Ubuntu to drop Unity for 18.04 LTS - default desktop will be Gnome

[acheron]

https://insights.ubuntu.com/2017/04/...d-convergence/

We will shift our default Ubuntu desktop back to GNOME for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

[ianp5a]

Hooray!

I hope Gnome desktop is better than Unity though. And not so keyboard centric.

[whatthefunk]

Ha. He should have done that years ago. It is good to see that they will be focusing on core Ubuntu technologies and products rather than on the 'convergence' battle, which they never had a chance of winning. Although many of us here have had our differences with Ubuntu, I think we can all agree that a strong, profitable Ubuntu is good for all of us and good for Linux as a whole.

[AHoneybun]

I loved the way Unity handled keyboard shortcuts, not sure why you won't want that tbh.

[kubicle]

We all new this was coming, as it was doomed from the start...although it took them longer than I would have thought to admit it.

Canonical simply doesn't have the resources or coding talent to pull something like this off...and their moronic CLA of course kept everyone else off the project (coupled with the fact that there has always been superior alternatives available for anything canonical has started in house).

[GreyGeek]

We all new this was coming, as it was doomed from the start...although it took them longer than I would have thought to admit it.

Canonical simply doesn't have the resources or coding talent to pull something like this off...and their moronic CLA of course kept everyone else off the project (coupled with the fact that there has always been superior alternatives available for anything canonical has started in house).

+1

[NoWorries]

Thank goodness that our SABDFL has seen the light. I saw this on eweek at ;
http://www.eweek.com/enterprise-apps...favor-of-gnome

I am now wondering if he will continue with MIR or start using Wayland which the rest of the open source community is doing.

[jlittle]

I hated Unity at first, but it improved, and found it sort of okay for a small screen. I hated Gnome 3 at first, and haven't given it a chance to change my mind.

("Hate" is an overused word these days, but if software drives me into a frustrated rage, throwing things, fists clenched, kicking my toes on chair legs, I hate it.)

[ianp5a]

A big problem with Unity was that Ubuntu was a well known distro outside the Linux world. People recommended it to non techies. But Unity is very keyboard centric. And as such was a big usability barrier to newbies. Very frustrating to use with a mouse. So Unity kept many people away from Linux.

It was Canonical's first and possibly last attempt at a desktop. Those amateurs made fundamental mistakes the UX community saw from day 1.

[kubicle]

Thank goodness that our SABDFL has seen the light.

He hasn't seen the light...he is just making room for new blunders. We've seen the guy doesn't learn from his mistakes.

I am now wondering if he will continue with MIR or start using Wayland which the rest of the open source community is doing.

MIR will get the hatchet as well. There is no point to it when unity is out, and you can't use it with gnome.

[oshunluvr]

Well, I for one have always thought Gnome was dumb. At least with Unity, I could see a place on the tablet/phone market. However, to be fair, I haven't tried to use gnome in over a decade. Too bad SABDFL wasted all that time and resources instead of trying to make a viable Linux for the masses.

[GreyGeek]

Well, I started out dating the prettiest girl in town, so I felt no need to date her ugly sister!

[oshunluvr]

Well, I started out dating the prettiest girl in town, so I felt no need to date her ugly sister!

[MoonRise]

That's good news. I started with GNOME early on but quickly moved to KDE with Kubuntu at the time I joined here so, not sure what GNOME is like now. I do believe it is way better than Unity. Tried it once and wasn't overly impressed. Hope we'll see better things now from Ubuntu which will benefit Kubuntu.

[dequire]

I used Unity for a few months recently on an office PC. I didn't really like it, TBH. However, one likable takeaway I did keep was moving my panel to the top. It's pretty handy, once you get used to it! The other reason I disliked Unity (and also would dislike Gnome for the same reason), once you're used to Dolphin and it's relatively amazing duality of being both simple and at the same time powerful and customizable, there's no comparison. I know that Nautilus is a Gnome thing and not just a Unity thing, but still...