Ubuntu 11.04 to use Unity technology

[Liverpool_fan]

*www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/10/ubuntu-11-04-unity-default-desktop/

In his keynote address at the Ubuntu Developer Summit Mark Shuttleworth has announced that Ubuntu 11.04 will use a new desktop version of Unity for the default desktop environment.

‘Desktop Unity’ will be installed as the default desktop for users whose hardware support it. Improved work on the hardware front will ensure as many users are able to benefit from the unified interface as possible.

Further work on improving window management and performance along with better accessibility will be key aims for Unity development during the Natty cycle.

A focus will be placed on file-management in particular with Shuttleworth feeling the old way of managing files & folder ‘is broken’. As such work this cycle will aim to ‘correct the broken bits’, missing features and UI issues many Netbook users have found irksome in the Unit file-management dash.

Developers will be able to create extra ‘places’ for users to add to the ‘Dash’ and multi-touch functionality to the shell as a whole will be introduced using the uTouch framework.

Finally, Desktop Unity will use Compiz rather than Mutter for compositing.

 

[Rahim]

Can you list some of its benefits?

 

[skeletor]

It's a Shell just like GNOME 3 Shell. Personally, I don't like it. On Netbooks, it is good.

 

[Rahim]

Is Ubuntu changing just for the sake of changing or GNOME 3 is a little too radical ala kde 4.0 which spooked Ubuntu?

 

[Liverpool_fan]

Ubuntu clearly doesn't want to move the Gnome way and they feel the Unity project is their way forward to go.
*itmanagement.earthweb.com/img/2010/05/ubuntu-unity.png

Currently Unity and GNOME Shell both are hugely buggy and very rough. However Ubuntu 11.04 will use Compiz instead of Mutter for Window management which will be lot less buggy and have better performance.
Anyway we'll know by the Beta release of Natty that it is good or not.

 

[skeletor]

Is Ubuntu changing just for the sake of changing or GNOME 3 is a little too radical ala kde 4.0 which spooked Ubuntu?

They are changing because they want something new.

This is what Unity actually is: Unity | Unity

 

[Liverpool_fan]

They are changing because they want something new.

This is what Unity actually is: Unity | Unity

And they want to compete with Mac OS X in terms of usability

 

[Faun]

looks delectable to my palate, I hope they wont serve it bland !

 

[Faun]

and neither too spicey !

 

[celldweller1591]

Seems to me as a bad idea. Unity should be confined to Netbooks, seems to me as a premature interface !

 

[lucifer_is_back]

Is Ubuntu changing just for the sake of changing or GNOME 3 is a little too radical ala kde 4.0 which spooked Ubuntu?

or maybe because of the spat between Genome and RMS

 

[celldweller1591]

Some more clarification about Ubuntu 11.04 and Unity (jonobacon):-

Ubuntu is not ditching/forking GNOME – Unity is a shell for GNOME, but not GNOME shell. Ubuntu is still a GNOME platform. 11.04 will ship all the components required for GNOME application authors to have their software run out of the box in Ubuntu, and we will still ship all the GNOME apps you know and love in Ubuntu 11.04. The only change is that Unity will be the default shell. Likewise, this is not a fork: we are not diverging away from GNOME, just producing a different shell in much the same way others have (e.g. Meego). It is just a different porthole looking at the awesome GNOME platform.

Unity is the 3D experience, Classic GNOME is the 2D interface – if your graphics hardware cannot sufficiently run Unity, Ubuntu will present the 2D experience which is the two-panel GNOME desktop we currently ship, complete with all the Ayatana improvements such as application indicators, global menu, system indicators etc.

Accessibility is a top priority – currently Unity has rather poor accessibility support (read: basically non-existent) and accessibility is a core ethos in Ubuntu. As such, Luke Yelavich has been assigned to the DX team (the folks who code Unity) to work on accessibility support in Unity, and he will be supported by Gary Lasker. In addition to this, we had a great set of meetings at UDS with the Ubuntu Accessibility community team and they are synced up with Luke to help support this work with testing, bug triage, and outreach. Great accessibility is a requirement for Unity if it is to ship in 11.04: let’s pull together to make this happen.

Performance is being resolved; porting to Compiz – some of you have experienced poor Unity performance on certain netbooks due to their graphics cards. This has been identified is a core issue to resolve and it is largely due to performance issues in clutter and mutter (the graphics backend for Unity). To resolve this Jason has started work on a Compiz port, and early results (i.e. less than a week of hacking!) have already seen significant performance improvements. He demoed it to some folks on hardware that received the most performance bug reports, and the performance was incredible snappy and slick; it exhibited the kind of responsiveness and animation that you should expect from a high quality experience.

Quality is a top priority – Neil and the rest of the Unity team worked off their socks to get Unity read for the 10.10 netbook edition, and despite their best efforts, there were some quality issues highlighted and bug reported. The team believes they have bug reports for the majority of issues, and this cycle they are spending most of their time focusing on resolving these quality issues so as to deliver a top-notch Unity experience. In this cycle I am also going to leading my team to help build community support and contributions around quality too, particularly around highlighting areas in which the community can help resolve and fix issues.

GNOME Shell is supported in Ubuntu – although we are not shipping GNOME Shell on the disc and as the default environment for Ubuntu, we believe that users should be able to get a top-notch GNOME Shell experience in Ubuntu. With Ubuntu Software Center providing one-click access to software, getting a GNOME Shell experience up and running should only be a click away. To be clear, Seb and co who work on the Canonical desktop team have limited resources to assist with this effort, but they are keen to ensure we have a great GNOME Shell experience and are happy to work with the community to make this happen. Want to make sure you get a rocking GNOME Shell in Ubuntu? Mail me and let’s see what we can do to make this happen.

Unity is an Open Source project – Unity is Free Software and a full Open Source project in which we are going to rely on the community to help make this rock. We are looking for help with design, documentation, translations, development, and more!