Or does it?
I just read an article written by Graham Morrison over at techradar.com about Ubuntu and Unity. I’m not going to go into a ton of details since I’m going to actually write a super short post for once!
Graham basically discusses how Ubuntu is trying to create its own brand and it really should be a discussion about developing Unity over Gnome, and its choice to develop it more than any truly in-depth discussion surrounding Ubuntu wanting to be its own brand, which has been more than obvious for a number of years now to anyone who’s been watching closely.
There’s a couple points that I want to make that everyone seems to be missing who blogs/discusses/writes about this topic time and time again.
First is Gnome 3. People have been using Ubuntu for a very long time. Its user-base is more than cemented to the Gnome 2 style desktop. People have been talking about Ubuntu not caring about its users, but there’s exactly two options for Ubuntu, develop their own shell, or use the Gnome 3 shell. The users would be affected by the change either way. Software development continues no matter how many people feel comfortable with one look. So, in essence, Graham made the same error everyone else has, to make Ubuntu the blame for an upstream development that would have caused a massive change regardless.
Second, everyone talks about this bad relationship Ubuntu has with Gnome. This I personally find amusing. If Ubuntu has upset Gnome, and the Gnome foundation so much, why do they accept financial support for them? Canonical sits on the Gnome Advisory Board because they support (donate money to) Gnome. This position allows them to help ‘guide’ the Directors of the Gnome Foundation in the overall direction of Gnome and the Gnome Foundation. Doesn’t sound like there’s a lot of bad feelings there, or neither of the two would be together is my guess.
Keep your stick on the ice…
Landor
Landor's Place 
Ubuntu’s problem is only slightly related to the interface. Ubuntu’s bigger problem seems to be this desire to be a netbook/tablet company and let the desktop drop by the wayside. Its trended that way for 24 months now without the guts to stand up and issue a press release that there is where their heart lies.
One of the more balanced opinions out there. Good job.
Also to note: Canonical doesn’t force you to use Unity; Gnome classic is included in GDM by default and an alternative DE is available in Synaptic/apt-get/alternative iso.
i don’t care what motivated the action and its outcome, but that the fact that “unity” is basically broken should concern people in the slightest.
so canonical was facing “changes from the upstream” and their answer was to create a train wreck of their own.
good observation. that justifies it completely.
to the poster mentioning synaptic in ubuntu.. that’s mighty funny.
come the next version of canonical linux there will be no synaptic in it. but of course you will be able to apt-get synaptic and so on.
only, for how long will terminal emulators be included by default?
not a rhetorical question.
Well pointed, Landor.
The article you linked to is right. Many people have been saying the same things for years.
Everything is about control. On of the most terrible mistakes Canonical (read: Mark Shuttleworth) has done is trying to play the good guy role. Trying to unite to some degree some parts of the community, like synchronizing releases with Gnome or Debian etc. He should have right from the start done what he’s gradually doing now. What he has achieved with his choices throughout the years is many people working for him for free, instead of paying people from the start to fork pretty much everything he needed for his operating system, much ala Apple. What he’s missing and probably never be able to accomplish is his goal.
PS. Another thing people have been saying for a lot of years as well is that Ubuntu is not Linux. Same goes for Android.
>Another thing people have been saying for a lot of years as well is that Ubuntu is not >Linux. Same goes for Android.
You do know that a lot of people are idiots, right?
And ‘other people’ is what people say when they dont have confidence in their own positions.
Im not sure if youre using that PS to try to be sarcastic and making fun of the comment but it seems you are one of those.
Ubuntu is NOT Linux, no one distro is.
Ubuntu is a Gnu-Linux distro put out by Canonical which uses the Linux kernel so it makes it a Linux distro and by Linux I mean the whole kit and caboodle of programs that make the desktop.
Android on the other hand uses the Linux kernel and nothing else.
Up until Unity, there was very little difference between Ubuntu and other distros that used the same desktop. Now that it doenst use Gnome, it is no less Linux than Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu or any other desktop out there like E17.
THere is no one Linux.
You may not like Unity just like I despise Gnome, and thats called CHOICE,
Thats the great thing about Linux, I can think that Gnome is the biggest piece of garbage on the face of the planet (the less said about the Ubuntu recent Mac envy, the better) and something better can take its place.
Im using Ubuntu btw right now, actually Kubuntu because I think Gnome was the single most depressing thing Ive seen since Win95 when I switched to Linux fulltime about 4yrs ago.
During Vietnam war, North Vietnamese used shoe soles as car tires, as there was some shortage of rubber.
After, they went back to ordinary tires, as they cleverly (they were clever enough to win , anyway) knew it was more adequate..
Making desktops (with a lot of room, where people are comfortable) look like hand held devices user interfaces (ex. Gnome 3, Unity) seems to be fashionable, but it leads to an unnecessary loss of functionality (I have a FC 15 with gnome 3, which I avoid, and try to port two missing softwares which exist in FC 15 and ! like to Mageia -has gnome 2, I am comfortable with)..
Thank you! It’s unbelievably refreshing to hear a sensible voice on the subject after so much of harsh trollish chatter.