From Ubuntu:

[Arch_Enemy]

Martin Wimpress has announced the launch of Ubuntu MATE 16.10. The new version of this official Ubuntu community edition offers a desktop environment and applications which have been ported to the GTK3+ toolkit, replacing GTK2+. "Ubuntu MATE 16.10 is, more or less, a re-working of Ubuntu MATE from scratch, not just to accommodate GTK3+ but to also make most of the packages shipped by default with Ubuntu MATE 'Recommended'. This means most default applications can now be uninstalled without issue.

This is an interesting development. Still not enough to move me to Ubuntu, but enough to get me thinking.

Right now with the state of Mate (And they made Dylan a "Poet Lauriate") you cannot remove default applications without removing the entire desktop environment. From the statement from Ubuntu, if there are default apps you don't need/want...BAM and they're gone.

I put this here because I wonder if this is going to be incorporated into future versions of Mint. I like it.

[thom_A]

There's Ubuntu festival going on here:

http://distrowatch.com/

[MintBean]

Raise it in the ideas section. I think the Mint Team are pretty good at keeping an eye on the competition and 'stealing' any good ideas (compliment, not criticism).

I notice they are considering adding automated help to guide the newbies through common tasks once the system is installed (drivers, firewall etc.) for 18.1, which is the only feature (IMO) that shines in Ubuntu Mate over Mint.

[Arch_Enemy]

There's Ubuntu festival going on here:

http://distrowatch.com/

Looks like the guys at Canonical have been busy indeed! I just checked the other day and saw the announcement of Ubuntu Mate. All those others were added since!

[Arch_Enemy]

Raise it in the ideas section. I think the Mint Team are pretty good at keeping an eye on the competition and 'stealing' any good ideas (complement, not criticism).

I notice they are considering adding automated help to guide the newbies through common tasks once the system is installed (drivers, firewall etc.) for 18.1, which is the only feature (IMO) that shines in Ubuntu Mate over Mint.

I liked the "drivers" button on the Welcome screen for sure. They said there was supposed to be one for multimedia with 18 but I got an early copy and no easy-peasy way to load codecs, etc then.