What Does Ubuntu's Post-Unity Future Look Like?

'Following Canonical's pivot away from its internally-developed Unity
user interface and Mir display server, Ubuntu has enjoyed two
relatively low-drama years, as the Linux Desktop market homogenized
during its transition back to a customized GNOME desktop. In a review
of the most recent release, TechRepublic's Jack Wallen declared that
"Ubuntu 19.04 should seriously impress anyone looking for a fast and
reliable Linux desktop platform."

Largely, it's been a slow-and-steady pace for Ubuntu since the pivot
from Unity to GNOME, though the distribution made headlines for plans
to end support for 32-bit support. This prompted Valve, operators of
games marketplace Steam, to re-think its approach toward Ubuntu, which
it previously characterized as "as the best-supported path for desktop
users."

TechRepublic's James Sanders interviewed Will Cooke, director of
engineering for Ubuntu Desktop at Canonical, about the distribution's
long-term plans for legacy 32-bit support, shipping a desktop in a
post-Unity-era Ubuntu, and why Linux should be the first choice for
users migrating from Windows 7 prior to the end of support.

From the interview:
When we did the switch to GNOME Shell from Unity, we did a survey
[asking] people straightforward questions like, "What sort of features
do you want to see continue in Ubuntu Desktop?" The answer came
through very, very clearly that people liked having the launcher on
the left, and they wanted to keep that feature there. They liked
having desktop icons and they wanted to keep that feature there.

We've made decisions based on data from our user base, from our
community. They have provided that feedback and we've done what the
majority of people want.

Sometimes that doesn't go with the ideals of GNOME design, but we're
comfortable with delivering what we see as value on top of GNOME.
That's delivering a product which gives people consistency between the
old days of Unity 7, and the new days of GNOME Shell. That transition
was as easy as possible, everybody had a chance to have a say in it,
and the answers were pretty clear. '

-- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/19/07/13/0425257

Cheers, Peter
-- 
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/
http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
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