Ubuntu 11.10 will see LightDM, a modern ‘display manager’, replace the current GDM login experience.
The decision was announced today (12 May, 2011) during a discussion at the bi-annual Ubuntu Developer Summit, held this time in Budapest, Hungary.
It’s felt that Ubuntu 11.10 needs a slick, ‘consumer orientated’ login experience to better match the rest of Ubuntu, so the decision to adopt LightDM proved the ideal solution.
And based on one screenshot of it, it certainly looks that:
LightDM is promoted as fast, small, well documented and is easily themable. It is also said to have ‘great accessibility’, which is increasingly important as Ubuntu’s popularity increases.
For users with capable harder, LightDM will use hardware acceleration with smooth animations. A 2D version will be rendered as a fallback, ensuring the older devices (as well as inevitable driver snafus) don’t leave anyone locked out of their desktop.
More details on Ubuntu 11.10 will continue to emerge this week, so stay tuned to the blog – perhaps subscribe via our RSS @ feeds.feedburner.com/d0od.