Ubuntu Software Centre’s New Look

By Joey Sneddon, Published August 1, 2011

Few people would argue that the Ubuntu Software Cenre in its current forms needs a makeover. Thankfully it is getting one, although whether or not it will be ready in time for Oneiric’s release in October is a whole different debate.

Earlier today I pulled the latest development branch of the Ubuntu Software Centre to check in on development. Upon running the ‘software-centre-gtk3′ file inside this stunning Software Centre revamp appeared my desktop – and I just had to share…

Buttons close up: -

Checking out the “Accessories” available for installation: -

Taking a peek at ‘Cheese’ in more detail: -

Viewing my installation history: -

The landing screen’s new style close up: -

Disclaimers

Due to the development nature of the application and the platform everything you see above is subject to change, alter or disappear without warning. Also note that features may not yet be implemented or working in the development version above.

Edit: Here’s how the Software Centre looks in its current development state when used under Radiance: -

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Akshat Jain
This doesn’t look good :(

http://www.facebook.com/logan.ny Logan del Sol
Ubuntu doesn’t look very good in general, but this is definitely an improvement. I think the sample banner makes the first image feel like it has orange overkill.

http://slimshady91.myopenid.com/ Tarek
Super big huge dislike….

https://launchpad.net/~rafalcieslak256 rc
Like.

http://profiles.google.com/lilianftp Moraru Lilian
Unity makes it ugly, everyone whom I show it just get disgusted… And everyone comment on the side bar…

http://slimshady91.myopenid.com/ Tarek
dislike…
Bilal Akhtar
Disliked.

http://www.khattam.info _khAttAm_
disliked

http://twitter.com/onderbakirtas Önder Emre BAKIRTAŞ
Trolled. :P.
http://twitter.com/onderbakirtas Önder Emre BAKIRTAŞ
Trolled. :P.
Anonymous
like the dislike xD

https://launchpad.net/~rafalcieslak256 rc
liked
Ismail Gjevori
disliked

James Williams
To everyone who complains about the look, you are entitled to your opinion.
Do remember that Ubuntu is FREE! Let’s show more gratitude to the developers and provide constructive feedback here. Consider the sandwich method of feedback:
I like xxxxx
I don’t care for yyyyyy
I really like xxxxx
Personally, I love the way I can view multiple programs and ratings in a more graphical, aesthetic way. I don’t have enough information to suggest any improvements, and lastly, I think the color scheme is well balanced.

Rina Korisanszky
I’m sorry James but feedback, even negative feedback helps so much. It never helps if all you ever have is supporters giving you praise when there really could be improvements. That being said Tarek what is it you dislike about the look?
Rina Korisanszky
I’m sorry James but feedback, even negative feedback helps so much. It never helps if all you ever have is supporters giving you praise when there really could be improvements. That being said Tarek what is it you dislike about the look?

Anonymous
Negative constructive feedback is good. What people complain about are the unhelpful insults: “this sucks”, “looks terrible”, “wtf switching to arch”
James Williams
Hi Rina, thanks for your point. When delivering feedback it’s all about how it’s said. Saying that something sucks states an opinion. On its own, that statement gives software developers no new direction to go in.
What’s needed is specifically why it sucks and a suggestion on how to make it better, for example, “the orange color in the category bars sucks, how about trying blue?”
http://slimshady91.myopenid.com/ Tarek
No !! I disliked the negative comments. Also ” Ubuntu doesn’t look good!”

https://launchpad.net/~mpt mpt
Ubuntu, like open source software in general, suffers from the soft bigotry of low expectations. When people criticize its performance, or its stability, or its feature set, or its design, someone will pipe up to say “Do remember that it’s free!”
It doesn’t matter that it’s free. Ubuntu’s two biggest competitors are Windows, which is usually preinstalled so people don’t think about the price; and pirated Windows, which is free. Free is not an advantage. If we want to win, we have to be better in other ways. “But it’s free!” is never an excuse for poor quality.
I do agree with you, though, that constructive feedback is more helpful than people saying just “this doesn’t look good” or “dislike”.
(This comment follows the tartine method of feedback.)

http://www.redtube.com ActionParsnip
What about MacOS, BSD and BeOS? All these are competitors.

https://launchpad.net/~fader fader
mpt didn’t say that “Windows” and “Pirated Windows” were the only competitors that Ubuntu has, but that they are the biggest.
Daniel Foré
MacOS is either bundled or it’s only $30 or (again) pirated (btw it comes with no DRM). So I’m not really sure that’s an issue for Mac OS either.
Anonymous
EFI.
http://www.corbindavenport.com/ Corbin Davenport
@coliflowerears:disqus You can boot from the Chameleon bootloader or a CD that emulates an EFI.
http://www.corbindavenport.com/ Corbin Davenport
BeOS is dead. Haiku is still very much alive. http://haiku-os.org/
http://profiles.google.com/mrmcq2u John McHugh
I think you mean haiku as beos has been dead for quite a while.

https://launchpad.net/~rafalcieslak256 rc
Man, I love the point about competitors!
Anonymous
Why do you want to win? Why does anyone should use anything that someone else wants? Is there any other reason than canonical wanting money and influence? Does anyone still believe this “linux for human beings” bogus?

https://launchpad.net/~mpt mpt
People contribute to Ubuntu for many reasons. I believe that all other things being equal, people are better off when more of the software they use is open source.
I don’t want people to choose Ubuntu because they know someone else wants them to. I want them to choose it because it’s become the best OS for them.

Anonymous
My thoughts exactly. And luckily, good design is one area that open source has drastically improved in recently. This unfortunately is not a good example of that in my opinion. But still better than what we have had to deal with in the past. But once again, like their choice for the default wallpapers – I just can’t understand how they ended up with this look after some truly good concepts.

https://launchpad.net/~rafalcieslak256 rc
Did you mean free as in speech, or beer?

Anonymous
I think beer.

Anonymous
apparently, you’re not visually impaired. i think it just needs a little polish.

Bruno Jesus
Great! I love it :)
Anonymous
Oh, I hope this is going to be default!!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001082514873 Mateusz Kwasu Pusz
Very nice :)
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XAIUZDN5NDH54Y2DZWW2ELKWW4 Abhijeet
Looks awesome…
http://tomslominski.net/ Tom Slominski
*slo-mo reaches hand towards the screen and drags it down the screenshots, drooling*
Wow, it’s pretty! How long did it take to open though?

http://www.corbindavenport.com/ Corbin Davenport
From what I’ve heard, it’s lightning fast. Even when opening .deb files.

http://tomslominski.net/ Tom Slominski
Cool. I’ve tried installing Ubuntu but my BIOS is messed up and it won’t load off USB! How cheap!
http://tomslominski.net/ Tom Slominski
Cool. I’ve tried installing Ubuntu but my BIOS is messed up and it won’t load off USB! How cheap!

http://twitter.com/Ufonautas Martynas Vareikis
Whoah! Beautiful. I rly love it!

http://twitter.com/marcusklaas MarcusKlaasDeVries
Boner comment. Why does this have so much likes?

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NJBDEH5QRZXGWYPU7RTWAAHOZU Eli
I guess because people want to express the same opinion, without cluttering up the comments section.

https://launchpad.net/~rafalcieslak256 rc
And it sort of works, as the comment expressing such enthusiasm is displayed first, due to likes.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CMJYPSXLFHHWHISIEV5IF2XQ44 tora
Maybe they just like him for who he is? ;)

http://www.facebook.com/rafael.tune Rafael Machado
very, very beatyful. i’m stunned!
Glaasje
damm.
He got more likes in a day than me in a year! o_o
(give me more like! :D)

http://twitter.com/TheSofox Sofox
Getting likes on this site is slightly skillful technique.
You get the article early and make a succinct, clear and truthful comment that you know most people are going to agree with. Bonus points if there’s some wry humour, genuine insight and/or honest feelings that you truly believe in.
I played this game for some time and did pretty well. The majority of my likes came from a small minority of my comments (this: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/10/system-76-starling-netbooks-wont-ship-with-slow-confusing-ubuntu-unity/#comment-85961851 was one of my early successes where I gradually understood the above technique).
In the end, I tired of if and asked myself the genuine question of what I was actually gaining with all these likes. Obviously, it was nothing; it was the challenge and the fun more than anything.
When I reached the 6:1 like:comment ratio, I eased off, I felt I’d won, done what I’d set out to do, learned something in the process, and was content to post comments for their own sake and my own reasons, not feeling that the likes were anything worth striving for anymore.

Glaasje
I know that likes wont give you anything.
But i like it when people like (and agree) you comment.

Sashin Ranasinghe
But why?
Glaasje
there is no why but there is a who…
Sashin Ranasinghe
But why?

Anonymous
Not just BEAUtiful, it looks really easy and logical to use!! The interface looks so thought through!! Unlike the current “90s” version…
http://www.corbindavenport.com/ Corbin Davenport
Your profile says that you have made two comments, but gathered 151 likes. I salute you and your bad grammar!

Anonymous
Too much orange kill orange …

http://twitter.com/josian_220 José Antonio
Yeah too much orange makes me remember the annoying orange hahaha
Just kidding, I like the new look but I think that the current one looks a bit better. Either way I don’t care too much about how it looks if it’s faster :P

http://twitter.com/MotionShot Heimen Stoffels
It is faster.

http://www.redtube.com ActionParsnip
Faster is all I’m personally interested in :)

http://twitter.com/marcusklaas MarcusKlaasDeVries
Why? If set containing speed = set containing all you care about then you would be happiest running kernel on command line.
http://www.redtube.com ActionParsnip
I do most times, the only time I use my mouse is to web browse as it’s faster than tabbing through links. If lynx etc could do flash then I’d use those too and ditch Xorg. The software centre takes too long to load and do basic stlll like install a single deb which I can do in command line before the app even loads.
Jeremy Newton
I say screw software centre most of the time and just use gnome-packagekit :)
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CMJYPSXLFHHWHISIEV5IF2XQ44 tora
Same here actually. Software Centre stuff is always too out of date for me. I need the latest/greatest.

http://twitter.com/MotionShot Heimen Stoffels
It is faster.
Anonymous
Hey Arch Linux, Hey Arch Linux… I’m an Orange. HAHAHHHAHHAHAH
Anonymous
Hey Arch Linux, Hey Arch Linux… I’m an Orange. HAHAHHHAHHAHAH
Anonymous
Hey Arch Linux, Hey Arch Linux… I’m an Orange. HAHAHHHAHHAHAH

Anonymous
the orange is just the banner for ubuntu 1, it rotates so dont worry.

Polly
Actually, the bright orange is also on the sub-menus too (New + Top Rated).

Jonathan Wong
Orange is better then purple. Would you rather replace orange with purple.

Anonymous
I would actually. At least purple is generally more subdued. This orange is just so in your face and distracting. Especially on a high gamut screen. And I happen to like purple…

http://twitter.com/luisfmercado Luis Mercado
For proper and tasty use of orange we can learn a lot from Valve.
http://profiles.google.com/write.tmartin Todd Martin
I agree. Looks like Ronald McDonald puked all over it.
Anonymous
Ubuntu is the trend setter. :) Since then I have seen others using orange as well.
Anonymous
Second that.

http://twitter.com/EuruxD Eustace
Say what you want, but in comparison to the actual Software Centre, this is the cuspid of design.
Wyatt Kirby
Hooray non-standard interface… again…
Edit: also, what will this look like with other themes?

Anonymous
Featuring: superb lack of consistency!

Anonymous
As was the new ford focus. If you don’t break the mould and do something different you won’t get anywhere.

http://twitter.com/marcusklaas MarcusKlaasDeVries
We are talking about consistency in product itself. If you wanna go new style, that’s all good, but do it on OS level. Make all pretty at same time. It is better that way. Trust me, I would know. I have absolutely no experience in designing GUIs but I imagine that consistency is key.
Anonymous
And by “the new ford focus” we should mean the whole OS. You can’t just add some big-ass-rims or fancy spoiler to call the car “new and revolutionary”, as undoubtedly the first focus was. Every little detail should be put well together.

Anonymous
I agree, bad analogy. My point was more, that to change a look, you have to start somewhere. It is not possible to change everything, Ubuntu don’t control everything for a start. But as more an more apps, go for a new, more minimalist look, other will see that that looks good and will copy. Eventually, most of the apps will have this new look, and it will be the ones which remain with the old look which are inconsistent.
Wyatt Kirby
tl;dr version: Interface fragmentation is bad. Choosing a standard and sticking to it is good. Positive changes should be pushed upstream and made part of the standard.
Actual Version:
I understand Ubuntu doesn’t control everything, but I sincerely doubt this is the start of some project to rival GTK+. Rather, it seems as though this is the start of another Ubuntu One control center — a look that was different from the rest of the OS, spread a little, and died. Doing this continually in small bursts leads to interface fragmentation which, from an end user perspective, is just a bad thing.
As an OS hoping to compete with Apple and Windows (Apple especially, in this particular instance), Ubuntu should try best to stick to one interface toolkit, and, for what should be the rare instances when they _must_ use another toolkit, include themes that emulate the default as close as possible. This is even worse, however, as it’s using the same toolkit, but implementing non-standard use cases for the interface, leaving other developers a choice to either follow standard practices (a good thing), or fit in with a new “style” in a popular OS.
In the end, this comes down to whether or not this is a better interface standard than current menu setups, and if so, should Ubuntu work on pushing it upstream to GTK.
p.s. I may be totally wrong about this whole thing, as it dawned on me that I know next to nothing about GTK3, and perhaps this _is_ the standard way to display an icon menu with dropdowns. In which case, my bad.
Wyatt Kirby
tl;dr version: Interface fragmentation is bad. Choosing a standard and sticking to it is good. Positive changes should be pushed upstream and made part of the standard.
Actual Version:
I understand Ubuntu doesn’t control everything, but I sincerely doubt this is the start of some project to rival GTK+. Rather, it seems as though this is the start of another Ubuntu One control center — a look that was different from the rest of the OS, spread a little, and died. Doing this continually in small bursts leads to interface fragmentation which, from an end user perspective, is just a bad thing.
As an OS hoping to compete with Apple and Windows (Apple especially, in this particular instance), Ubuntu should try best to stick to one interface toolkit, and, for what should be the rare instances when they _must_ use another toolkit, include themes that emulate the default as close as possible. This is even worse, however, as it’s using the same toolkit, but implementing non-standard use cases for the interface, leaving other developers a choice to either follow standard practices (a good thing), or fit in with a new “style” in a popular OS.
In the end, this comes down to whether or not this is a better interface standard than current menu setups, and if so, should Ubuntu work on pushing it upstream to GTK.
p.s. I may be totally wrong about this whole thing, as it dawned on me that I know next to nothing about GTK3, and perhaps this _is_ the standard way to display an icon menu with dropdowns. In which case, my bad.
Anonymous
@wakirby:disqus , urg, didn’t notice those menu buttons. I guess they are placeholders and will adopt the gtk theme later, if not then yes, even I’ll agree that is a step to far away from everything else.
I’m happy for software to add to the current gui’s or adapt them, but the current look is a contradiction.
(Sorry, it’s 4am, that last sentence made perfect sense in my head)
Anonymous
@wakirby:disqus , urg, didn’t notice those menu buttons. I guess they are placeholders and will adopt the gtk theme later, if not then yes, even I’ll agree that is a step to far away from everything else.
I’m happy for software to add to the current gui’s or adapt them, but the current look is a contradiction.
(Sorry, it’s 4am, that last sentence made perfect sense in my head)

http://twitter.com/me4oslav Georgi Karavasilev
(Appologies if the comment is too harsh.)
I totally don’t get it – with the current USC people complain it isn’t pretty enough. Now, when it finally it is about to get pretty and shiny people says it is inconsistent.
Surely it can get both pretty and consistent … if some good guy(s) make a super duper GTK that has gazillion of custom builded widgets, cairo animations and can make every app as pretty as WebKit sugared app. Unfortunately there isn’t a magical toolkit like that!

Anonymous
I believe major GUI changes should be introduced OS-wise, not just by refreshing some or even one app. However, this seems to be the Achilles’ heel of this kind of development. Small groups of devs (mostly programmers, the lack of good designers is obvious) are working on a specific part of the system – let it be here the update/app manager. They come up with their own ideas and implement it. Obviously, they get the acceptation by the “lead” members of the team (again, lack of decent designers), but the thing is – they all have to hurry “thanks” to the short development cycle. Users demand changes – and to satisfy them, devs hurry up. It’s always a bad thing.

https://launchpad.net/~mpt mpt
I love you too.
https://launchpad.net/~mpt mpt
I love you too.

Anonymous
I beg to differ. Native Gnome 3 applications under the Adwaita theme can look really great.
I also think that, in this case, a standard toolbar with standard widgets would look prettier, especially now that Ambiance puts a dark background on toolbars.

http://twitter.com/me4oslav Georgi Karavasilev
I never really liked either – Adwaita and Ambiance. Still I agree Adwaita >>> Clearlooks and new Amboance (dark toolbars) >>> old Ambiance.
The apps might have become abit prettier, but still aren’t as pretty as WebKit sugared apps.
Plus a lot of people use the OTB settings and never really change the GTK theme (in this case Ambiance) and the USC blends perfectly well with it. Those who change are more or less power users and are likely to have the knowledge to modify the WebKit UI via CSS and HTML :)

http://cassidyjames.com Cassidy James
Granite, the elementary project that builds on GTK, achieves something similar to this.
http://cassidyjames.com Cassidy James
Granite, the elementary project that builds on GTK, achieves something similar to this.

https://launchpad.net/~cscarney ~cscarney
When you’re the platform maker, anything you do is, by definition, the standard.

Wyatt Kirby
Not if you’re using someone else’s standard, in this case GTK+.
Daniel Foré
The problem is Ubuntu is not really a platform. It is a distribution.
Daniel Foré
The problem is Ubuntu is not really a platform. It is a distribution.

http://twitter.com/babai101 Soumyadeep Chanda
Does it let u sort software according to rating/downloads??? IMO that’s a must.

http://www.redtube.com ActionParsnip
Why?

http://tomslominski.net/ Tom Slominski
So you know which one could be the best?

http://www.redtube.com ActionParsnip
So you are using an OS which trumpets choice and freedom yet you need other people to TELL YOU what apps to use? Smacks of Microsoft wouldn’t you say? Why not try a few options and form your OWN opinion and use that….. Just because a lot of users have it installed doesn’t automatically mean it will suit your needs. By your reckoning, Windows is best compared to Ubuntu because it is installed more times than Ubuntu.

http://tomslominski.net/ Tom Slominski
Sorry, but I don’t feel like trying out 15 applications just when I want to go on facebook. It’s not like the one with the highest score will stay and all others will be banned from the store.
http://www.redtube.com ActionParsnip
True but you are not thinking for yourself which is appauling. What if the top rated app doesn’t suit your needs and there are better apps for your particular need, will you struggle with the “best” app because it’s used by everyother user….. It’s a really lazy attitude
http://www.facebook.com/people/Vladimir-Kooznetsov/1660704458 Vladimir Kooznetsov
I totally agree with you. When Canonical make ubuntu less custimizable to make it more user friendly they do take into account that in our world most people are short in time and just need an interface that provides a simple way to handle their OS. But sure, let’s play hipsters and change a dozen of low rated (or unrated) apps to find out which of them perfectly fits our needs. Are we really so unique that we ought to learn by our own mistakes while others just observe and make their conclusions? Sorry, i don’t have much time neither can i make every single developer happy by using his application.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Vladimir-Kooznetsov/1660704458 Vladimir Kooznetsov
I totally agree with you. When Canonical make ubuntu less custimizable to make it more user friendly they do take into account that in our world most people are short in time and just need an interface that provides a simple way to handle their OS. But sure, let’s play hipsters and change a dozen of low rated (or unrated) apps to find out which of them perfectly fits our needs. Are we really so unique that we ought to learn by our own mistakes while others just observe and make their conclusions? Sorry, i don’t have much time neither can i make every single developer happy by using his application.
Anonymous
I couldn’t reply to @actionParsnip:disqus , so I’ll just post here. Just because he’ll be using one app while everybody else isn’t doesn’t mean he’ll stop using that app. It’s like saying that since everybody uses Windows, he will struggle to use Ubuntu. I really don’t understand your comment. And do you really not watch a movie because it has a low rating while all your friends hate it? Why spend the extra $7? Why waste time? It’s not a lazy attitude. When purchasing a game, you go by the ratings and the trial (if available). He will probably even try all the other apps that use facebook just to see what other ppl think.
I seriously don’t understand why you don’t understand his viewpoint, ActionParsnip, but have you really never written a review or judged anything based on somebody else’s review (like a hotel)?
Martin Herfort
Because today I wanna go kitesurfing, tomorrow I want to play the trumpet an when I want to create a picture DVD for a friend’s birthday chance are, I’m in a hurry.
Seriously: There are people out there who do no want to spend time trying out 10 different programs.
http://www.redtube.com ActionParsnip
I feel sorry for you. You would get a better software if you just put in a little effort.
zekopeko
Congratulations!
You’ve won today’s “Stupidest comment on the internet” award!
We wanted to give it to some 13-year old on Youtube but after reading your comment it was obvious it should go to you.
https://launchpad.net/~rafalcieslak256 rc
The logic here is like:
People! Let’s eat sh*t! Millions of flies does so, they can’t be wrong!
I do agree the most popular app never should be thought as the best because of the popularity.
http://profiles.google.com/write.tmartin Todd Martin
You are a farking idiot
Anonymous
That is completely asinine. The reason there are ratings in the first place is because it provides a good STARTING point. Having observed the opinions of others does not preclude you from forming your own. Popularity does often provide _some_ indication of quality, specifically where software is concerned. That does not mean it is the final word. I may try 6 different text editors before finding the one that best suits me, but I have to start somewhere. Why not start with one that other people performing similar tasks find to be suitable?
It sounds like you see it as a sign of weakness to acknowledge that people other than yourself sometimes have valid thoughts. Also, it sounds like you are pretty self-impressed as a result of your stamina for trying new software. Not everyone has to do things the way you do. Others may choose software in different way than you do. That doesn’t mean they are wrong.
Ugh. Gross, man.
Anonymous
“I feel sorry for you. You would get a better software if you just put in a little effort.”
“… which is appauling.”
”because it’s used by everyother user”.
I feel sorry for you. You would get a better grasp on English if you just put in a little effort.

http://www.facebook.com/bean520 Conor Rynne
its the best way to sort through loads of apps that do the same thing
Anonymous
to find the best/most popular app that does something

Taylor
I really like this. It looks very put together. I especially like the buttons; I actually hope they run that style across all of Ubuntu!
Parry
Only bad part, orange over-kill. Everything else I can definitely live with, and look forward to.

Anonymous
One placeholder banner does not orange-overkill make. Yes, it was a poor colour choice for the placeholder. No, it will not always look that way.

Parry
I actually now see what you mean. They probably won’t use so much orange with the page scroller. They just made it look bad with all that orange though

Duncan Murimi
Think its awesome.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000673643315 Farhan J. Khan
shouldn’t the y be concentrating on stability instead of design?

http://profiles.google.com/joerlend.schinstad Jo-Erlend Schinstad
No. They’re completely different things. I really don’t want the designers responsible for system stability.

Chad Germann
The system stability stuff is done by the good folks at Debian

https://launchpad.net/~mpt mpt
The Ubuntu release cycle requires that we concentrate first on features, then on design, and then on stability. (Feature Freeze is before UI Freeze, which is before Final Freeze.)

Greg
Do you think that’s unfortunate?
[It seems like a necessary evil to me]

https://launchpad.net/~mpt mpt
I believe Ubuntu could both improve more quickly, and be more stable for users and application developers, if it developed more like the Linux kernel. People would work on features and other major changes independently of the release cycle. Changes would be merged into the next release only once they were complete, stable, and tested.
We’d still need a Feature and UI Freeze for translations and tutorials etc, but they’d be one and the same freeze.

http://profiles.google.com/write.tmartin Todd Martin
It certainly couldn’t be less stable. I haven’t seen such a steaming pile since….. windows 98

https://launchpad.net/~mpt mpt
I believe Ubuntu could both improve more quickly, and be more stable for users and application developers, if it developed more like the Linux kernel. People would work on features and other major changes independently of the release cycle. Changes would be merged into the next release only once they were complete, stable, and tested.
We’d still need a Feature and UI Freeze for translations and tutorials etc, but they’d be one and the same freeze.

Maula Nurul Khakam
i’ll use it…very2 cool
http://twitter.com/mickstep Michael Stephenson
“Few people would argue that the Ubuntu Software Cenre in its current forms needs a makeover”
Shouldn’t that be “Few people would argue against the statement that Ubuntu Software Centre in it’s current form needs a makeover”?
Francisco Verdeja
Really, the software center only need an option for the Software Update…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000203590110 Sohrab Kakakhel
Pretty awesome. I did like the mock ups they did a few months ago a lil more.

Saie Surendra
Thats pretty true, apart from all the top grey bars the rest looks less impressive then the mock ups they had.
It just looks like an internet webpage

http://www.facebook.com/tlejeune3 Tom LeJeune
I’d like to see video tutorials in USC. There are already a lot of great tutorials on youtube. Also, an option to donate to a project would be nice.
Ubuntu really needs to add boxee, hulu desktop, XBMC, Google chrome, and opera to USC too.

https://launchpad.net/~mpt mpt
We’d love to add video previews alongside screenshots in future, but tutorials would make more sense in an application’s own help.
If you want an application in USC that isn’t there already, please ask the people who make that application.
Anonymous
IIRC, Opera’s in the Canonical Partners repo, but I think it might be version 9.

Anonymous
looks good !
I LOVE IT !! :^-)
http://twitter.com/ojdon Ollie Reardon
Looks very tablet friendly indeed! Great stuff!

younan fakhouri
I picked up on that, ubuntu in general is becoming more tablet friendly. strategery i’m sure

Anonymous
More and more computers are becoming touchscreens. It’s fairly important to be touchscreen friendly now.
Anonymous
The only parts of the UI that I’ve found annoyingly touch-unfriendly is the auto-hide menu at the top and the indicators on the right. Do you think there’ll be a better way to get to these with a finger?

younan fakhouri
Yeah I’m not sure about the touch friendliness the top panel in general, I’m not fond of the auto-hide menu options even with a mouse, but the traditional menu bar in general is just no good for touch after the bar was raised so much for user friendliness by iOS and Android. I anticipate that if they find a hardware partner for tablets they may add a touch friendly app section in the ubuntu software center for free and for-pay touch friendly apps… i hope
younan fakhouri
Yeah I’m not sure about the touch friendliness the top panel in general, I’m not fond of the auto-hide menu options even with a mouse, but the traditional menu bar in general is just no good for touch after the bar was raised so much for user friendliness by iOS and Android. I anticipate that if they find a hardware partner for tablets they may add a touch friendly app section in the ubuntu software center for free and for-pay touch friendly apps… i hope

Anonymous
I hope this is scraping colors from the theme, not hardcoding them.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FX5ITOLLHVNOY673XBRGCKF3DI Freddi
I’m sure that this is planned. Anyways, even websites can use your theme’s colors if they want (and I guess the software-center is partly html).
Web developers should take a look at system colors, system fonts and moz-appearance. All this technology is great but almost never used.
example:
background: menu; font: message-box …
http://help.dottoro.com/external/examples/ljglsvea/MozAppearance_2.htm

Anonymous
Hm, interesting, I’ll have a look at that. Could be very useful.
https://launchpad.net/~mpt mpt
The only parts of USC that are HTML are the banner (as shown in the first screenshot) and the purchase process. The rest is GTK.

Anonymous
I hope this is scraping colors from the theme, not hardcoding them.
Anonymous
very very awesome!
http://twitter.com/jules9112 Jules C.
This is GTK3, right? Then why isn’t the title bar anti-aliased?

Anonymous
becouse the titlebar (and as a matter of fact, the whole window border) is decorated by the window manager (compiz), and not by a widget toolkit, as it has always been.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FX5ITOLLHVNOY673XBRGCKF3DI Freddi
Does the window manager not support rgba or compositing?

http://www.cimitan.com Andrea Cimitan
we need to find out a way to draw good rounded shadows, then we’ll support that.

http://twitter.com/marcusklaas MarcusKlaasDeVries
Make it happen. Nao.
Chad Germann
they have more important issues to work on like that whole thing about Screen brightness button thing for laptops not working.
http://twitter.com/marcusklaas MarcusKlaasDeVries
Screw that. Brightness button is only for a few machines. Anti aliased title bars is feature for every machine. Also, we need it. All the other OSes have had it for many ages. It is critical.
Anonymous
Critical? Things not booting are critical. Window bars are not critical.
Chad Germann
somebody has there priorities mixed up general functionality is far more impotent than being caught up on useless eye candy. lets look at it this way Ubuntu seems to want to copy the mac. ask any mac user why they use the mac. they will tell you that it “Just works” not talk about eye candy
Ubuntu needs to focus on “Just working” again

Anonymous
Well even though the wm does, the current default decorator does not. Which is sad.

http://twitter.com/Hexual Ian ‘IZO’ Hex
This is some seriously sweet work here.
http://www.facebook.com/m.owner Алексей Мартяшев
OMG. It’s just crazy site frontpage. Why do not just use Mozilla Prism or full FireFox?
younan fakhouri
Haters gonna hate! This looks 1000x better. Non-standard interfaces are fine, makes it look better.

http://www.corbindavenport.com/ Corbin Davenport
Not when you want to change the theme.

younan fakhouri
with current themes, but certainly they default themes will be improved to accommodate the new styles. Not many people fault Chrome / Chromium for having a non-standard UI, and google worked in ways to take from colors from the user’s theme.
I remember when i first switched to linux I would spend hours upon hours customizing themes, wallpapers, icons, compiz behaviors, shadow opacities, pop up animations. it was so much fun personalizing it all, but after a while I got really tired of constantly customizing because I felt like I was never fully content with the look and feel, thinking I could get it just a taaaad bit better. Now I just play pick from the default themes and rest my mind

http://twitter.com/wrede Caspar von Wrede
“Few people would argue that the Ubuntu Software Cenre in its current forms needs a makeover. ”
Do you guys actually read what you write. In this case you are saying exactly the opposite of what you mean

Anonymous
Statement :”the Ubuntu Software Cenre in its current forms needs a makeover”
“Few people would argue that” Statement.
They mean what they say. Not many people would argue with the statement ”the Ubuntu Software Cenre in its current forms needs a makeover”.
Although I do see a couple of potentials for mis-translation, but it is a fairly common English saying.

http://www.facebook.com/gingerboy92 Syukri Lajin
wait.. where’s the T?

Anonymous
Between R and Y, where it has been for since some guy reorganised the alphabet for the keyboard.
(He also says forms in the plural, lets forgive the small typos here where the issue is a complete reversal in meaning)

https://launchpad.net/~flimm Flimm
You added the preposition “with” after “argue”, which makes a world of difference.

Anonymous
I see what you mean, and yes, actually looking at it, I can see how it can appear to have the wrong meaning. But it is a fairly common english saying, and something that the writer could easily use in conversation without causing any confusion. But yes, in a multinational website, I guess more attention should be paid to what it would mean translated word for word.

http://twitter.com/tardegrade tardegrade
I’m guessing that English isn’t your first language as it is impossible to misconstrue the original statement’s meaning which dictates that the majority of people do not think that the software centre needs a makeover.
Casper von Wrede is completely correct.
No ifs. No buts.
How the hell did you get three likes for your comment?!?!
The original statement should read;
“Few people would argue that the Ubuntu Software Cenre in its current form doesn’t need a makeover. ”
Simples.
Anonymous
Yes, english is my first language. I am, like the author, from England, so trust me on this, whether it is correct or, not that is a fairly common english saying, and to english people the meaning is clear. Generally to argue implies to disagree, in informal language.
Your suggestion, could be read either way, because of the way that the second negative breaks up the flow, I would have suggested simply replacing argue with disagree as that would translate better.
“Few people would disagree that the Ubuntu Software Cenre in its current forms needs a makeover.”
(Apologies if this post is unclear, it is 4am here :/)
http://twitter.com/tardegrade tardegrade
@MadnessRed:disqus Clearly our education system has failed you. Your post is perfectly clear. I’m just staggered that you can be so confident when you are so obviously wrong. I do hope you are not a teacher.

Anonymous
The dark toolbar looks SO BAD. Monochrome icons are nice, though.

Anonymous
All toolbars are gonna be dark afaik.

Anonymous
I know that. They look ugly is all I’m saying.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Carlos-Eduardo-Do-Val/1783304073 Carlos Eduardo Do Val
Fantastic! Better than never!
See ya’ on Oneiric :)
http://openid-provider.appspot.com/TheMerkinman Merk
Given it’s rendered in Webkit, I wonder if that means there will be a website as well a la Android Market and Steam.
http://twitter.com/Cont3mpo Cont3mpo
Hello monochrome icons!
I suspect that monochrome icons expand to all the apps (thunderbird, nautilus, etc.), or not design team? hell yeah.
http://twitter.com/Cont3mpo Cont3mpo
Hello monochrome icons!
I suspect that monochrome icons expand to all the apps (thunderbird, nautilus, etc.), or not design team? hell yeah.
http://twitter.com/sur3shg Suresh G
NIce!
Anonymous
Holy jpeg artifacts, Batman!

http://www.corbindavenport.com/ Corbin Davenport
PNGs, please!!! Oh, and a video.

http://www.corbindavenport.com/ Corbin Davenport
I can’t find any other website that has pictures of the new look. PLLEEEAAASSEE POST A PNG!!!!

Anonymous
How can we get access to this ourselves? I really want to try it out in a virtual machine copy of ubuntu I have. (as i don’t want to mess up my real installation)

Anonymous
“Earlier today I pulled the latest development branch of the Ubuntu Software Centre to check in on development. Upon running the ‘software-centre-gtk3′ file inside this stunning Software Centre revamp appeared my desktop”
Pull the latest branch from launchpad. Go to the folder and double click on the file “software-centre-gtk3″ is my best guess.

Anonymous
I couldn’t figure out how to do that. More specific instructions would be nice. (i.e. terminal commands, or maybe some links)

Anonymous
bzr branch lp:software-center
nautilus ./software-center/
Try and find the file mentioned. You’ll need gnome 3 so oineric

Anonymous
Thanks!
Anonymous
No problem, have fun with it.

https://launchpad.net/~mpt mpt
(This is a terminal command. If you don’t trust me, wait for someone you do trust to verify that this command does nothing bad.)
bzr branch lp:software-center && ./software-center/software-center-gtk3

Anonymous
i’m rather technical, so i know the commands are safe, but this was something i had not needed to do before. Thanks!

http://www.facebook.com/people/Antonioni-De-Araújo-Rocha/1578811457 Antonioni De Araújo Rocha
Really beautiful, I want the color of radiance in the menu bar.
http://profiles.google.com/joerlend.schinstad Jo-Erlend Schinstad
I have to say I agree with the author, even if he himself doesn’t. The software center doesn’t really need a makeover. But this seems nice. A little strong colors, perhaps, but I think that’s ok. If anything, I’m a little bit worried about the large banner. But it very much depends on what you put in it, so I won’t complain until I see it in action — perhaps not even then, if it looks good :)
Alvaro Lara Cano
Awesome
Douglas Galetti Ribeiro
Finally something I really wanted to see !
http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephen-Jengram-Ingram/600362252 Stephen ‘Jengram’ Ingram
While this isn’t the greatest design, It’s better than what it looks like atm and better than some of those mockups you showed a few weeks ago. I can’t see why they made the menu in that dotted design instead of a la ubuntu one though…
http://anxiousnut.wordpress.com Anxious Nut
Unlike many, I won’t act like a fanboy and rather will tell the truth.
The look is okay, improved, yes. However, I can see nonnative UI components! I wouldn’t mind the buttons to have a checked background or to be gradient colored ONLY if it was applied to all other parts of the ubuntu desktop.
Yes, it means that Ubuntu developers will have to work with gnome 3 developers to enhance GTK theming in general. I know it’s probably harder, but at least the look WILL be consistent. Again, I know using HTML/CSS to design a UI or drawing widgets is easier to accomplish than working upstream, but come on, if this continues, the look of ubuntu applications might end up as inconsistent as android applications!
I’m hoping I’m wrong at this, but the last image shows theme inconsistency.

PS: I know this is a snapshot of a development branch so nothing if for sure, everything is alpha, I know.
http://anxiousnut.wordpress.com Anxious Nut
Unlike many, I won’t act like a fanboy and rather will tell the truth.
The look is okay, improved, yes. However, I can see nonnative UI components! I wouldn’t mind the buttons to have a checked background or to be gradient colored ONLY if it was applied to all other parts of the ubuntu desktop.
Yes, it means that Ubuntu developers will have to work with gnome 3 developers to enhance GTK theming in general. I know it’s probably harder, but at least the look WILL be consistent. Again, I know using HTML/CSS to design a UI or drawing widgets is easier to accomplish than working upstream, but come on, if this continues, the look of ubuntu applications might end up as inconsistent as android applications!
I’m hoping I’m wrong at this, but the last image shows theme inconsistency.

PS: I know this is a snapshot of a development branch so nothing if for sure, everything is alpha, I know.
http://twitter.com/edconocerte EDC
It seems better than Ubuntu Tweak (just it seems) :D
Greetings from Peru!
http://twitter.com/edconocerte EDC
It seems better than Ubuntu Tweak (just it seems) :D
Greetings from Peru!

http://www.redtube.com ActionParsnip
Plus its official so is supported by the community rather than some 3rd party thing you can’t technically trust.

http://twitter.com/edconocerte EDC
It seems better than Ubuntu Tweak (just it seems) :D
http://twitter.com/edconocerte EDC
It seems better than Ubuntu Tweak (just it seems) :D
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SOLJHNEYZ62C5WOZQSHPR5RO74 ApocolypseNow
Kudos to the developers. I think the comments relating to “too much orange” miss the fact that it is for a header display for Ubuntu One. The last image shows another program and the orange banner is changed dependent upon the program. I personally love it and can’t wait to see the final results.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SOLJHNEYZ62C5WOZQSHPR5RO74 ApocolypseNow
Kudos to the developers. I think the comments relating to “too much orange” miss the fact that it is for a header display for Ubuntu One. The last image shows another program and the orange banner is changed dependent upon the program. I personally love it and can’t wait to see the final results.
Anonymous
It’s a wonder! I hope that USC will be with this UI or the others here ( http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/06/the-new-ubuntu-software-centre-mock-ups-hint-at-great-things-to-come/ ). Anyone is better than the atual interface! :)
Anonymous
You spelled centre wrong sir. You spelled cenre. Good article :)
daas88
AAAARGGHH MY EYESSS
I think it’s because of the orange, as others have already pointed out.
Mohan
yep that looks way better than the current one.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1150263158 Rens Hamburger
It looks easy
it looks great
and it looks neat
a lot better than the old one
Chad Germann
they dropped the elegant and usable synaptic synaptic for this? thats it i am moving to Linux from scratch.

Anonymous
elegant? no. useful? yes.

Chad Germann
elegance is not an issue of aesthetics, elegance in software is about the most usability with the smallest code base. in fact the best example of software elegance can be found in the Unix Philosophy that people seem to wipe their posterior with lately http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy

Christopher Rogers
Are there any plans to make the search results sortable? It’d be nice if they could be sorted by name, or by rating. I definitely like that they are trying to make it look nicer, but some added functionality would be appreciated as well.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ON6CS3UJOSXBQ7RM3LUWAERN2A d4rk_l1gh7
it could of been better. it should actually blend in with the theme you’re using on the computer. From what i’m seeing, there’s no consistency whatsoever. And it looks like this is just the old software center just revamped a bit. It should be more eye catching and more rich in terms of features, while keeping a simple look using the default theme. Yeah i know i repeated myself here, but it’s what i think.
If they decide not to make it use the default theme as a key factor for the theme. They should work a bit more…
bohoomil
Well, it’s one of the most promising designs coming from Ubuntu team. Good job!
http://www.facebook.com/adrian.wechner Adrian Wechner
in general 10 times better then the current USC, but anyway I still don’t like it, because there several elements that are “disturbing” or unfinished. obviously that just “alpha/beta”, I understand and that’s the reason why I think it’s the best moment to give opinions.
my suggestions for improvements:
- Use the canonical (violet etc) colors instead of the orange colors.
- the panels “New” and “Top Rated” shouldn’t have that shrinked layout… stretched to the width of their content below would better, I guess.
- when you click on “Installed Arrow” then the menu that is shown up should like this: http://scr3.golem.de/screenshots/1108/Firefox-UI/thumb620/02-Firefox-Australis-(Mac)-FxMenu.jpg like the new Firefox menu layout…. looks awesome in my opinion
- last but not least: change please the icon set, it’s nice but not cool enough for Unity ;)

http://www.facebook.com/people/Vladimir-Kooznetsov/1660704458 Vladimir Kooznetsov
Yes, I do want violet colors.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Vladimir-Kooznetsov/1660704458 Vladimir Kooznetsov
Yes, I do want violet colors.

Kamil Prusko
This is so unfriendly.. In the app list view and in the view of an app there’s a lot of free horizontal space. I really like browsing by categories the way it is now, with icons.. I think there should be either a categories sidebar in all views or no sidebar at all – just sections like it’s in new System Settings adapted from GNOME 3, then I guess it would feel quite like this mockup: http://danrabbit.deviantart.com/art/AppCenter-206881462?offset=30

https://launchpad.net/~mpt mpt
Most of the list views will be replaced by tile views.
Anonymous
The system settings for Gnome3 is worse then the control panel for Vista its god dam horrid.
eOS is heading in a great direction

http://www.redtube.com ActionParsnip
As long as it’s faster then its fine. Its one huge reason I only use apt-get.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3BEMYXZR3QTBZF676TUAEKATHM syncdram
So basically software center has the same warranty as Ubuntu itself. Due to the development nature of the application and the platform everything you see is subject to change, alter or disappear without warning. Also note that features may not yet be implemented or working in the development version above. I can’t stop laughing!
Anoop Mohan
providing ratings was a great feature in software centre for ubuntu, especially for new users, new look is great, but older software centres loads slow, thats bad
Anonymous
definitely a move in the right direction
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1558095008 Nicolò Turatello
Why the “More info” bottom is so far away from “Install”???? It does not have sense!!
http://twitter.com/MarcCoquand Marc Coquand
Personally I prefer square over rounded. Doh well. It looks great otherwise
http://profiles.google.com/jonathan.almeida942 Jonathan Almeida
Oh my… I can’t wait!
http://www.facebook.com/igor.belchior Igor Belchior
The essential part of it wasn’t change. Choose apps from certain category using list view is just awful.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_I32UYQJ2ZBOZ37UCAQPB56OVCE Luigi
Is it really hard to put an ‘Updates’ button at the top next to ‘All Software’?
It can turn blue or orange when new updates are available…
Anonymous
One of your screenshots is a bit grainy and makes the interface look like it has grey diagonal stripes across the black. Looks awesome!
http://twitter.com/OS_Mix Thomas Soulard
ok the only problem i have with this is that on the service it looks nice but browsing the applications hasn’t changed which is really the bit that i have a problem with
Anonymous
waw professional design :-)
http://www.facebook.com/gingerboy92 Syukri Lajin
when will we get Wine Software Centre?.
https://launchpad.net/~andregondim andregondim
Where you saw this mockups?
Anonymous
for the new USC id like to see the final design in 12:04 and a massive speed improvement because it is so slow, What would be great though is if they spent some time making a VALA or Qt version for Unity 2D as i understand it Vala is powerfull and lightweight in terms of resources because to me most machines without 3D graphics have low spec ? makes sense
http://www.facebook.com/people/Vladimir-Kooznetsov/1660704458 Vladimir Kooznetsov
I don’t think using huge buttons with little menu entries is a good idea. Plus there’s a divider between window deco and the panel. I don’t think the arrows fit the look of the panel. I shall say i liked the way software categories were organised. I would be rather pleased to see more bigger screenshots for the programs. I’d like to be able to set my own background picture for this app. I want to be able to see the reviews from ALL users, not only in the language of the system. Keep up, you’re doing a good job.
Polly
To be fair, the general format looks good; however the sharp orange/purple mix is very harsh on the eyes. I wish Ubuntu would go back to the warm brown and neutral colors – better for everyday usage.
http://www.corbindavenport.com/ Corbin Davenport
Can you please post PNG images? These JPGs aren’t very awesome to look at…
http://www.corbindavenport.com/ Corbin Davenport
I personally don’t like it. It doesn’t have standard widget buttons, so it looks horrible with alternate themes. The title bar is crazy big too.
But this is just the first GTK3 release, so there is time for it to change…
Anonymous
Some purple would make it brillant!
Anonymous
Looks better now. It needs to be attractive and fast for users, and the behind the scenes need to attractive for developers to have their software easily installable, and paid for. I would still like a donate button for free software projects that want it, with Canonical taking maybe 10% cut to cover payment costs.
BTW: When I went from 10.10 to 11.04, the Software Centre easily installed my previous purchase, which was Brukkon.
Anonymous
Yep, that’s what I hate the most. Not the design of that app but the very huge Desktop inconsistency in the Linux world (no any desktop harmony). I think all the components in a Desktop environment should be consistent in style, color, usage etc. etc. (icons, colors, fonts, window decoration, apps, Desktop metaphor-es) with each other. But, unfortunately they’re not.
I have been waiting for that for very long time (~+15yrs) but still can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Imagine a man on the street in a formal suit wearing a very beautiful multicolored tip toe shoes. That’s just does not match. So, I hope you got what I wanted to say. That’s the main issue that not the really talented artists design the look of a Desktop in the Linux world but in the Apple. :(
Yo, I am not an Apple fun at all, but do all respect to their work.

http://profiles.google.com/harveycabaguio Harvey Cabaguio
elementary welcomes you my friend. :)

Anonymous
I have been following them in the background since they started it. The idea is great, but in my opinion from outside looking in, I can see some issues /w the implementation (resources, financial, time, design and some).
Also one of the several issues of the Desktop inconsistency in Linux world is the Gnome (and it’s dependants such GDM and others and also the widgets. The widgets (for example the Open file dialog) cannot be themed properly (I am not speaking about the colour and window decoration but the sub-widgets inside the main one). So, how should they implement the real consistency when we’ve been living /w a same looking File open/close dialog boxes for 20 yrs.
The Desktop harmony is not about the icons, window decoration etc. but harmony of all of the visible (and non-visible) components. A desktop session (from power on till power off) is like a smooth movie where the scenes linked smoothly to each others. All my respect to Dan Rabbit and its/their efforts, but think that the Linux Desktop world needs some real structural change.
So, in this case the democracy is not a good way as it tends the Linux to be more fragmented… Aaaaahhh, to much words and haven’t scratched the surface yet.:(

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001380333367 Sascha Jazbec
true. but Ubuntu is really better then all the other various Linuxes. At least they TRY to stitch it all together with a corporate design. Next is to get away with the tons of alpha quality software in the repos, that not only look ugly but also not work. there are too much of crap apps .
Anonymous
Except that Apple has been breaking its consistency for years now, and it won’t stop (take a look at iTunes and the Lion itself). Unfortunately, that seems to be only reassuring the aspiring designers at Canonical doing the same stupid mistake. They just believe everything Apple does is OK, no matter what.
Anonymous
Except that Apple has been breaking its consistency for years now, and it won’t stop (take a look at iTunes and the Lion itself). Unfortunately, that seems to be only reassuring the aspiring designers at Canonical doing the same stupid mistake. They just believe everything Apple does is OK, no matter what.

Anonymous
YES! This is exactly what the software center needs to look like! and I hope that every peice of software is able to have their own background and artwork on their page, that would definitely be the push to make USC insanely awesome! :D
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HLHKFU3VIKEKLNJ5TXHU2ACGTY sascha
Make it violet/purple = the color that Lucids/Mavericks default wallpaper introduced. Most people have understood that ubuntu has a new “corporate identy” with its uniqe font,newer logo and newer colours. But orange in Ubuntu is used only very small, for the buttons and for the ONE icon. Putting those lila/viloet/purple wallpaper colours into Softwarecenter would fit much better as a whole. If you want to put some orange into it well.. corners/frames/ubuntu logo variants. Best of course would be if it would follow the GTK style colourwise, i.e. dynamic branding. And once more : See that Rawtherapee 3 will be included. It is soo a highly polished and professional app. ( Apple Aperture/Adobe Lightroom equivalent with same/more features ) ..
http://www.facebook.com/theodore121 Theodore Grammenos
Very Beautiful
http://twitter.com/Sneckster Stewart Evardson
That For Purchase button puts me off the software center, its been horrible to explore new stuff since the pay stuff went in. Where is the Only Free content button?
Anonymous
Why are we seeing these inconsistencies in highlights? I have pointed out earlier that the text highlights in the Dash are a ghastly black, when in the rest of the OS, they are orange. Stay consistent, Canonical.
Tommy Hartmann
looks like crap. isn’t there anything more important to do than paint the whole system with ugly colors?
http://www.therealneo.com JohnDoe
ubuntu rap: I just thought I should do an Ubuntu Rap Song
anyway
they know i got a laptop, when they see my screen
it’s Ubuntu till the day I D.I.E
we soaring and ever flying like Pterodactyls
Ubuntu software center thats the best app store
http://twitter.com/tedil tedil
Alternating row colors would help ;)
https://launchpad.net/~woutervddn Wouter Vandenneucker
I’ll review it when it’s on my plate ;-) Speed is my main concern though..
Saie Surendra
looking impressive.
I hope they add a little colour in the menu sidebar too.. Like 3d or highlighting buttons
Peter Moorhead
How stable/usable is this? Since that’s probably the best indicator of how soon us mere mortals will be getting our hands on it.
Anonymous
totally off topic, my apologies … why is it that OMGubuntu is the buggiest webpage I frequent? … it’s really getting on my nerves, I enjoy the content but always leave frustrated. Web admins, get your act together or loose some of the cheesy code (in your ads)
Glennz NL
I am able to cry right now… it´s terrible.
Glennz NL
I am able to cry right now… it´s terrible.
trapDoor
I tried myself but no joy. The new software-center did show up just for a second and then it crashed dumping this:
(software-center-gtk3:2779): Gdk-WARNING **: /build/buildd/gtk+3.0-3.1.10/./gdk/x11/gdkwindow-x11.c:4765 drawable is not a native X11 window
Gdk-ERROR **: The program ‘software-center-gtk3′ received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was ‘BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)’.
(Details: serial 1461 error_code 3 request_code 20 minor_code 0)
(Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
   that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
   To debug your program, run it with the –sync command line
   option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
   backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)
Trace/breakpoint trap (core dumped)
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=781813215 Marin Sagovac
radience theme is very ugly. it’s light brown theme and it’s not common with orange color. I’m confused with ambience theme. Better is gray with orange on same contrast!
http://profiles.google.com/kurt.bruneau Kurt Bruneau
It looks good but it still needs some tweaking. Some things just don’t look like they fit. An example is the forwards and backwards navigation buttons.
Sergey Filkin
looks professionally
http://twitter.com/weberc2 Craig Weber
I don’t understand people talking about the look. I could care much less about the aesthetics as I could the functionality. If it’s more useful (it looks like it’s MUCH more useful) then great. Ubuntu needs something like this for all of the people who aren’t savvy enough to use the command line (i.e. everyone in the mainstream)–so while it may not be directly important to you, if you are interested in the propagation of desktop Linux (specifically Ubuntu and derivatives) and all of the benefits therewith associated (better software, etc), a good Software Center should be important to you as well.
http://profiles.google.com/cosesdubu Coses d’Ubuntu
Does anyone know why can’t I authenticate on terminal? I just upgraded to Oneiric and while my passwords it’s good for keychain, is not for Terminal. I can’t be a root user so I can’t install a thing!!!
Ashkan Shahrokhi Nejad
best design
Anonymous
The orange looks too burnt. Go for something more glowing and friendly. There shouldn’t be a gap between the banner and it’s surroundings. The resulting white line is ugly.
http://twitter.com/zc456 Squeaks
Jaw dropping. Can’t wait!
Anonymous
So the supermarket specials leaflet / overcrowded cheap website design won in the end.
If this is final and this is what we will have in 11.10 or 12.04, I’m feeling really sad for Ubuntu for the first time since we met, five years ago.
Rajeev Nair
Now if only the whole of ubuntu looked this good.
Front page is a bit too much though.
Crazykage Minato
awesome,,, 0o0
http://twitter.com/__MsG__ Mathijs
Meh, I did like this one much more: http://cdn.omgubuntu.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/H1K8ch.jpeg
This one seems a little bit unprofessional to me.

http://twitter.com/jonathanmoerman Jonathan Moerman
I agree: it has a more clean impression.

http://twitter.com/jonathanmoerman Jonathan Moerman
Make this look consistent with all other themes (including the orange parts) and it would be a great improvement.
Anonymous
I love it, I love it, I love it, gh gh gh gh gh gh
- Rosco P. Coltrane
Anonymous
I love it, I love it, I love it, gh gh gh gh gh gh
- Rosco P. Coltrane
http://www.facebook.com/people/Anbuselvan-Martin/658628448 Anbuselvan Martin
This is not good …. Please choose the one among these listed in “http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/06/the-new-ubuntu-software-centre-mock-ups-hint-at-great-things-to-come/” . I prefer first or second layout. Please change this one, it doesnt suits Ubuntu….do not spoil the beauty of Ubuntu
http://www.facebook.com/people/Anbuselvan-Martin/658628448 Anbuselvan Martin
This is not good …. Please choose the one among these listed in “http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/06/the-new-ubuntu-software-centre-mock-ups-hint-at-great-things-to-come/” . I prefer first or second layout. Please change this one, it doesnt suits Ubuntu….do not spoil the beauty of Ubuntu
Jonathan Wong
Now make the whole OS pretty like USC while maintaining speed, ease of use, and flexibility.
http://www.facebook.com/nicolasbonnici Nicolas Bonnici
+1 for the good but copied to apples appstore concept Roxxxx the GNU world of app in all case.
+1 for the GTK+/Webkit UI
Linux rules!
Dusten B.
It looks like crap.
Pure blingy fake-gold plated over-marketing crap. I will buy software, but I will not be sold software; I don’t want things shoved down my throat with overly movement and colour – overly excited developers.
I’d be happy if they just fixed the bugs, but instead they go and do this. I just want a program that organizes repo software, lets be sort, then apt-get’s it for me.
Not really an Ubuntu fan anymore – haven’t been for a while.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MY2PNWUEJM42SHVOI6NI2GUFZE Alfred E.
This means that the crappy software available through the software center is now presented in a more appealing way.
http://profiles.google.com/lilianftp Moraru Lilian
How to install software-center-gtk3 ?
I added software-store-developers/daily-build PPA and installed the latest version but it doesn’t look at all like in the images.
http://profiles.google.com/lilianftp Moraru Lilian
How to install software-center-gtk3 ?
I added software-store-developers/daily-build PPA and installed the latest version but it doesn’t look at all like in the images.
Anonymous
Please Canonical, remove that ugly purple/orange colors. I’m sure you can better with the design of Ubuntu!!! :D
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1752826156 Tyler Racutt
…….i can haz???
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1145661395 Farooq Hussain M
Why is ubuntu copying MacOS X so much. To last that, even software is now a copy of App Store.

Anonymous
For comparison, here is a pic of the Mac store:
http://images.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/images/appstore_screen1.jpg
I mean, c’mon. I’m not against certain things following Apple’s lead if they make the user experience better but really?

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1145661395 Farooq Hussain M
Why is ubuntu copying MacOS X so much. To last that, even software is now a copy of App Store.
http://www.jusargumentandi.co.cc Jean
It’s better than the current USC, but it could be better.
http://twitter.com/howythegeek Howard Birch
I HAVE to fix my /usr folder for this… O.O (Lots of messed up permissions… bleh…)
http://twitter.com/howythegeek Howard Birch
I HAVE to fix my /usr folder for this… O.O (Lots of messed up permissions… bleh…)
syed mdadnan
hey i need a original Linux Ubuntu 11.04 32/64 bit dekstop edition DVD.What is the price in india.i wana purchase a dvd.my address:at:badahat,po/dist:kendrapara,pin754211,state:odisha,country:INDIA,PLEASE CONTACT ME :syedmdadnan@gmail.com

daas88
Ubuntu is free, you don’t have to buy it. Go to http://www.ubuntu.com there you can download it and follow the instructions to burn it on a cd, or boot from a usb drive.

http://cassidyjames.com Cassidy James
Is the toolbar GTK, or is it WebKit?
http://cassidyjames.com Cassidy James
Is the toolbar GTK, or is it WebKit?
José Manuel Sánchez
It is clear that Canonical is truly serious about this application. To install applications has always been a major entry barrier to Linux and they have understood this well.
Simon Lee
Looks Great
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002025887433 Dominic Mayer
It’s certainly there in the beta and it is beautiful to look at. I hope they do have it in the final version.
http://profile.yahoo.com/7QTG2A7FX6HCPZQG4SXQY7UIWQ mateo
ahh, the text is small, you can’t sort free from paid, and it is ugly with any other theme! oh and the banner ad is just disgraceful.

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