Ubuntu Mobile, and Unity Dead

[lxskllr]

Six years after making Unity the default user interface on Ubuntu desktops, Canonical is giving up on the project and will switch the default Ubuntu desktop back to GNOME next year. Canonical is also ending development of Ubuntu software for phones and tablets, spelling doom for the goal of creating a converged experience with phones acting as desktops when docked with the right equipment.

https://arstechnica.com/information...-desktop-will-switch-back-to-gnome-next-year/

Very disappointed that their mobile efforts never took off. A phone that turns into a real desktop is still the future imo, and I'd like it to be libre software.

I didn't like unity at all from a functionality perspective, but thought it was the prettiest default desktop. I'm sure a lot of people will be sorry to see it go, but I'll continue to use xfce.

 

[Commodus]

Sad to see Ubuntu's mobile efforts go. At the same time, I can't see the converged phone/PC taking off, not for a while at least.

It's really the most appealing to people in developing countries, where incomes aren't yet high enough for most people to own both a PC and a phone. That limits the potential audience. And when you do use it, either the performance or the interface isn't there to make it a real PC substitute (even the Galaxy S8's Dex is limited, and that's on cutting-edge hardware). It frequently feels like a solution in search of a problem.

And the truth is that Android more or less has that (relatively) open side of the phone market sewn up. Much as with Windows Phone/Mobile and BlackBerry 10, it arrived too late to build momentum -- there's no incentive for most developers to write apps, and you need a healthy number of big apps to convince people that it's worth sticking around.

 

[pcgeek11]

Good riddance to Unity. Tried to like it a few times and never made it work for me.

 

[you2]

Glad they are going back to Gnome. Getting tired of installing gnome-flashback and having it not quite work right. To be honest I run 1/2 my systems on gnome-flash back and the other 1/2 on xfce4 but both of them have glitches (perhaps because I'm picking one of the sub components incorrectly). Hum. Thanks for the post and update. No idea on ubuntu phone - android is linux base - but one thing is if they supported phones then they would work better on 2&1 due to better touch screen support.

 

[mikeymikec]

I installed gnome on a VM I set up about a month ago, it looked pretty similar to unity.

 

[lxskllr]

I installed gnome on a VM I set up about a month ago, it looked pretty similar to unity.

Your post got me to load it in a vm. I still don't like it. Think they could get the window decorations any bigger? I like the "classic" interfaces. I use xfce, but I'd be just as happy with mate or lxde. AFAIC, the pre unity Ubuntu(gnome2) was perfect. I had to make minimal changes to get it setup the way I like. I stayed away from mate due to doubt about them being able to keep the project going, but it appears they've done well so far. I'll stay with xfce for the time being, but gtk+ is a moving target, and a pita to deal with if you aren't gnome. I think I'd rather see them go to qt, rather than gtk3.

 

[you2]

hum well i guess it depends which gnome. One of the thing i hated about unity is i like two task bars; one top one bottom. gnome 2 and xfce fit the bill.

 

[whm1974]

While Ubuntu mobile and Unity getting the can will only improve Ubuntu, I was hoping the tablet would continue development. I for one would like to have tablet that we can use full Linux on.

 

[Murloc]

I don't care about unity.

The mobile stuff has so many obstacles, not much they can do.

 

[manly]

Looks like the other shoe has dropped.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/...switches-to-gnome-shuttleworth-returns-as-ceo