Will Mint 11 follow the Ubuntu way?

[M_aD]

It seems that there's a blueprint to ship Ubuntu 11.04 with Unity as a default desktop and it has been approved by Shuttleworth. This means it will not become only a default for netbooks anymore.

What will Mint 11 do? Follow the Ubuntu way further? Take KDE as main DE? Or switch to Debian as base instant or something else?

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/10/ubun ... t-desktop/

Imho... i don't like the whole Unity DE thing and the way buntu goes so i hope Mint will take another turn somehow.

[exploder]

The blueprint is only approved for discussion, there has been no decision on weather it will be used or not.

[M_aD]

Okay, it's approved for discussion. But....I always keep in mind "What if"..... So what if they decide to do this and use Unity as a default DE? What wil the Mint team decide to do with the 11 release?
Maybe i'm running to far ahead but hey.... you never know.

[cra1g321]

Im sure they could always just take it out of the ISO. I think they should keep the main LM based on ubuntu, then have debian 32bit and 64bit and the rest (kde,lxde etc)

[randomizer]

Why doesn't canonical ditch GNOME altogether? They're certainly heading that way.

[mzsade]

Why doesn't canonical ditch GNOME altogether? They're certainly heading that way.

Now you take that back mister! I would never have had the courage to switch to Linux if it wasn't for the "idiot/noob-friendliness" of Gnome.

[randomizer]

I like GNOME. Canonical obviously doesn't or they wouldn't keep forking it.

[proxima_centauri]

Okay, it's approved for discussion. But....I always keep in mind "What if"..... So what if they decide to do this and use Unity as a default DE? What wil the Mint team decide to do with the 11 release?
Maybe i'm running to far ahead but hey.... you never know.

The next post at omgubuntu says it is final now.

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.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/10/ubun ... t-desktop/

[knuckles]

After reading this threat, I was a little surprised, no more Gnome?... So I have read some articles I have found on the Net, and If I have understand it the right way. Unity is only replacing Gnome-Shell, but not Gnome it-self.
So Ubuntu 11.04 will still use Gnome but with there own Shell, also Unity. So why not.

What does it mean for Mint? I think there will not be big changes, as Mint goes with there one Desktop (Only one Panel, MintMenu....) already a diffrent way as Ubuntu. Now when Ubuntu 11.04 comes with gnome 3.0 and Unity as shell, Mint has the choice:
-Use Unity as well
-use the Gnome-Shell
-or keep the classic Desktop on Gnome 3.0, so it's like an improved Gnome2 without to many visual changes... (from what I have read that will be possible on gnome3)

And for Mint 12, the World would be clearer, because than we see, which project will be more accepted by the users, and Gnome3 will be more improved (I hope Gnome make a better change as KDE did)

[voss749]

Both gnome shell and unity seem like solutions in search of a problem.

[Gramps50]

Why doesn't canonical ditch GNOME altogether? They're certainly heading that way.

Now you take that back mister! I would never have had the courage to switch to Linux if it wasn't for the "idiot/noob-friendliness" of Gnome.

I have to agree somewhat, when I 1st starting using Linux it was with KDE and I could never get a handle on it, then I discovered Gnome and life got better, then I found Ubuntu when it 1st went public. I started using it hopping some but always returning, then I found LM, I still hop a little but all in all I like what Clem and the boys have done and I am not real sure about the direction the Ubuntu is/has taken. I was really excited when LM came out with LMDE and have it on 2 of my 3 machines with LM9 on the 3rd one. So I think that as LMDE continues on it's trail I will be happy and probably won't make a difference to me what Ubuntu and mainstream LM does.

Not real sure what Unity is, from the conversation it is what Ubuntu is suing on their netbook remix and I'm not a fan of that at all. I have a netbook and it way to cutize for me I prefer function to cute so I use LMDE straight up on it.

[DrHu]

It is possible that Mint might not be in the same market as Ubuntu nor have the same concerns about brand regognition and popularity, not (and I hope this is true) not be so concerned about windows OS matchups/integration

• --Let's have Linux lead on its own..

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/a ... onales.htm

• A case in point is the Unity desktop, announced two weeks ago as the basis of the next Ubuntu Netbook Edition. In the future, Unity will also be the basis of Ubuntu Light, which the release describes as "intended for the dual-boot 'instant-web' market" -- that is, web-centered machines that have both Windows and Ubuntu installed.
  Shuttleworth's blog mentions four main design assumptions or goals: a "finger-friendly" layout (one suitable for touch screens on mobile devices), a faster boot, an effort to use horizontal more than vertical space because of the present prevalence of widescreens, and a limited number of local applications.

--for netbook fans, there are already plenty of cloud computing or lightweight desktops, that don't follow Ubuntu trends

Is Linux mint that interested in netbooks, cloud computing mix
--not all that much so far: they seem to have enough to do providing various desktop distribution flavors, and now that they also have LMDE (Linux Mibt Debian Edition), they can, if necessary avoid most of ubuntu's continual micro-management improvements ?

[waldo]

I just installed Unity on my Ubuntu 10.10 desktop. It looks cool, slick, and polished. But it obviously needs some work, as it runs much slower than the Gnome desktop, at least on my machine.

Shuttleworth is doing this because he believes the desktop days are numbered, and Linux has failed to grow in 10 years of fiddling around with Gnome and KDE. I know, some of the contributors to these posts do not give a fig if Linux grows, but Shuttleworth does, and Ubuntu is his to call the shots. This new direction is geared to the hand held computer, netbooks and tablets. Furthermore, it is designed to be attractive to the generation of people that have grown up using these devices, and they have abandoned their parents' desktops. Big buttons and movable workspaces on the screen are what they like.

It appears Shuttleworth is doing usability research. He has the money to get this done right. I wouldn't bet against him.

[OldManHook]

They have not got Ubuntu Right Yet- That's why i use Mint
waldo,You must not have the same one i have to test (Dell Netbook)--looks like Windows ME-stardocked
They will also need better Video card support,Unity needs composting to work

[randomizer]

Natty's Unity will use Compiz rather than Mutter so it will be faster. But Unity has already left a sour taste in many peoples' mouths because of the netbook edition. Unity in 10.10 is simply slow. Move the cursor up and down the launcher dock thing and watch how long it takes for the application name to pop up.

[exploder]

I just installed Unity on my Ubuntu 10.10 desktop. It looks cool, slick, and polished. But it obviously needs some work, as it runs much slower than the Gnome desktop, at least on my machine.

Shuttleworth is doing this because he believes the desktop days are numbered, and Linux has failed to grow in 10 years of fiddling around with Gnome and KDE. I know, some of the contributors to these posts do not give a fig if Linux grows, but Shuttleworth does, and Ubuntu is his to call the shots. This new direction is geared to the hand held computer, netbooks and tablets. Furthermore, it is designed to be attractive to the generation of people that have grown up using these devices, and they have abandoned their parents' desktops. Big buttons and movable workspaces on the screen are what they like.

It appears Shuttleworth is doing usability research. He has the money to get this done right. I wouldn't bet against him.

Waldo, you have given me something to think about. Cell phones are hot items and the younger crowd will quickly go for a new phone with a cool UI, maybe the same can work for Linux and the desktop. Linux has not gone very far very fast, maybe Unity is the approach that will take hold. At any rate the idea makes sense from a strategic point of view now. Thanks!

[Robin]

Cute and simple, that's the future for most young users. Our iPhones and PDAs, video games and other fun handheld devices are all built on one-touch simplicity and cutesy little push-buttons and finger-scrolling wonderfulness.

But Gnome and Xfce (and pro'lly KDE and who knows, maybe even LXDE) can be made "cutesy" with big icons and stuff with just the right config settings, and my Xfce certainly is simple and kid-friendly (not just me say'n that, but all the other kids who use this 'puter say so too). I wouldn't worry. They'll simply be a whole 'nother community edition (Gnome3 edition?) to add to the others.

It's all good.

[randomizer]

Ubuntu Cutesy Edition, I like it.

[waldo]

Ubuntu Cutesy Edition, I like it.

Cubuntu?

Seriously, Shuttleworth is taking a longer term approach. Early Unity may have left a sour taste, but very few sampled that version, so it doesn't matter. What does matter is the future of hardware, and addressing that. Desktop computing will live on at the corporate cubicle and the desks of people who deal with data access and writing. But even in that non-portable environment, the touch screen will be welcome by the generation who grew up with iPhones and Androids. The mouse will die off, and with it unfriendly interfaces such as Windows XP and the present Gnome. Windows 7 and KDE4 are designed with this future in mind, and can be modified to meet it. Unity is almost there, and Shuttleworth sees it as the shortest route, and perhaps also the one over which he can have the most influence. It is well known that he has been frustrated with the direction of Gnome for several years.

I'm not sure where such projects as Mint fit in here. Mint has existed as a better Gnome, and it is that indeed. That may be good enough for the next year or three, but in the long term, Mint will have to offer a new reason to use it. A better Unity? Some other touch centered desktop? Just offering "works out of the box" will no longer be enough. Ubuntu is pretty much that right now, as 10.10 offers to install proprietary codecs with a simple check off box during the installation.

Interesting times ahead.

[knuckles]

From Yesterday, I was think a little about Unity, and in some Way it is very similar to Gnome-Shell, so it is not a Question if Mint follow Ubuntu, but more, how the Desktop will change in 2011?

Gnome as we use it for the moment will disappear in some way. And Tools like the MintMenu (that I realy like), what would it mean for them? For the most time I use the search field, to search and start an application, but the new Shells have such features build in. In some way we can see MintMenu already as an art of the new shells....mmh

Whit Hardware like the iphone, ipad and other Touchscreen devices, we see the a lot of people accpte those devices faster, than an classic PC. Not only because of there hype, but to because of there simple Interface. And here we come to a point where the 2 Big Operating Systems OsX and Windows are far behind (ok Mac has luck whit iPhone and iPad), so its a good Time for Linux to keep such a Modern Interface and show it to the world. So Linux is one of the only Operating Systems that is actually (or in short time) able to merge a classic desktop include all the features and advantages with the simplicity of modern hyped Smartphones and TabletPCs.

Her we can ask a Question, will a classic (Tech-Interested)PC-User, jump on the new Train or search for Old-School alternatives?