onscreen keyboard is just as nice as using a physical keyboard and there are probably less errors due to the fact that it intelligently calculates hit area based on the probability of the next key you will hit.

          Unless you have a “push” screen and not a real touch screen, it’s going to be far less work to tap the keys gently than to have to physically push all the keys in.

          • Anonymous

            I realize that I can’t speak for everyone, and should’ve worded my comment a little less authoritatively. But without the sensation of the home row keys beneath my fingers, I’m lost. Just because I can’t see it happening in the near future doesn’t mean it won’t. Somebody’s gotta be wrong, after all!

          • Anonymous

            I realize that I can’t speak for everyone, and should’ve worded my comment a little less authoritatively. But without the sensation of the home row keys beneath my fingers, I’m lost. Just because I can’t see it happening in the near future doesn’t mean it won’t. Somebody’s gotta be wrong, after all!

          • Anonymous

            I realize that I can’t speak for everyone, and should’ve worded my comment a little less authoritatively. But without the sensation of the home row keys beneath my fingers, I’m lost. Just because I can’t see it happening in the near future doesn’t mean it won’t. Somebody’s gotta be wrong, after all!

          • http://blastfromthepast.se/ Tommy Brunn

            I disagree. Typing forum posts, shorter emails and whatnot is fine on an onscreen keyboard. But try writing a research paper on one. Not fun at all.

          • https://launchpad.net/~animafreek James

            For blind people, typing on a touch screen is a biig problem as there is no tactile feedback, there is a reason that physical keyboards have ridges on the home row and the centre of the numberpad.

          • Daniel Foré

            Check out this article: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/09/a-blind-users-profound-review-of-the-iphone/63400/

            Touch screens *can* actually be very very helpful for a11y if used properly.

          • Anonymous

            Daniel, I have to disagree; touch typing relies on touch of the operator. Why do you think keyboards have those two little knibs on’J’ and ‘F’ buttons, eh?

    • http://twitter.com/chuche17 Jesus Galvan

      GNOME is old, its color palette is literally like that of Windows 98, and it is slow as heck (try opening Nautilus on Ubuntu and then Explorer on any version of Windows and Finder on Mac, it’s embarrassing). Oh and not to mention not being able to natively have rounded buttons on GTK+ applications (Windows Media Player 11 looks lightyears ahead of ANY GNOME-based app in terms of eye candy, for comparison). In short, it’s slow, old, and fugly.

    • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/L7L7TGYKNBABWM3N7ELVBTLV3E Virgil

      No, you are not wrong. Gnome is one of the best environments I have ever used. Yes, it has it’s problems. however it is not “dated” in appearance. I agree Nautilus has some issues with starting, however “almost instantaneous” is good enough for me.

    • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/L7L7TGYKNBABWM3N7ELVBTLV3E Virgil

      No, you are not wrong. Gnome is one of the best environments I have ever used. Yes, it has it’s problems. however it is not “dated” in appearance. I agree Nautilus has some issues with starting, however “almost instantaneous” is good enough for me.

    • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/L7L7TGYKNBABWM3N7ELVBTLV3E Virgil

      No, you are not wrong. Gnome is one of the best environments I have ever used. Yes, it has it’s problems. however it is not “dated” in appearance. I agree Nautilus has some issues with starting, however “almost instantaneous” is good enough for me.

    • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/L7L7TGYKNBABWM3N7ELVBTLV3E Virgil

      No, you are not wrong. Gnome is one of the best environments I have ever used. Yes, it has it’s problems. however it is not “dated” in appearance. I agree Nautilus has some issues with starting, however “almost instantaneous” is good enough for me.

  • https://launchpad.net/~ethana2 ethana2

    I’ve been using ubuntu netbook components on my laptops and desktops for years. Canonical has the design expertise to pull it off well.

  • http://alice19.myopenid.com/ Alice

    Hi

    • http://thealphanerd.wordpress.com/ Calvin

      don’t worry: Ubuntu is the baby step of distros: most sooner or later move to arch or debian once they have been learned

      • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/7GXJ4CL5A6A5YPPUO47UQXGP5Y Johan

        I don’t think that’s true. Well, maybe you switch, but from what I’ve heard most people do as I do and come back to Ubuntu eventually anyways.

      • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/7GXJ4CL5A6A5YPPUO47UQXGP5Y Johan

        I don’t think that’s true. Well, maybe you switch, but from what I’ve heard most people do as I do and come back to Ubuntu eventually anyways.

    • http://thealphanerd.wordpress.com/ Calvin

      don’t worry: Ubuntu is the baby step of distros: most sooner or later move to arch or debian once they have been learned

  • Anonymous

    first Digg, now Ubuntu a new CEO trend how to cut your user base

  • Anonymous

    first Digg, now Ubuntu a new CEO trend how to cut your user base

  • http://www.cyberspice.org.uk/ Cyberspice

    If I want to develop software, embedded devices and manage systems I will use Ubuntu. If I want a pretty desktop I will use my Mac. If this happens a lot of IT professionals will be finding a new distribution. This move will be fine for the wanna bes who want to wave their machines at Mac, Windows 7 and Android users. The rest of us who just want a reliable *nix system will look elsewhere.

    • Anonymous

      Since a “pretty” desktop apparently prevents you from doing your job.

    • Anonymous

      Since a “pretty” desktop apparently prevents you from doing your job.

    • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/7GXJ4CL5A6A5YPPUO47UQXGP5Y Johan

      You seem very sure that your situation is a common one. I’m not so sure about that.

    • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/hushnecampus Sam Illingworth

      I’m an IT professional and I can categorically say that an attractive interface won’t stop me using Ubuntu.

  • Anonymous

    So long as I have the option to choose between the different DE’s to find the one that works best _for me_, I couldn’t care less.

  • Anonymous

    Do you want another discussion on Ayatana Mailing List like the older ‘OMG! Ubuntu! Bane or Boon?’

  • https://launchpad.net/~tim.timwahrendorff rakete

    Unity? As an alternative, sure. As Standard, no way…

    But as long as I can deinstall it and use compiz with awn, they can do whatever they want…

    My biggest concern is, that compiz wil not work anymore when introducing Gnome 3 shell… Bad days are coming… User Experience will go down after these fine years of constant improvement. Really not looking forward to it.

    • Anonymous

      I’m worried about Compiz and Docks in general (I use Docky). I wouldn’t like to use a desktop without Compiz. 0.9.x is looking awesome. I’m sure they’ll find a way.But don’t worry too much since this is only a discussion.

    • Anonymous

      I’m worried about Compiz and Docks in general (I use Docky). I wouldn’t like to use a desktop without Compiz. 0.9.x is looking awesome. I’m sure they’ll find a way.But don’t worry too much since this is only a discussion.

    • Anonymous

      I’m worried about Compiz and Docks in general (I use Docky). I wouldn’t like to use a desktop without Compiz. 0.9.x is looking awesome. I’m sure they’ll find a way.But don’t worry too much since this is only a discussion.

    • https://launchpad.net/~tim.timwahrendorff rakete

      I informed myself and thought about it. Switching to Unity as default is a good thing for these reasons:

      - Unity is claimed to work with compiz, Gnome 3 Shell is claimed to NOT fully work with Compiz anymore.
      - Gnome 2 is dying. We have to face the fact that panel days are over.
      - Having an alternative to Gnome 3 Shell is good news as Unity is much more promising as Gnome 3 Shell and does not change everything.
      -Switching now to Unity as default Shell will gather much feedback and bugreports, so it can get better and stable until Gnome 2 days are really over and we have to face Gnome 3.

      Conclusion: Overall a good decision for all of us Gnome Users.

  • http://twitter.com/snkiz Corey Buckingham

    I knew it! When gnome-shell was delayed, (So they could basically cherry pick unity.) I knew Ubuntu was going to ship some form of unity on the desktop. Gnome’s been shooting down Ubuntu’s ideas for to long. I just hope they open it up a little, Unity as it is now is quite restrictive.

  • http://twitter.com/miguealeonm miguelangel leon

    If this means unity will be developed a lot further then yes… Right now I think unity is not enough but it is a great Idea.

  • http://twitter.com/timnathandyer Nathan Dyer

    Speaking from a reliability standpoint, I find Unity too buggy and nearly un-usable. From a UI standpoint, I find placing menu bars away from the windows and as part of the top bar to be ugly and clunky. And lastly, I detest maximized windows, which is the standard for Unity. I feel a move to Unity, at least this early in the ballgame, would be bad for existing users, as it would just annoy them, and detrimental to getting new users, because the reliability wouldn’t be there. It would undo much of our progress, and set system-wide performance back to where it was a few years ago, in my opinion.

  • Anonymous

    The fact that there has been such backlash against the Gnome Shell ( I have no intention of ever using it as it is currently constructed) has provided Canonical an opportunity they may have otherwise not gotten. They have the ability to put in an interface that they can exert full control over. If they are serious about rivaling OSX, they will need more control over how the interface functions and integrates into the “Ubuntu experience”.Unity is not quite ready for prime time, and I’m interested to see how they adapt it to desktop usage but, it has some promise. I certainly would use it over Gnome Shell, but neither would be my main choice for a desktop environment.If this does come to fruition, I would love if Ubuntu went the whole way and made the interface the Ubuntu equivalent of OSX. Make the interface liquid. Not just fading windows, all animations should be smooth. Make Unity beautiful. This is a great opportunity to define Ubuntu for years to come.

  • http://bigbrovar.aoizora.org/ bigbrovar

    Something tells me the K|Xubuntu community would be getting a huge influx of refugees if this blueprint were to see the light of the day. On a serious note though This is a very bad move. The biggest thing holding back linux from mainstream adoption is inconsistency and constant shifting of the goal post. Take a look at windows it has essentially been the same since 1995. all MS did was add more superlatives and some glazzy effect. Even then the transition to vista was still flaky. End users hate change the every people ubuntu wants to capture hate change. they hate having to relearn how to use their desktop. sure we geeks love it and even crave for it. But your our girl|boyfriends and grand Mum and dads just want something they are already use to. If Ubuntu wants to be taking seriously by mainstream and enterprise it needs to show that it is a matured OS and not just some rich kid geek experiment. It needs consistency. One thing u would never see onw idnows or OSX is wake up and see that your windows button are at the wrong place or even worse that the whole desktop UI has been radically transformed into something completely different from what you are used to. I am aware that the migration to gnome 3 has too happen at the end of the day. and I rather that Ubuntu wait till the last minute when gnome 3 is ready so there can ship with upstream probably for the after the next LTS?. The changes which gnome 3 brings to the desktop are imho too radical for the average user. Not even kde 3 to 4 compare. Lets thread softly on this issue for the sake of bug one

  • http://twitter.com/daviddelmar David Wade Ralston

    If the plan is to adopt Gnome Shell as the default, making Unity the default for one or two release cycles seems needlessly confusing.

    Why not just contribute resources to Gnome Shell development instead of a temporary Unity desktop UI – which is what this sounds like?

    • Anonymous

      “Why not just contribute resources to Gnome Shell development instead of a temporary Unity desktop UI – which is what this sounds like?”

      Ubuntu has been contributing lots of code to Gnome but they seem to ignore it, but at the end of the day they copy it.

  • Anonymous

    No one from the big news site dare write another article about how canonical is moving away from upstream.

  • Anonymous

    I have been experimenting with netbook-launcher-efl as the default desktop on 10.04 as opposed to Unity or standard Gnome. I have created a remix and handed it out to many clients who have had nothing but praise for the looks and simplicity. I’m starting to think Canonical has eyes and ears everywhere – even on our little forum hidden away down under.

  • Anonymous

    Unity needs some work, as does gnome shell. Both in current form will not be good, they BOTH show promise, actually gnome shell reminds me alot of the new Mac OSX Lion features coming.

    But its no where near ready, needs a TON of work, and needs a big name behind it to get it moving.

    • Anonymous

      the new features of Lion? What? A rip-off of Compiz’s productive effects? Full screen applications? :P

    • Anonymous

      the new features of Lion? What? A rip-off of Compiz’s productive effects? Full screen applications? :P

    • Anonymous

      the new features of Lion? What? A rip-off of Compiz’s productive effects? Full screen applications? :P

    • Anonymous

      the new features of Lion? What? A rip-off of Compiz’s productive effects? Full screen applications? :P

    • Anonymous

      the new features of Lion? What? A rip-off of Compiz’s productive effects? Full screen applications? :P

    • Anonymous

      the new features of Lion? What? A rip-off of Compiz’s productive effects? Full screen applications? :P

    • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/hushnecampus Sam Illingworth

      Based on my own weeks of using it and talking to the developers, as well as the complete lack om improvement in the months since then, I have to say I don’t think Gnome Shell does show promise any more.

  • http://twitter.com/ttk1opc isthatagherkin

    Just what I need for my 23″ monitor! WTF? Stupidest thing I’ve heard since windicators.

  • http://twitter.com/ttk1opc isthatagherkin

    Just what I need for my 23″ monitor! WTF? Stupidest thing I’ve heard since windicators.

  • http://twitter.com/ttk1opc isthatagherkin

    Just what I need for my 23″ monitor! WTF? Stupidest thing I’ve heard since windicators.

  • http://twitter.com/ttk1opc isthatagherkin

    Just what I need for my 23″ monitor! WTF? Stupidest thing I’ve heard since windicators.

  • http://twitter.com/ttk1opc isthatagherkin

    Just what I need for my 23″ monitor! WTF? Stupidest thing I’ve heard since windicators.

  • Anonymous

    Reading the “Oh! No!” comments is very entertaining!

    Who said Ubuntu will switch to a “Unity” desktop? No one.

    The title clearly says that it will be discussed, which is a totally different thing! I’m sure it will be a very, very nice discussion.

    Let’s face it people, Gnome is old, slow and it’s future seems clouded. There are four things that make Gnome usable for me, 1. Compiz, 2. Docky, 3. Nautilus Elementary, 4. Indicators . Vanilla Gnome or even Ubuntu’s Gnome suck as hell. A new UI is imminent whether it is Gnome Shell (which makes no sense) or a Unity derived UI from Canonical, and I’m sure anything from Canonical will be better than Gnome Shell.

    I’m pretty exited about this discussion and I would love to see what people will come out with during UDS.

  • Anonymous

    Reading the “Oh! No!” comments is very entertaining!

    Who said Ubuntu will switch to a “Unity” desktop? No one.

    The title clearly says that it will be discussed, which is a totally different thing! I’m sure it will be a very, very nice discussion.

    Let’s face it people, Gnome is old, slow and it’s future seems clouded. There are four things that make Gnome usable for me, 1. Compiz, 2. Docky, 3. Nautilus Elementary, 4. Indicators . Vanilla Gnome or even Ubuntu’s Gnome suck as hell. A new UI is imminent whether it is Gnome Shell (which makes no sense) or a Unity derived UI from Canonical, and I’m sure anything from Canonical will be better than Gnome Shell.

    I’m pretty exited about this discussion and I would love to see what people will come out with during UDS.

  • Anonymous

    Reading the “Oh! No!” comments is very entertaining!

    Who said Ubuntu will switch to a “Unity” desktop? No one.

    The title clearly says that it will be discussed, which is a totally different thing! I’m sure it will be a very, very nice discussion.

    Let’s face it people, Gnome is old, slow and it’s future seems clouded. There are four things that make Gnome usable for me, 1. Compiz, 2. Docky, 3. Nautilus Elementary, 4. Indicators . Vanilla Gnome or even Ubuntu’s Gnome suck as hell. A new UI is imminent whether it is Gnome Shell (which makes no sense) or a Unity derived UI from Canonical, and I’m sure anything from Canonical will be better than Gnome Shell.

    I’m pretty exited about this discussion and I would love to see what people will come out with during UDS.

    • daas88

      I’d like to see some enhancements in gnome, but I would hate if they mess with compiz (or if the desktop is so locked that compiz can not be installed there).

      Compiz is the must-have for me. Nautilus or N-E can be replaced, I don’t use docks and the indicators are useful but not necessary, but compiz has too many features that I love, replacing it would be pointless, at least for me.

    • daas88

      I’d like to see some enhancements in gnome, but I would hate if they mess with compiz (or if the desktop is so locked that compiz can not be installed there).

      Compiz is the must-have for me. Nautilus or N-E can be replaced, I don’t use docks and the indicators are useful but not necessary, but compiz has too many features that I love, replacing it would be pointless, at least for me.

  • Anonymous

    Gnome Shell is going for making us click more to access the apps, It requires us to search and find things out( I would want tht as addon and not as a primary way to get my docs or apps. Present gnome is good in the sense tht it doesn’t need u click to open each menu.
    I would really like if ubutu decides to use kde, and develop tht further. It has lot potential more potential thn gnome at present.

    But i know it may not happen in any near future…

  • Anonymous

    Gnome Shell is going for making us click more to access the apps, It requires us to search and find things out( I would want tht as addon and not as a primary way to get my docs or apps. Present gnome is good in the sense tht it doesn’t need u click to open each menu.
    I would really like if ubutu decides to use kde, and develop tht further. It has lot potential more potential thn gnome at present.

    But i know it may not happen in any near future…

  • Anonymous

    Gnome Shell is going for making us click more to access the apps, It requires us to search and find things out( I would want tht as addon and not as a primary way to get my docs or apps. Present gnome is good in the sense tht it doesn’t need u click to open each menu.
    I would really like if ubutu decides to use kde, and develop tht further. It has lot potential more potential thn gnome at present.

    But i know it may not happen in any near future…

  • http://twitter.com/dandedilia Daniel

    OMG! I sure hope not.. I love the Ubuntu two panel look :D This makes Ubuntu but only to what it is!

  • http://www.facebook.com/colton.rodie Colton Rodie

    Well. Goodbye Ubuntu… Hello SUSE… :/

    • http://preved19.myopenid.com/ preved

      Well. Goodbye Ubuntu… Hello Fedora… :/

    • http://preved19.myopenid.com/ preved

      Well. Goodbye Ubuntu… Hello Fedora… :/

    • http://preved19.myopenid.com/ preved

      Well. Goodbye Ubuntu… Hello Fedora… :/

    • http://preved19.myopenid.com/ preved

      Well. Goodbye Ubuntu… Hello Fedora… :/

      • http://twitter.com/MerlinWarage Mickey Judge

        I dont understand you guys… u can switch back to classic Gnome anytime you want.

        BTW, people hate changes, this is normal. Try, patient, give it a chance, and you’ll see. You can try righ now, if you want (on virtualbox, vmware or natively)

      • http://twitter.com/MerlinWarage Mickey Judge

        I dont understand you guys… u can switch back to classic Gnome anytime you want.

        BTW, people hate changes, this is normal. Try, patient, give it a chance, and you’ll see. You can try righ now, if you want (on virtualbox, vmware or natively)

  • http://twitter.com/abaudrez Alain J. Baudrez

    KDE has both a desktop and a netbook view. Nobody on Kubuntu complains over there about the added functionality.

    A Linux user is somebody who knows how to tweak its box. If you can’t you’d better stick with the other well known brand.

  • http://twitter.com/abaudrez Alain J. Baudrez

    KDE has both a desktop and a netbook view. Nobody on Kubuntu complains over there about the added functionality.

    A Linux user is somebody who knows how to tweak its box. If you can’t you’d better stick with the other well known brand.

    • http://twitter.com/chuche17 Jesus Galvan

      It’s “operating system”, not brand. Dell, Acer, HP are brands.

      • Dark X Dragon

        Dell, Acer and HP are companies.
        Though they can also be brands, the same as Ubuntu.

        …OK, I read and said brand too many times and it has lost all meaning.

      • Dark X Dragon

        Dell, Acer and HP are companies.
        Though they can also be brands, the same as Ubuntu.

        …OK, I read and said brand too many times and it has lost all meaning.

      • Dark X Dragon

        Dell, Acer and HP are companies.
        Though they can also be brands, the same as Ubuntu.

        …OK, I read and said brand too many times and it has lost all meaning.

      • Dark X Dragon

        Dell, Acer and HP are companies.
        Though they can also be brands, the same as Ubuntu.

        …OK, I read and said brand too many times and it has lost all meaning.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZWOIIEEVXJ7FMNPUI4453BKDPQ Mark

    No, unless they can make Unity to work as fast as current default Gnome desktop, and work even without accelerated video card.

  • https://launchpad.net/~maitraya-bhattacharyya Maitraya

    Stop complaining people. If you don’t like a desktop environment, just install another one, its not that difficult….
    Anyway,I hope Unity will be improved a lot, loads of bugs will be fixed and hopefully it will run much faster.
    As for Gnome shell… I don’t know….I’ve tried the one available in the ubuntu repo, it’s not that bad (or that good either)…. but user friendlyness is compromised……. the newer screenshots look a lot like unity……
    I can predict something Natty is going to happen in Natty. Either a huge success, or an epic fail. Let’s wait.

  • http://twitter.com/crimsdings crimson

    oh boy, if they keep the current look of Unity my 24″ will look like a huge iphone ;)

    give gnome shell a chance

    • http://twitter.com/threeblackdots Goran Crnkovic

      One of the proposed changes:

      “The home screen consolidated into a simple pop-down menu that extends down from the top left of the screen and allows you access to your programs and desktop search”

  • http://anxiousnut.wordprss.com Anxious Nut

    Sorry ubuntu, but if you’re gonna do this, there is a big chance I’ll be ditching you!

    Ubuntu is awesome, yes! And that’s because all the good merits it has INCLUDING the ability of customization!! No, I do not intend to install ubuntu on 13+ PCs that im in-charge of and after installation I go and download ubuntu-desktop for each manually!!

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_I32UYQJ2ZBOZ37UCAQPB56OVCE Luigi

      WHAT???? Plz don’t leave us! We promise not to change anything! In fact, we’ll do exactly as you command us!

      Get a grip, man. It’s not like they’re making a virtual concentration camp. You’ll always be able to customize.

      Frankly, I’m surprised you made your way this far. Usually, with that attitude, people don’t go past MSDOS. OMG windows on my desktop??? NEVER!!!! I’ll stick to the command line, thank you very much!

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_I32UYQJ2ZBOZ37UCAQPB56OVCE Luigi

      WHAT???? Plz don’t leave us! We promise not to change anything! In fact, we’ll do exactly as you command us!

      Get a grip, man. It’s not like they’re making a virtual concentration camp. You’ll always be able to customize.

      Frankly, I’m surprised you made your way this far. Usually, with that attitude, people don’t go past MSDOS. OMG windows on my desktop??? NEVER!!!! I’ll stick to the command line, thank you very much!

      • http://anxiousnut.wordprss.com Anxious Nut

        lol! I’ll tell mario on you, you know; you and peach the other day! XD

        No seriously, you made me laugh! … n00b!

      • http://anxiousnut.wordprss.com Anxious Nut

        lol! I’ll tell mario on you, you know; you and peach the other day! XD

        No seriously, you made me laugh! … n00b!

      • http://anxiousnut.wordprss.com Anxious Nut

        lol! I’ll tell mario on you, you know; you and peach the other day! XD

        No seriously, you made me laugh! … n00b!

      • http://anxiousnut.wordprss.com Anxious Nut

        lol! I’ll tell mario on you, you know; you and peach the other day! XD

        No seriously, you made me laugh! … n00b!

        • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/7GXJ4CL5A6A5YPPUO47UQXGP5Y Johan

          Wait, noob?

  • http://toddyarling.tumblr.com toddyarling

    Simpler is good, yes, but the desktop will always be the desktop and not a touch screen. We interface with mouse, and keyboard for a reason.

    Now, mainly cause the monitor is in front of us, not in our lap, or our palm, where size and position make sense to use a touch interface.

    Just cause Ipads and droids are gaining popularity, doesn’t make the desktop all of a sudden needing to look like a cell phone or a tablet. Its NOT, and never will be.

    Consolidation is very good, and maximizing screen space is good, too. Hiding the title bar on max windows, very good. Auto hiding panels, good. I use AWN on the bottom, and a short stripped version of the regular panel on the top in a widget layer. I hit the corners or alt-tab to switch windows and desktops

    Maybe Ubuntu can head in this direction, using more compiz.

  • http://twitter.com/nardusg Nardus Geldenhuys

    My 2c. I am already running Unity on both my netbook and notebook. Verry happy, they just need to sort out the little niggles :)

    This is good news…

  • http://twitter.com/nardusg Nardus Geldenhuys

    My 2c. I am already running Unity on both my netbook and notebook. Verry happy, they just need to sort out the little niggles :)

    This is good news…

  • http://itbcn8world.spaces.live.com itbcn8

    Um… what?
    I don’t even own a netbook… and I definitely don’t want to have a netbook UI on my desktop.
    Looks like I’ll be switching to LMDE after all ;)

  • http://itbcn8world.spaces.live.com itbcn8

    Um… what?
    I don’t even own a netbook… and I definitely don’t want to have a netbook UI on my desktop.
    Looks like I’ll be switching to LMDE after all ;)

  • godofredo

    As long as they provide user customization with the unity for desktop, then it will be fine for most. Start with something nice to look at and if users don’t want it, they have the freedom to customize it. Unlike in the unity netbook, there is too much restriction for customization. And they really have to deal with the slowness of mutter based on personal usage on my netbook.

    I am actually using unity on a widescreen LCD monitor (1440 x 900) and it still looks nice. Hope they really improve it with natty.

  • godofredo

    As long as they provide user customization with the unity for desktop, then it will be fine for most. Start with something nice to look at and if users don’t want it, they have the freedom to customize it. Unlike in the unity netbook, there is too much restriction for customization. And they really have to deal with the slowness of mutter based on personal usage on my netbook.

    I am actually using unity on a widescreen LCD monitor (1440 x 900) and it still looks nice. Hope they really improve it with natty.

  • godofredo

    As long as they provide user customization with the unity for desktop, then it will be fine for most. Start with something nice to look at and if users don’t want it, they have the freedom to customize it. Unlike in the unity netbook, there is too much restriction for customization. And they really have to deal with the slowness of mutter based on personal usage on my netbook.

    I am actually using unity on a widescreen LCD monitor (1440 x 900) and it still looks nice. Hope they really improve it with natty.

  • http://twitter.com/syanide1 Syanide

    I bet my left nut that Gnome 3 won’t be ready in time, and since the Ubuntu devs have done more in less time with Unity as it is, I don’t mind if they put it on desktop. Gnome 2 is old since 2008, so I wouldn’t mind a new desktop, be it Shell or Unity. And judging by my experiences with Shell, I’m looking at Unity’s direction.

  • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/hushnecampus Sam Illingworth

    Interesting, lots of people here are saying if Ubuntu switches to Unity they’ll stop using Ubuntu. I, on the other hand, have no idea what this Unity thing is like, but ever since I spent a couple of months using Gnome Shell I’ve been of the opinion that if Ubuntu were to switch to Gnome Shell then I would leave Ubuntu.

    People are saying give Gnome Shell a chance, but don’t want to give whatever Unity could become a chance.

    Well I can tell you, I gave Gnome Shell a chance, a long one, and I really wanted to love it, but I couldn’t. Because it’s dreadful. It’s just a terrible user experience. I was an active contributor to the official mailing list, but absolutely nobody’s criticism’s (and there were a lot, most of them constructive) were listened to – the designers had decided how they wanted it and that was that, however unusable it was.

    So, those of you suggesting that Ubuntu should contribute to making Gnome Shell better are labouring under the misapprehension that the Gnome Shell developers are open to criticism/new ideas. It’s sad, but I’m afraid Gnome Shell is a lost cause. It’s built from the ground up on a very poor User Experience concept, and the developers have heard what people think of it throughout its development and they don’t care.

    I’m not saying Unity is the way to go, I have no idea, but Gnome Shell, in my opinion, certainly isn’t, and Gnome 2 as it stands /is/ very old fashioned and aesthetically unappealing. Discussion is welcome.

    • http://twitter.com/mickstep Michael Stephenson

      I ran gnome-shell for probably 6 months, and the pace of development is also incredibly slow. I haven’t used it for probably 8 months now, and I know if I grab it form git now it will have scarcely changed from the last time I took a look.
      One of the biggest draws for me is when I read the gnome 3 spec there was plenty of talk about zeitgeist, and I thought I’d see that appearing in gnome-shell.
      But nope, they ditched that from the shell I think the excuse was it would be time consuming and they want to focus their efforts elsewhere, and guess what the unity devs implemented zeitgeist lickety split in their offering.
      I truly don’t expect Gnome-Shell to ever see the light of day to be honest, It will likely be canned before it ever get’s released.
      Perhaps Gnome will swallow the hard pill and just use unity.

    • http://twitter.com/mickstep Michael Stephenson

      I ran gnome-shell for probably 6 months, and the pace of development is also incredibly slow. I haven’t used it for probably 8 months now, and I know if I grab it form git now it will have scarcely changed from the last time I took a look.
      One of the biggest draws for me is when I read the gnome 3 spec there was plenty of talk about zeitgeist, and I thought I’d see that appearing in gnome-shell.
      But nope, they ditched that from the shell I think the excuse was it would be time consuming and they want to focus their efforts elsewhere, and guess what the unity devs implemented zeitgeist lickety split in their offering.
      I truly don’t expect Gnome-Shell to ever see the light of day to be honest, It will likely be canned before it ever get’s released.
      Perhaps Gnome will swallow the hard pill and just use unity.

    • Anonymous

      I tried Gnome Shell for two months. The main problem I found (at least for me) was it’s focus on multiple workspaces. More often then not if I need more then one workspace then I need a second computer to handle the load. About the only time I actually had a use for another workspace that did not surpass my computer’s ability to handle it (which is rare) was 1. When I was dealing with remote desktops and 2. To have Evolution/Thunderbird in whilst waiting for an important email.

    • Anonymous

      I tried Gnome Shell for two months. The main problem I found (at least for me) was it’s focus on multiple workspaces. More often then not if I need more then one workspace then I need a second computer to handle the load. About the only time I actually had a use for another workspace that did not surpass my computer’s ability to handle it (which is rare) was 1. When I was dealing with remote desktops and 2. To have Evolution/Thunderbird in whilst waiting for an important email.

    • Anonymous

      I tried Gnome Shell for two months. The main problem I found (at least for me) was it’s focus on multiple workspaces. More often then not if I need more then one workspace then I need a second computer to handle the load. About the only time I actually had a use for another workspace that did not surpass my computer’s ability to handle it (which is rare) was 1. When I was dealing with remote desktops and 2. To have Evolution/Thunderbird in whilst waiting for an important email.

      • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/hushnecampus Sam Illingworth

        I actually use multiple workspaces a lot on Ubuntu and OS X (not on Windows, because it has such a terrible implementation of them), especially when I’m working on several things at once, plus one workspace for fun stuff, but yeah – I don’t need to see all my workspaces every time I want to launch an app! Similarly, I don’t need to see a list of apps and recent documents every time I want to switch apps or workspaces.

    • Anonymous

      I tried Gnome Shell for two months. The main problem I found (at least for me) was it’s focus on multiple workspaces. More often then not if I need more then one workspace then I need a second computer to handle the load. About the only time I actually had a use for another workspace that did not surpass my computer’s ability to handle it (which is rare) was 1. When I was dealing with remote desktops and 2. To have Evolution/Thunderbird in whilst waiting for an important email.

  • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/hushnecampus Sam Illingworth

    Interesting, lots of people here are saying if Ubuntu switches to Unity they’ll stop using Ubuntu. I, on the other hand, have no idea what this Unity thing is like, but ever since I spent a couple of months using Gnome Shell I’ve been of the opinion that if Ubuntu were to switch to Gnome Shell then I would leave Ubuntu.

    People are saying give Gnome Shell a chance, but don’t want to give whatever Unity could become a chance.

    Well I can tell you, I gave Gnome Shell a chance, a long one, and I really wanted to love it, but I couldn’t. Because it’s dreadful. It’s just a terrible user experience. I was an active contributor to the official mailing list, but absolutely nobody’s criticism’s (and there were a lot, most of them constructive) were listened to – the designers had decided how they wanted it and that was that, however unusable it was.

    So, those of you suggesting that Ubuntu should contribute to making Gnome Shell better are labouring under the misapprehension that the Gnome Shell developers are open to criticism/new ideas. It’s sad, but I’m afraid Gnome Shell is a lost cause. It’s built from the ground up on a very poor User Experience concept, and the developers have heard what people think of it throughout its development and they don’t care.

    I’m not saying Unity is the way to go, I have no idea, but Gnome Shell, in my opinion, certainly isn’t, and Gnome 2 as it stands /is/ very old fashioned and aesthetically unappealing. Discussion is welcome.

  • lunamystry

    I am liking Unity on my netbook right now. It is still rough around the edges but it works fine. I miss my compiz effects though. Hope Mutter gets addons to match compiz. Atleast wobbly windows and scale. If they add that, I am okay with the idea.

  • lunamystry

    I am liking Unity on my netbook right now. It is still rough around the edges but it works fine. I miss my compiz effects though. Hope Mutter gets addons to match compiz. Atleast wobbly windows and scale. If they add that, I am okay with the idea.

  • lunamystry

    I am liking Unity on my netbook right now. It is still rough around the edges but it works fine. I miss my compiz effects though. Hope Mutter gets addons to match compiz. Atleast wobbly windows and scale. If they add that, I am okay with the idea.

  • lunamystry

    I am liking Unity on my netbook right now. It is still rough around the edges but it works fine. I miss my compiz effects though. Hope Mutter gets addons to match compiz. Atleast wobbly windows and scale. If they add that, I am okay with the idea.

  • Anonymous

    This is actually a good idea. I used Ubuntu (10.4) briefly last spring on my 15.4” notebook and I used it with the previous netbook interface, the one that made sense… oops, that I knew how to use :) Anyway, if they can improve the current “unity” thing, which is awful, but is a good idea, then that wouldn’t be so bad.

    Collaboration with Gnome is another question altogether. Obviously that is not happening.

  • http://twitter.com/conscioususer Conscious User

    Frankly speaking, this page is almost entirely composed of misconceptions:

    - people are commenting on the proposal of a discussion (not even the discussion itself is 100% guaranteed to happen) like it is a final decision;
    - people are criticizing Unity while conveniently ignoring that the long-term alternative is not the current Gnome panels, but Gnome-Shell, like Merk reminded;
    - people are complimenting Unity while comparing it to the current version of Gnome-Shell, which has already improved a lot since the beginning and has six other months to improve more;
    - people are criticizing Unity as something inadequate for desktops as it currently is, when the blueprint makes very clear that desktop-oriented modifications will be made;

    The article itself is not much better, as it implies that Mark Shuttleworth is contradicting himself or changing his mind, when in fact there is a significant difference between “using Unity in the desktop” and “creating a desktop form factor of Unity for the desktop”: the changes proposed are non-trivial and go way beyond simply slapping Unity on the desktop and leave it at that.

    In fact, not even the blueprint escapes from this problem. The sentence “The desktop shell, especially in the Ubuntu community, has received so many criticisms that virtually no one truly appreciates it” is quite exaggerated and only helps to make the relations between upstream Gnome and Canonical go worse.

  • http://twitter.com/conscioususer Conscious User

    Frankly speaking, this page is almost entirely composed of misconceptions:

    - people are commenting on the proposal of a discussion (not even the discussion itself is 100% guaranteed to happen) like it is a final decision;
    - people are criticizing Unity while conveniently ignoring that the long-term alternative is not the current Gnome panels, but Gnome-Shell, like Merk reminded;
    - people are complimenting Unity while comparing it to the current version of Gnome-Shell, which has already improved a lot since the beginning and has six other months to improve more;
    - people are criticizing Unity as something inadequate for desktops as it currently is, when the blueprint makes very clear that desktop-oriented modifications will be made;

    The article itself is not much better, as it implies that Mark Shuttleworth is contradicting himself or changing his mind, when in fact there is a significant difference between “using Unity in the desktop” and “creating a desktop form factor of Unity for the desktop”: the changes proposed are non-trivial and go way beyond simply slapping Unity on the desktop and leave it at that.

    In fact, not even the blueprint escapes from this problem. The sentence “The desktop shell, especially in the Ubuntu community, has received so many criticisms that virtually no one truly appreciates it” is quite exaggerated and only helps to make the relations between upstream Gnome and Canonical go worse.

  • http://twitter.com/conscioususer Conscious User

    Frankly speaking, this page is almost entirely composed of misconceptions:

    - people are commenting on the proposal of a discussion (not even the discussion itself is 100% guaranteed to happen) like it is a final decision;
    - people are criticizing Unity while conveniently ignoring that the long-term alternative is not the current Gnome panels, but Gnome-Shell, like Merk reminded;
    - people are complimenting Unity while comparing it to the current version of Gnome-Shell, which has already improved a lot since the beginning and has six other months to improve more;
    - people are criticizing Unity as something inadequate for desktops as it currently is, when the blueprint makes very clear that desktop-oriented modifications will be made;

    The article itself is not much better, as it implies that Mark Shuttleworth is contradicting himself or changing his mind, when in fact there is a significant difference between “using Unity in the desktop” and “creating a desktop form factor of Unity for the desktop”: the changes proposed are non-trivial and go way beyond simply slapping Unity on the desktop and leave it at that.

    In fact, not even the blueprint escapes from this problem. The sentence “The desktop shell, especially in the Ubuntu community, has received so many criticisms that virtually no one truly appreciates it” is quite exaggerated and only helps to make the relations between upstream Gnome and Canonical go worse.

  • http://twitter.com/conscioususer Conscious User

    Frankly speaking, this page is almost entirely composed of misconceptions:

    - people are commenting on the proposal of a discussion (not even the discussion itself is 100% guaranteed to happen) like it is a final decision;
    - people are criticizing Unity while conveniently ignoring that the long-term alternative is not the current Gnome panels, but Gnome-Shell, like Merk reminded;
    - people are complimenting Unity while comparing it to the current version of Gnome-Shell, which has already improved a lot since the beginning and has six other months to improve more;
    - people are criticizing Unity as something inadequate for desktops as it currently is, when the blueprint makes very clear that desktop-oriented modifications will be made;

    The article itself is not much better, as it implies that Mark Shuttleworth is contradicting himself or changing his mind, when in fact there is a significant difference between “using Unity in the desktop” and “creating a desktop form factor of Unity for the desktop”: the changes proposed are non-trivial and go way beyond simply slapping Unity on the desktop and leave it at that.

    In fact, not even the blueprint escapes from this problem. The sentence “The desktop shell, especially in the Ubuntu community, has received so many criticisms that virtually no one truly appreciates it” is quite exaggerated and only helps to make the relations between upstream Gnome and Canonical go worse.

  • http://twitter.com/indochinoreview Indochino Reviewer

    I would like that – i’m not happy with the 2 panel solution and use docky/awn anyway. I do eye-candy Mac style and I certainly think it’s a good idea to further promote the growth of Ubuntu. That said, there is of course the puritans who see every step that Ubuntu does on it’s own as a betrayal to the open source community.

  • http://twitter.com/indochinoreview Indochino Reviewer

    I would like that – i’m not happy with the 2 panel solution and use docky/awn anyway. I do eye-candy Mac style and I certainly think it’s a good idea to further promote the growth of Ubuntu. That said, there is of course the puritans who see every step that Ubuntu does on it’s own as a betrayal to the open source community.

  • http://twitter.com/indochinoreview Indochino Reviewer

    I would like that – i’m not happy with the 2 panel solution and use docky/awn anyway. I do eye-candy Mac style and I certainly think it’s a good idea to further promote the growth of Ubuntu. That said, there is of course the puritans who see every step that Ubuntu does on it’s own as a betrayal to the open source community.

  • Anonymous

    THE . PURE . HORROR !

  • Anonymous

    THE . PURE . HORROR !

  • Anonymous

    It sounds like unity will be very gnome shell-like anyway.

    I think what happens will depend a lot on gnome shell.
    By the time natty is released, gnome shell might be the default gnome desktop anyway (but probably not).
    Like it or loath it, I think the gnome desktop in it’s current state is not going to be around for much longer anyway.
    Although I have been disappointed with unity I am all for this idea.

    The only danger with trying to compete with OS X (and for that matter KDE and Win7) is that some people just want a simple, fast desktop and before long people may have to start installing stuff and fiddling around just to get that.

  • http://twitter.com/AdoKerrison Adrian Kerrison

    Oh yeah? Well I’m leaving Ubuntu and going back to my TI-86 graphing calculator! TAKE THAT UBUNTU!

    Okay, I’ll admit I had a strong reaction when I read the headline, but how is discussing this a big deal? As people have pointed out, GNOME shell is looming whether we like it or not. With all the recent focus on looks and usability I don’t think Canonical want to simply sit until the big change makes that progress irrelevant. So why not start talking now? Emphasis on TALKING!

    I’ll admit I have the boring two panel set-up, and love it, but other than the fact that I prefer panels to docks I’ve never really thought that much about what I want in a UI. This question could get us to really think about innovation beyond shiny new looks.

  • http://twitter.com/AdoKerrison Adrian Kerrison

    Oh yeah? Well I’m leaving Ubuntu and going back to my TI-86 graphing calculator! TAKE THAT UBUNTU!

    Okay, I’ll admit I had a strong reaction when I read the headline, but how is discussing this a big deal? As people have pointed out, GNOME shell is looming whether we like it or not. With all the recent focus on looks and usability I don’t think Canonical want to simply sit until the big change makes that progress irrelevant. So why not start talking now? Emphasis on TALKING!

    I’ll admit I have the boring two panel set-up, and love it, but other than the fact that I prefer panels to docks I’ve never really thought that much about what I want in a UI. This question could get us to really think about innovation beyond shiny new looks.

  • http://twitter.com/rumrogers_jr Rum Rogers Jr.

    Oh, yes, please divide the Linux community more. That’s what we need. Yet another Desktop Shell.

  • Anonymous

    Sounds much better than Gnome Shell, and I’m looking forward to some mockups. Whether I will use it is different, but alot of us customise our desktops and this just adds a new element to tune.

  • Anonymous

    I’ve got no problem with them switching to Unity on the desktop, with the following provisions:
    1. They fix the numerous slowness and bugs (I can’t even run it under FGLRX)
    2. They don’t make the global menu the default as it makes little sense on increasingly common high resolutions that desktops have.

  • http://twitter.com/Aeltaarion Aeltaarion

    I don’t know if you’ve ever used Ubuntu netbook edition, but the dock etc is TERRIBLE. I really DO NOT LIKE IT AT ALL.

  • Chris Nichols

    Didn’t RedHat give the user the option to install the blue curve version of gnome or kde? Why couldn’t Canonical do the same with Ubuntu? Not everyone is going to want to move to Unity.

    The only things this will achieve are a move to a new desktop and the loss of a lot of people that wanted to stay with what they have. Given the fact that Canonical is still working their way to profitability, it would be counterintuitive for them to ignore a large portion of their users and not provide some way to keep everyone happy.

    • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/7GXJ4CL5A6A5YPPUO47UQXGP5Y Johan

      Vanilla Gnome is in the repos.

  • Anonymous

    This appears to be a conversation about a conversation but in my opinion in is about semantics. People should use whatever system works for them best on the hardware they have. I have PCLinuxOS installed on my desktop (I also have Win7) and on my netbook I have Ubuntu’s 10.10 unity ( and XP) which I like. Unity is simple, and that’s what I require on a netbook. I simply haven’t got on with gnome however I installed 10.10 desktop on my netbook and then installed unity so all I have to do is log out and choose which ever one I want.
    If I was installing for someone else then I would show them the options, let them choose and if they didn’t like it simply install a different desktop environment. That is what is good about Linux – choice.

  • http://twitter.com/densetsushun Shun Luk

    As long as they don’t decide to go the Apple way and completely dictate what the user can use(if it’s default it doesn’t count, we Linux users are supposed to know better than to complain about the default and not do anything about it), I see no problem in this discussion, let alone the actual implementation of it.
    The most I see this doing is weed out the people who jump from OS to OS to distro, for the sake of something not meeting their demands. They’re the ones who haven’t quite understood that Linux allows you to change anything as you please, do anything you want. I can go from a Windows clone one day, to a Mac clone next, to Unity, to whatever works for me.

    So my opinion is, yeah, go for it, draw in new users with eyecandy and simplicity, weed out the ones who don’t know what they want but only know what they don’t want, they’ll eventually settle with Mac because it “just works”.
    I’ll toy around with the default interface and eventually go back to what works for me.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YHKXBBBH4VCWW7MCSTSQVS24II Predrag Vukovic

      I do not want to find myself in a situation where I have to buy a new graphics card that I could use the operating system (or just install it. see UNE, I can not even install it because I do not have the appropriate graphics card.).
      This is not Linux way!!!

      • http://twitter.com/densetsushun Shun Luk

        There’s always the alternative installer that doesn’t need much gpu power, if any at all.

      • http://twitter.com/densetsushun Shun Luk

        There’s always the alternative installer that doesn’t need much gpu power, if any at all.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_I32UYQJ2ZBOZ37UCAQPB56OVCE Luigi

    So many opinions, so little value.

    Apparently, many of you are forgetting that linux is about choice. And this means that you will have the option of running whatever you want on your machine, therefore using phrases like:

    “they gonna change teh icon? OMG WTF?! I’m gonna burn down my house, strangle my computer and switch to SUSE!!!!!111oneoneone”

    is a big indicator that you’re new to the linux arena and know nothing of it’s philosophy.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_I32UYQJ2ZBOZ37UCAQPB56OVCE Luigi

    So many opinions, so little value.

    Apparently, many of you are forgetting that linux is about choice. And this means that you will have the option of running whatever you want on your machine, therefore using phrases like:

    “they gonna change teh icon? OMG WTF?! I’m gonna burn down my house, strangle my computer and switch to SUSE!!!!!111oneoneone”

    is a big indicator that you’re new to the linux arena and know nothing of it’s philosophy.

  • Anonymous

    I’ll be honest, I haven’t read the other comments. BUT! This would be so rad, in so many different ways. You can kill so many birds with one stone! A. no more gnome complaining about ubuntu shipping stuff upstream B. ubuntu has a *completely* different look than any other distro C. its an environment where canonical has complete control D. the users never have to worry about a gnome fix breaking a system or anything like that–we can be guaranteed that unity will work. ugh. im so hyped!

  • Anonymous

    I’ll be honest, I haven’t read the other comments. BUT! This would be so rad, in so many different ways. You can kill so many birds with one stone! A. no more gnome complaining about ubuntu shipping stuff upstream B. ubuntu has a *completely* different look than any other distro C. its an environment where canonical has complete control D. the users never have to worry about a gnome fix breaking a system or anything like that–we can be guaranteed that unity will work. ugh. im so hyped!

  • Dark X Dragon

    I’m going for the positive look here.

    It is a discussion and they say they want to use a modified desktop version of Unity.
    So, until I see more details on this new idea for a desktop version, I am going to hope for the best.

    I still want my classic window list and application menu, though. Not needing to add clicks and time to do what I do now.

    I can’t get over Gnome Shell’s “great” idea to ditch categorised menus and through all the applications into one massive grid!

  • Dark X Dragon

    I’m going for the positive look here.

    It is a discussion and they say they want to use a modified desktop version of Unity.
    So, until I see more details on this new idea for a desktop version, I am going to hope for the best.

    I still want my classic window list and application menu, though. Not needing to add clicks and time to do what I do now.

    I can’t get over Gnome Shell’s “great” idea to ditch categorised menus and through all the applications into one massive grid!

  • Dark X Dragon

    I’m going for the positive look here.

    It is a discussion and they say they want to use a modified desktop version of Unity.
    So, until I see more details on this new idea for a desktop version, I am going to hope for the best.

    I still want my classic window list and application menu, though. Not needing to add clicks and time to do what I do now.

    I can’t get over Gnome Shell’s “great” idea to ditch categorised menus and through all the applications into one massive grid!

  • Anonymous

    Gnome-DO + Docky is my preferred configuration, with some useful Compiz effects… No more “that’s-so-last-century” panels!

    Too bad both are in a “hibernating” state (not to use a nastier word).

    Still, I’m not a big fan of this idea of using Unity because I feel it’s not nearly as polished as Do+Docky. Also, it doesn’t particularly speed up my use of computer (unlike Compiz and Do), so it’s just an eye-candy mod.

  • Anonymous

    wow…. have you guys even read the post? They will not implement Unity in its current form.

    And could someone explain me how you can already know it will suck? Ever heard of a little trust and loyalty? The second they even think about changing something you don’t like you all start complaining and telling you’d rather switch to another distro before you could even try it out.

    You’re behaving like children (only black and white). Try it out, make your mind up. If you don’t like it you can always make your own custom install disk with your good old panels.

  • Eugeny

    NOOOOO!!!

  • Eugeny

    NOOOOO!!!

  • Eugeny

    NOOOOO!!!

  • Anonymous

    Most people don’t use OS X because it looks nice, they use it because it has great, easy to use applications for managing and creating music, photos, films, etc. If you want OS X users to want to use ubuntu then we should be focusing on making something similar to iphoto, imovie, garageband – nothing we have for Linux is anything like as polished.

  • Anonymous

    Most people don’t use OS X because it looks nice, they use it because it has great, easy to use applications for managing and creating music, photos, films, etc. If you want OS X users to want to use ubuntu then we should be focusing on making something similar to iphoto, imovie, garageband – nothing we have for Linux is anything like as polished.

  • http://twitter.com/LinuxLog Linux Log Blog

    I agree with those who are saying: “Wow, that’s nice.. but let’s just make sure we can turn it off…”

  • Anonymous

    Unify, afaik, needs Open GL. Is this correct?Because I can’t enable Open GL on my Computer.Does this mean, I can’t use 11.04?

  • Glennz NL

    So, I guess my mom and little sister will be using Xubuntu next april…

  • Glennz NL

    So, I guess my mom and little sister will be using Xubuntu next april…

  • Glennz NL

    So, I guess my mom and little sister will be using Xubuntu next april…

  • Anonymous

    Aah, this is excellent! The more diversity we can get on the linux desktop, the more and better choices for us users. Those who want a traditional, upstream GNOME desktop – go fedora. Those who want a desktop similar to what they are used to from Windows – openSUSE GNOME. Those who like KDE can use one of the good KDE distros. Those who are coming from Mac might enjoy the linuxification of that desktop metaphor that is elementary(don’t shoot me). And finally, those who enjoy the ideas of Unity will use Ubuntu.

    More diversity is what the linux core desktop has been missing – we have a gazillion different twitter clients and music players but only 3-4 decent DE’s to use those with! Even if this might not be the best choice for *Ubuntu*, it certainly is the best choice for *the linux community*.

  • Anonymous

    Aah, this is excellent! The more diversity we can get on the linux desktop, the more and better choices for us users. Those who want a traditional, upstream GNOME desktop – go fedora. Those who want a desktop similar to what they are used to from Windows – openSUSE GNOME. Those who like KDE can use one of the good KDE distros. Those who are coming from Mac might enjoy the linuxification of that desktop metaphor that is elementary(don’t shoot me). And finally, those who enjoy the ideas of Unity will use Ubuntu.

    More diversity is what the linux core desktop has been missing – we have a gazillion different twitter clients and music players but only 3-4 decent DE’s to use those with! Even if this might not be the best choice for *Ubuntu*, it certainly is the best choice for *the linux community*.

  • Anonymous

    Aah, this is excellent! The more diversity we can get on the linux desktop, the more and better choices for us users. Those who want a traditional, upstream GNOME desktop – go fedora. Those who want a desktop similar to what they are used to from Windows – openSUSE GNOME. Those who like KDE can use one of the good KDE distros. Those who are coming from Mac might enjoy the linuxification of that desktop metaphor that is elementary(don’t shoot me). And finally, those who enjoy the ideas of Unity will use Ubuntu.

    More diversity is what the linux core desktop has been missing – we have a gazillion different twitter clients and music players but only 3-4 decent DE’s to use those with! Even if this might not be the best choice for *Ubuntu*, it certainly is the best choice for *the linux community*.

  • http://twitter.com/Afrodiseum N.C. Weber

    I’ll be honest. I rather like Unity as it is now. With the desktop version improvements, it could certainly be a good call. After all, Mac OS X Lion is generally heading in a similar direction with the iOS features and Mission Control. It’s only a matter of time before Windows does something similar (as long as it’s not BOB *shudder* )

  • Anonymous

    How can people judge this based on the current info? As far as we know it could be almost a replica of the current GNOME Desktop using Unity technologies.

    I don’t think it will (and I hope it doesn’t), but I’m sure Canonical wouldn’t kill themselves with a horrible desktop solution, they’re actually famous for keep things simple, everybody was mad when they started Software Center, and now, it’s a loved piece, generally considered to be well-designed, user-friendly and a step forward in the right direction.

    Also, GNOME-Shell is hideous, and completely broken by design, so they are forced to find a long-term solution, specially since GNOME-Shell will be the default and where efforts from gnome community will be heading…

  • Anonymous

    How can people judge this based on the current info? As far as we know it could be almost a replica of the current GNOME Desktop using Unity technologies.

    I don’t think it will (and I hope it doesn’t), but I’m sure Canonical wouldn’t kill themselves with a horrible desktop solution, they’re actually famous for keep things simple, everybody was mad when they started Software Center, and now, it’s a loved piece, generally considered to be well-designed, user-friendly and a step forward in the right direction.

    Also, GNOME-Shell is hideous, and completely broken by design, so they are forced to find a long-term solution, specially since GNOME-Shell will be the default and where efforts from gnome community will be heading…

  • https://launchpad.net/~thephysician ThePhysician

    Won’t this translate horribly to those of us using 3 (or 2) monitors?

    Hopefully if this goes through they’ll have some way to make that not look absolutely awful.

  • https://launchpad.net/~thephysician ThePhysician

    Won’t this translate horribly to those of us using 3 (or 2) monitors?

    Hopefully if this goes through they’ll have some way to make that not look absolutely awful.

  • http://twitter.com/ArthurMoore85 Arthur Moore

    I dont know how many of you tried Gnome Shell…I did, and I hated it. It just doesnt feel like it’s as powerful somehow. I love having a lot of options, and doing things different ways, and with Gnome Shell it seems like it’s less configurable and customizable.
    Now I know this has nothing to do with Gnome Shell but more with Unity. Well unless you have netbook versions, you’ll not have used unity too much.

    Now I seen a lot of Ubuntu screenshots in the last few years, here is an idea. Replace the bottom panel with either Docky or AWN or Cairo-Dock with the option to add different panels if the user wishes. For the rest, give it new colouring, or whatever and leave it alone. Ubuntu has spent the last god knows how many years finally becoming recognised and liked, by both the Ubuntu community and even Windows users (at least the ones who seen mine). So now that they finally get it good they are going to change it again?! Please, new technology is great and that, but what’s so wrong with what we have now?!

  • Anonymous

    I have a really corny question, then: What about those that upgrade to it? I have customized my system to high heaven, all sorts of self-induced papercuts healed, all kinds of usability tweaks, we’re talking I have worked this thing over. What happens when I upgrade?

  • Anonymous

    I have a really corny question, then: What about those that upgrade to it? I have customized my system to high heaven, all sorts of self-induced papercuts healed, all kinds of usability tweaks, we’re talking I have worked this thing over. What happens when I upgrade?

  • http://twitter.com/PumbaTheGreat Lev Kuznetsov

    Gnome shell is absolute dynamite if it only ever gets finished, the people hating on it are plain idiots. The big Unity thing is the dock and docks are dumb in general. The docks are going to go away believe it or not, I use all three of the latest and greatest in desktop design paradigm on a daily basis and gnome-shell > OSX > W7. OSX doesn’t pull it off because of the dock over W7, the W7 bar is way better than OSX dock, OSX pulls it off on touch gestures despite of its crappy dock. By the early 10.7 lion info, looks like the dock is going away there.

    Gnome shell has it right. You want most useful applications take up as much screen space as possible. And it’s hardly possible to take up more than full. I was afraid at first that it’ll be a pain to switch between applications without the traditional bottom bar, but I wasn’t going to knock it ’til I tried it. And, lo and behold, this is actually far faster. I’m actually using the many desktops of linux now. It’s much faster to switch between tasks because you are no longer looking for the tiny icon on the bottom of your screen, you tend to remember where you put the app and you reflexively go back to them because they’re always in roughly the same area and look the same.

    They should really focus their efforts on getting gnome-shell up if they really want to take a chunk out of Windows share, because gnome-shell is an impact player.

    They should focus on touch gestures too, believe it or not, every one of you reading this will have a giant touchpad like the one apple sells now. I’m not saying you’ll trade in your mouse for it, but you’ll have it on your table just the same.

  • Anonymous

    I support this decision. It is certainly gutsy in the conservative Linux world and I welcome that.

    Unity on my Dell Latituse 2100 ran quite slow to I had have to boot up in the Desktop mode. This happens to work better for this netbook since the screen is 24 pixals too short so I have menu bar hidden to get max vertical screen space.

 
BreakingNews