News that Ubuntu is to u-turn on Unity, can Convergence, and scrap its smartphones took the open-source community by total surprise last week.
In this post we roundup the reactions that some prominent free software stalwarts, Linux pundits, and former Canonical employees had to the news.
This list is by no means exhaustive. If you’ve spotted a tweet, blog post or other rant from someone who should be on this list, let me know via the Tip Form and I’ll add it in.
Ubuntu’s Bombshell News: Reactions
Reacting very early as the news broke was the official GNOME Twitter account. It tweeted a brief ‘welcome back’ message to Ubuntu and Canonical, a sentiment that earned 1.2k likes. Clearly a lot of people were happy.
Red Hat’s Christian Schaller also welcomed Ubuntu and Canonical to GNOME and Wayland on behalf of both the Red Hat Desktop and Fedora teams. In a blog he writes that the teams: “…look forward to keep working with great Canonical and Ubuntu people like Allison Lortie and Robert Ancell on projects of shared interest around GNOME, Wayland and hopefully Flatpak.”
Matt Asay, former Chief Operating Officer at Canonical, was another to warmly welcome word that Canonical is to ‘refocus’ on making itself attractive to potential outside investor. He tweeted: “This is exactly what I and others have argued Canonical has needed to do for years: focus, drive toward profitability, become a real company.”
Jono Bacon, the former Canonical Community Manager, offered his take on the news, adding that while the broader Unity play may have stalled he was ‘proud that Canonical tried to innovate‘, noting that ‘Ubuntu has had such a profound impact on open source and while the future path may be a little different, I am certain it will be fruitful.’
Carl Richell, CEO of System76 says: “The Ubuntu Desktop team have always produced an incredible operating system, whether it be with GNOME or Unity. We’re excited to see their thoughtfulness, effort, and innovation added into the GNOME community.”