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Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal - Unity replaces Gnome as default shell
Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth has announced that the Unity shell currently used in Ubuntu's netbook edition will become the default user interface for Ubuntu's main desktop edition as well, starting with the next version of the operating system. Unity became Ubuntu's netbook UI with the release of the current version of the OS, 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.
Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal is set to be released before the end of April 2011, and will represent a significant milestone in Ubuntu's history. It will be the first version of the OS not to ship with the Gnome shell as the default UI. Gnome will continue to be the underlying framework, as Unity is based on it, but the interface layer will look nothing like Gnome.
The reasons for this shift are many, but consist mostly of differences of opinion between Ubuntu's leadership and the upstream developers of Gnome. According to Shuttleworth, Ubuntu tried to participate in the Gnome shell design process but found many philosophical differences that were impossible to reconcile. They decided to go their own way and improve Unity to the point at which it will become a viable replacement for the Gnome shell.
Gnome's rejection of global menus as well as performance issues with Gnome's new Mutter window manager are also to blame for Ubuntu's change of direction. A key factor was also multi-touch, and Shuttleworth's clear belief that extensive support for it should be built into the OS. Unity is already multi-touch-enabled in Ubuntu 10.10 but the plan is to bring richer touch interaction to the desktop with Ubuntu 11.04.
This move could anger at least some open source enthusiasts, but it probably shouldn't. Ubuntu is clearly trying to further differentiate itself in a Linux world filled with UIs and user experiences that are extremely similar. It is a risky bet, but Shuttleworth says that developers need not worry because fragmentation can be avoided by using FreeDesktop.org to ensure that desktop integration mechanisms are standardized and interoperable. Whether that will be enough to alleviate all possible issues or silence the critics of this decision remains to be seen.
The standard Gnome shell will continue to be available as a non-default installation option.
Comments
19
Subscribe to commentsmotangOct 25th 2010 9:24PM
I am interested to see how well this UI change will work out.
SilverWaveOct 25th 2010 10:22PM
Possibly tag overload? ;-)
Sebastian AnthonyOct 26th 2010 4:58AM
That's obviously a symptom of open source project branching...
SilverWaveOct 25th 2010 10:24PM
So... basically they have moved the bottom status-bar to the left?
Looks OK.
SilverWaveOct 25th 2010 10:27PM
Built in Google search top left...
Hmm nice little money spinner?
Good idea :-)
GenericOct 26th 2010 4:49AM
YES!
Finally something more useful than an ancient UI. I don't hate Gnome, I just hate when people stay with the old because they are afraid of change. Imagine if we used the same Windows 3.1 UI on that thing called Windows 7.
Besides, the Unity interface is pretty cool. Works great with 16:10 and 16:9 aspect ratios. I had a 1280x800 monitor on my laptop and the two top and bottom bars just ate up pixels. Having stuff on the side is fine with a 1280px wide monitor but it is really bad to have less of the 800px high monitor. Firefox has a presence even if I try to slim it down. Add to that I really want to keep some of Firefox's UI visible because I do use it. The old Gnome dock/palette wasn't that much useful and monitors nowadays are wide-screen, bye bye boxy 4:3.
blasztaOct 26th 2010 12:15PM
Just move the bottom panel to the left/right and put DockbarX with Unity skin.. and you almost have that desktop with current Ubuntu :)
GenericOct 27th 2010 4:36AM
@blaszta
No, not the same. Where do you see the icons that tell you what is running? How do you account for the multiple desktops and what is on them? In the old style Ubuntu that would take up vertical space.
Your suggestion doesn't work for me because I don't use the lower dock to switch from one app to the other. I use it to see what is running. I usually switch with the keyboard. With the Unity desktop I can switch with the keyboard and know what is running with less vertical pixels eaten up by the UI.
If I hid the dock I will always have to move my mouse over the bottom side to make them show and that is one more thing to do. I look at my apps many times during my work and switch between different ones. If I had to mouse-over every time I'll go crazy. Sorry doesn't work for me. Just because there is a feature doesn't mean it is useful in this scenario.
JackOct 26th 2010 6:47AM
"It will be the first version of the OS not to ship with the Gnome shell as the default UI." GNOME Shell is an unreleased addition to the GNOME 3 desktop environment, no stable desktops currently use it. I think you mean the GNOME desktop environment, using the word 'shell' makes this article confusing.
GlenOct 26th 2010 8:29AM
I can never get emacs to work right with unity shell...piece of junk
scottixOct 26th 2010 11:26AM
"When life gives you Apples make Apple pie". This is what I love about Open-Source.
MikeOct 26th 2010 5:15PM
Shell? How are Gnome or Unity shells? They are desktop environments (built on the X server) and to a lesser extent development environments. Sure, they have shell *emulators* built in to them. And there is Gnome Shell, due out in March 2011, but that is something entirely different.
Yaro KasearOct 26th 2010 5:41PM
You know... I am so glad I don't use Ubuntu anymore.
First off, they all lost their minds and broke our sound with Pulse Audio, then they went ahead and almost irreversibly integrated Pulse Audio into Ubuntu to make it next to impossible to remove without losing sound completely in the process.
Then they decided to REMOVE some superior open source apps from te default install because some idiot on their team decided that they had some adequate alternative. No, Empathy is NOT comparable to Pidgin and F-Spot sure as hell doesn't come close to GIMP, yet the Ubuntu devs decided to put those in as replacements anyway.
Then they decided to jack up the titlebars so the buttons are, quite simply, poorly placed. And it all seems horribly arbitrary.
Then I think at some point Mark (Who is increasibgly showing he has no clue what makes a usable desktop by this point.) considered dropping the system tray for no reason.
Now they're leaving GNOME for Unity. Yeah. Now there's just simply NO logic in what direction Ubuntu's development is going in. None. Say goodbye to Ubuntu being the answer to Linux being a success on the desktop, Mark killed it.
What's next? Ditching X altogether and trying some cheap window manager just because it is "new?" Maybe switch Ubuntu from Linux to Darwin? Come on! How many more idiot decisions will it take before Ubuntu loses its success?
GenericOct 27th 2010 5:02AM
You are so dramatic. Ubuntu is not specifically designed for people who use GIMP on a daily basis but rather for the F-Spot group, i.e. Mom and Dad. GIMP is a professional image editor and I love it but it is not what I or you will use to organize photos. Ubuntu is targeting the regular consumer and is not competing with other Linuxes for that matter. All the other distros are focused on giving you developer tools and more of them. I really don't use the 5 or so DVDs that I have to download to get that X version of some distro. That is so user unfriendly especially when you are not a geek or hacker and I always end up using only the first DVD because I don't want the kitchen sink installed as well. Ubuntu is not an attempt to steal geeks and hackers from other distros but rather trying to make Linux useful for communities at large. Linux has been around for ages but most of the other distros are so horrible to install, upgrade or use and have a very steep learning curve to the point that people are paying Microsoft loads of money to be able to get online and chat and send emails. This is the crowd that Ubuntu is trying to serve.
The likes of Suse and Debian are not trying to better Windows or Mac OS, they are trying to better Linux. In their wake they have left the average computer user, who doesn't program for a living and only uses a computer as a tool, clasping onto proprietary software to get online and print photos. This is a shame for the open source community. What is the point of having all this wealth of tools that are so hard to use that it is easier to pay money to get what you want done. I personally love GIMP, but I don't think my parents use either GIMP or Photoshop to organize and print photos. Not that they won't want to use such programs on a daily basis, but these apps are not even suitable for such usage.
Unity is nice and simple and doesn't need getting used to. There is nothing to learn to start using it, but you could write a manual about GNOME. Besides that, I believe (not 100% sure) Unity is a derivative of GNOME.
Now if you need GIMP just head to the Synaptics Package Manager like I did.
rancherotacoOct 26th 2010 5:47PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_%28computing%29
rancherotacoOct 26th 2010 5:49PM
Sorry, this was supposed to be a reply to Mike's (11) comment.
pahninOct 26th 2010 6:02PM
I'm not using a mac AM I ?
toadOct 27th 2010 12:45PM
What exactly is the difference between a differences of opinion
and a fork?
Isnt a fork when people have different opinion that a certain community and decide to set out on their own?
I know that Unity is to GNOME what Mageia is to Mandriva or LibreOffice to OO but differences of opinion is EXACTLY why people fork things and go on their own.
Anyways... the GNOME shell is pretty meh and Unity is the same
CalaganNov 30th 2010 10:28AM
In the not-so-distant future, Apple will use iOS across the board, even for full-size MacBooks and Shuttleworth is just trying to follow this trend.