Discussion on Ubuntu 13.04's choice of default file manager was one of the headline sessions in the second day of the latest UDS. Integration, design and accessibility issues were all raised during the 50 minute discussion, which centered around what Ubuntu needs to patch or re-add to the 'new' Nautilus for it to remain useful to Ubuntu users.
The new GNOME-flavoured spin of Ubuntu 12.10 has released an early alpha build for testers to try. Aiming to provide as 'pure' a GNOME experience as possible on Ubuntu, the spin uses the latest beta of GNOME 3.6 as its default desktop environment.
It's official: a pure GNOME edition of Ubuntu is to be released later this year. 'Gnomebuntu', to be based on Ubuntu 12.10, will be released on October 18th - the same day that Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Xubuntu all release their latest versions.
Miguel de Icaza, one of the founders of the GNOME project, has said that OS X has 'killed the Linux desktop'. He cites rapid development 'breaking both open source and proprietary software alike', as well as the 'incompatibility across Linux distributions' as being key reasons for its failure to take hold.
Over 4000 readers have expressed disappointment with the new 'design' for Files - the new name for Nautilus - in our recent poll. So the following news will be music to 8,000 ears: Linux Mint have decided to fork it.
Come April 26th and the release of Ubuntu 12.04 a vast number of Ubuntu users will be getting their first taste of the Unity desktop since its basic beginnings as the Ubuntu Netbook Remix in the last LTS. But for all of the innovation, aesthetics and features that the unity desktop offers there is a chance that, for many, the change will be too much. But Unity is only one desktop environment available to install in Ubuntu.
The tentative design proposal for the new GNOME lock screen has been published online. The designs, created by Novell's Jakub Steiner and published on the GNOME Design Wiki, take cues from the lock-screens of smartphones by remaining semi-useful when locked (displays big clock, message notifications, music controller).
GNOME's work on a revamped and repurposed 'Epiphany' web browser - which seeks to make the browser a core part of the GNOME experience - is coming along nicely. The redesign of Epiphany, which is relabelled 'Web' in the app itself, seeks to to offer GNOME users a 'simple, clean, beautiful view of the [internet].'
Longing for the look and feel of the classic GNOME desktop in Ubuntu 11.10? Well it's easier to achieve than you might think. Peek on in for a guide to aping the look of old school GNOME in new school GNOME.
The fifteen games maintained by the GNOME Games project are in need of help. With the rest of the GNOME desktop evolving around them the games developers 'have struggled to keep up with the latest GNOME technology'.
GNOME's Allan Day has announced the launch of a new development project aimed at fixing 'the small bugs [in GNOME] that ..undermine the overall experience.'
GNOME Designer Allan Day has shown off various updated designs for potential future GNOME applications.