Unity (user interface)
Encyclopedia
Unity is a shell interface
for the GNOME
desktop environment
developed by Canonical Ltd for its Ubuntu operating system
. Unity debuted in the netbook edition of Ubuntu 10.10. It is designed to make more efficient use of space given the limited screen size of netbook
s, including, for example, a vertical application switcher called the launcher. Unlike GNOME, KDE Software Compilation
, Xfce
, or LXDE
, Unity is not a collection of applications but designed to be used with existing GTK+
programs.
Unity is part of the Ayatana project, an initiative to improve the user experience within Ubuntu. In addition to Unity, there are Application Indicators and other projects such as MeMenu, the notification system and the application NotifyOSD gathered.
has previously used the full GNOME
desktop environment; founder Mark Shuttleworth
cited philosophical differences with the GNOME team over the user experience to explain why Ubuntu would use Unity as the default desktop instead of GNOME Shell, beginning April 2011, with
Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal).
In November 2010, Ubuntu Community Manager Jono Bacon
explained that Ubuntu will continue to ship the GNOME stack, GNOME applications, and optimize Ubuntu for GNOME. The only difference, he wrote, would be that Unity is a different shell for GNOME.
Canonical announced it had engineered Unity for desktop computers as well and is making Unity the default shell for Ubuntu in version 11.04.
GNOME Shell was not included in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal because work on it was not completed at the time 11.04 was frozen, but is available from a PPA
, and is available in Ubuntu 11.10 through the official repositories.
In November 2010, Mark Shuttleworth announced the intention to eventually run Unity on Wayland instead of the currently-used X window system
.
In December 2010, some users requested that the Unity launcher
(or dock
) be movable from the left to other sides of the screen, but Mark Shuttleworth stated in reply, “I'm afraid that won't work with our broader design goals, so we won't implement that. We want the launcher always close to the Ubuntu button.” However, with Ubuntu 11.10, the Ubuntu button has been moved into the launcher, rendering this argument invalid.
The Unity shell interface is now written in a toolkit called Nux instead of Clutter and a plugin of the Compiz
window manager, which Canonical states is faster than Mutter
, the window manager for which GNOME Shell is a plugin.
On 14 January 2011 Canonical also released a technical preview of a “2D” version of Unity based on Qt and written in QML
. Unity-2D was not shipped on the Ubuntu 11.04 CD, instead the classic GNOME desktop was the fall-back for hardware that could not run Unity.
In March 2011 there were public indications of friction between Canonical and its development of Unity and the GNOME developers. As part of Unity development Ubuntu developers had submitted API coding for inclusion in Gnome as an external dependency. According to Dave Neary, "an external dependency is a non-GNOME module which is a dependency of a package contained in one of the GNOME module sets" and the reasons why libappindicator was not accepted as an external dependency are that "it does not fit that definition", it has "duplicate functionality with libnotify" (the current Gnome Shell default) and its CLA
does not meet current GNOME policy. Mark Shuttleworth responded,
In April 2011 Mark Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot would not include the classic GNOME desktop as a fall back to Unity, unlike Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal. Instead Ubuntu 11.10 will use the Qt-based Unity 2D for users whose hardware cannot support the 3D version. However, the classic GNOME desktop remains available as a fallback in Ubuntu 11.10 through a package in the Ubuntu repositories.
At the November 2011 Ubuntu Developer Summit it was announced that Unity for Ubuntu 12.04 will include non-re-enabling the systray, better application integration, ability to drag lenses onto the launcher and that the 2D version will use the same decoration buttons as the 3D version.
Outside of Ubuntu, other Linux distributors have tried to pick up Ayatana - with varying success. The Ayatana components require other applications to be modified, which increases the complexity for adoption by others.
Unity is written as a plugin for Compiz and is written in the programming languages C++ and Vala
and uses an uncommon OpenGL
toolkit called Nux. Being a plugin for Compiz gives Unity GPU-accelerated performance on compatible systems.
Unity 2D is a set of individual applications. They are written in the GUI building language QML from the widespread Qt framework. By default Unity 2D uses the Metacity
window manager but can also use accelerated window managers like Compiz
or KWin
.
In Ubuntu 11.10, Unity 2D uses Metacity's XRender based compositor to achieve transparency effects.
Starting with Ubuntu 11.10, Unity 2D replaced the classic GNOME Panel as the fall-back for users whose hardware cannot run the Compiz version of Unity.
2010
In reviewing a very early version of Unity shortly after it was unveiled in the summer of 2010, Ryan Paul of Ars Technica
noted problems figuring out how to launch additional applications that are not on the dock bar. He also mentioned a number of bugs, including a lack of means to track which applications were open, along with other minor window management difficulties. He remarked that many of these were probably due to the early stage in the development process and expected it to improve over time. Paul concluded positively, "Our test of the Unity prototype leads us to believe that the project has considerable potential and could bring a lot of value to the Ubuntu Netbook Edition. Its unique visual style melds beautifully with Ubuntu's new default theme and its underlying interaction model seems compelling and well-suited for small screens."
In an extensive review of Ubuntu 10.10 shortly after its release in October 2010, Ryan Paul of Ars Technica made further observations on Unity at that time. He noted, “Unity is highly ambitious and offers a substantially different computing experience than the conventional Ubuntu desktop” and concluded that “The [application] selectors are visually appealing, but they are easily the weakest part of the Unity user experience. The poor performance significantly detracts from their value in day-to-day use and the lack of actual file management functionality largely renders the file selector useless. The underlying concepts behind their design are good, however, and they have the potential to be much more valuable in the future as unity matures."
2011
In March 2011 writer Benjamin Humphrey of OMG Ubuntu criticized the development version of Unity then being tested for Ubuntu 11.04 on a number of grounds, including a development process that is divorced from user experiences, the lack of response to user feedback, "the seemingly unbelievable lack of communication the design team has" and a user interface which he described as "cluttered and inconsistent" but overall concluded that “Unity is not all bad … While a number of the concepts in Unity may be flawed from a design point of view, the actual idea itself is not, and Canonical deserve applause for trying to jump start the stagnant open source desktop with Unity when the alternatives do not evoke confidence.”
On 14 April 2011 Ryan Paul of Ars Technica reviewed Unity as implemented in Ubuntu 11.04 beta, just two weeks before its stable release. At that time he reported that Unity was on track for inclusion in Natty Narwhal, despite the ambitious development schedule. He indicated, "close attention to detail shines through in many aspects of Unity. The menubar is clean and highly functional. The sidebar dock is visually appealing and has excellent default behaviors for automatic hiding." He did note that the interface still has some weak points, especially difficulties browsing for applications not on the dock, as well as switching between application categories. He singled out "random packages from the repositories, which are presented as applications that are available for installation in the launcher, are distracting and largely superfluous." Paul concluded "There is still a lot of room for improvement, but Unity is arguably a strong improvement over the conventional GNOME 2.x environment for day-to-day use. The breadth of the changes may be disorienting for some users, but most will like what they see when Unity lands on their desktop at the end of the month". Two weeks later he added the lack of configurability to his criticisms. In a very detailed assessment of Ubuntu 11.04 and Unity published on 12 May 2011, Ryan Paul further concluded Unity was a positive development for Ubuntu, but that more development needs to be invested to make it work right. He wrote: “They have done some incredibly impressive work so far and have delivered a desktop that is suitable for day-to-day use, but it is still very far from fulfilling its full potential.”
On 25 April 2011, the eve of the release of Ubuntu 11.04, reviewer Matt Hartley of IT Management criticized Unity, saying that the "dumbing down of the Linux desktop environment is bordering on insane."
Reviewer Joey Sneddon of OMG Ubuntu was more positive about Unity in his review of Ubuntu 11.04, encouraging users, "Sure it’s different – but different doesn’t mean bad; the best thing to do is to give it a chance." He concluded that Unity on the desktop makes "better use of screen space, intuitive interface layouts and, most importantly, making a desktop that works for the user and not in spite of them".
Following the release of Ubuntu 11.04 Canonical Ltd founder Mark Shuttleworth
indicated that while he was generally happy with the implementation of Unity, he felt that there was room for improvement. Shuttleworth said, "I recognise there are issues, and I would not be satisfied unless we fixed many of them in 11.10...Unity was the best option for the average user upgrading or installing. There are LOTS of people for whom it isn’t the best, but we had to choose a default position...It’s by no means perfect, and it would be egotistical to suggest otherwise...I think the bulk of it has worked out fantastically – both at an engineering level (Compiz, Nux) and in the user experience."
In reviewing Unity in Ubuntu 11.04 on 9 May 2011, Jesse Smith of Distrowatch
criticized its lack of customization, menu handling and Unity hardware requirements, saying "there's really nothing here which should demand 3D acceleration". He also noted that "the layout doesn't translate well to large screens or multiple-screen systems". Jack M. Germain of Linux Insider reviewed Unity on 11 May 2011, indicating strong dislike for it, saying, "Put me in the Hate It category" and indicating that as development has proceeded he likes it less and less.
More criticism appeared after the release of Ubuntu 11.10. In November 2011 Robert Storey writing in DistroWatch
noted that developer work on Unity is now taking up so much time that little is getting done on outstanding Ubuntu bugs, resulting in a distribution that is not as stable or as fast as it should be. Storey concluded "Perhaps it would be worth putting up with the bugs if Unity was the greatest thing since sliced bread - something wonderful that is going to revolutionize desktop computing. But it's not. I tried Unity, and it's kind of cute, but nothing to write home about."
. Marco Ghirlana, the lead developer of the audio- and video-centric ArtistX, stated, "When I tried Unity on computer illiterates, they were less productive and took ages to understand the concepts behind it. When I show them how to use it, they said that it is pretty to see but hard to use." Stephen Ewen, the lead developer for UberStudent
, an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution for higher education
and college-bound high school students, stated, "Unity's design decreases both visual and functional accessibility, which tabulates to decreased productivity." Ewen also criticized Unity's menu scheme as much less accessible than on GNOME 2, which he said, "means that the brain cannot map as quickly to program categories and subcategories, which again means further decreased productivity."
Shell (computing)
A shell is a piece of software that provides an interface for users of an operating system which provides access to the services of a kernel. However, the term is also applied very loosely to applications and may include any software that is "built around" a particular component, such as web...
for the GNOME
GNOME
GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
desktop environment
Desktop environment
In graphical computing, a desktop environment commonly refers to a style of graphical user interface derived from the desktop metaphor that is seen on most modern personal computers. These GUIs help the user in easily accessing, configuring, and modifying many important and frequently accessed...
developed by Canonical Ltd for its Ubuntu operating system
Ubuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
. Unity debuted in the netbook edition of Ubuntu 10.10. It is designed to make more efficient use of space given the limited screen size of netbook
Netbook
Netbooks are a category of small, lightweight, legacy-free, and inexpensive laptop computers.At their inception in late 2007 as smaller notebooks optimized for low weight and low cost — netbooks omitted certain features , featured smaller screens and keyboards, and offered reduced computing...
s, including, for example, a vertical application switcher called the launcher. Unlike GNOME, KDE Software Compilation
KDE Software Compilation
The KDE Software Compilation is a desktop environment and an associated range of KDE Applications produced by KDE. Prior to version 4.4, released in February 2010, the Software Compilation was known as KDE, which used to stand for K Desktop Environment until November 2009...
, Xfce
Xfce
Xfce is a free software desktop environment for Unix and other Unix-like platforms, such as Linux, Solaris, and BSD – though recent compatibility issues have arisen with regard to BSD Unix platforms...
, or LXDE
LXDE
LXDE is a free and open source desktop environment for Unix and other POSIX compliant platforms, such as Linux or BSD. The goal of the project is to provide a desktop environment that is fast and energy efficient...
, Unity is not a collection of applications but designed to be used with existing GTK+
GTK+
GTK+ is a cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL, allowing both free and proprietary software to use it. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the X Window System, along with Qt.The name GTK+ originates from GTK;...
programs.
Unity is part of the Ayatana project, an initiative to improve the user experience within Ubuntu. In addition to Unity, there are Application Indicators and other projects such as MeMenu, the notification system and the application NotifyOSD gathered.
Development
UbuntuUbuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
has previously used the full GNOME
GNOME
GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
desktop environment; founder Mark Shuttleworth
Mark Shuttleworth
Mark Richard Shuttleworth is a South African entrepreneur who was the second self-funded space tourist. Shuttleworth founded Canonical Ltd. and as of 2010, provides leadership for the Ubuntu operating system...
cited philosophical differences with the GNOME team over the user experience to explain why Ubuntu would use Unity as the default desktop instead of GNOME Shell, beginning April 2011, with
Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal).
In November 2010, Ubuntu Community Manager Jono Bacon
Jono Bacon
Jono Bacon is a community manager, writer, musician and software developer, originally from the United Kingdom, but now based in California...
explained that Ubuntu will continue to ship the GNOME stack, GNOME applications, and optimize Ubuntu for GNOME. The only difference, he wrote, would be that Unity is a different shell for GNOME.
Canonical announced it had engineered Unity for desktop computers as well and is making Unity the default shell for Ubuntu in version 11.04.
GNOME Shell was not included in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal because work on it was not completed at the time 11.04 was frozen, but is available from a PPA
Personal Package Archive
A Personal Package Archive is a special software repository for uploading source packages to be built and published as an APT repository by Launchpad or similar application. The term is currently used for Ubuntu packages, but targets "Everyone" according to Launchpad host, Canonical Ltd....
, and is available in Ubuntu 11.10 through the official repositories.
In November 2010, Mark Shuttleworth announced the intention to eventually run Unity on Wayland instead of the currently-used X window system
X Window System
The X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...
.
In December 2010, some users requested that the Unity launcher
Comparison of application launchers
- Windows :- Linux :- Mac OS X :Although arguable, some consider desktop search tools to be application launchers as well, given their ability to quickly find and launch indexed applications. Such desktop search tools able to launch applications as well include Spotlight or Google Desktop...
(or dock
Dock (computing)
The Dock is a prominent feature of the graphical user interface of the Mac OS X operating system. It is used to launch applications and switch between running applications...
) be movable from the left to other sides of the screen, but Mark Shuttleworth stated in reply, “I'm afraid that won't work with our broader design goals, so we won't implement that. We want the launcher always close to the Ubuntu button.” However, with Ubuntu 11.10, the Ubuntu button has been moved into the launcher, rendering this argument invalid.
The Unity shell interface is now written in a toolkit called Nux instead of Clutter and a plugin of the Compiz
Compiz
Compiz is one of the first compositing window managers for the X Window System that uses 3D graphics hardware to create fast compositing desktop effects for window management. The effects, such as a minimization effect and a cube workspace are implemented as loadable plugins...
window manager, which Canonical states is faster than Mutter
Mutter (window manager)
Mutter is the window manager for which GNOME Shell is a plugin in GNOME 3, replacing Metacity....
, the window manager for which GNOME Shell is a plugin.
On 14 January 2011 Canonical also released a technical preview of a “2D” version of Unity based on Qt and written in QML
QML
QML is a JavaScript-based, declarative language for designing user interface–centric applications. It is part of Qt Quick, the UI creation kit developed by Nokia within the Qt framework...
. Unity-2D was not shipped on the Ubuntu 11.04 CD, instead the classic GNOME desktop was the fall-back for hardware that could not run Unity.
In March 2011 there were public indications of friction between Canonical and its development of Unity and the GNOME developers. As part of Unity development Ubuntu developers had submitted API coding for inclusion in Gnome as an external dependency. According to Dave Neary, "an external dependency is a non-GNOME module which is a dependency of a package contained in one of the GNOME module sets" and the reasons why libappindicator was not accepted as an external dependency are that "it does not fit that definition", it has "duplicate functionality with libnotify" (the current Gnome Shell default) and its CLA
Contributor License Agreement
A Contributor License Agreement defines the terms under which intellectual property has been contributed to a company/project, typically software under an open source license.- Rationale :...
does not meet current GNOME policy. Mark Shuttleworth responded,
In April 2011 Mark Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot would not include the classic GNOME desktop as a fall back to Unity, unlike Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal. Instead Ubuntu 11.10 will use the Qt-based Unity 2D for users whose hardware cannot support the 3D version. However, the classic GNOME desktop remains available as a fallback in Ubuntu 11.10 through a package in the Ubuntu repositories.
At the November 2011 Ubuntu Developer Summit it was announced that Unity for Ubuntu 12.04 will include non-re-enabling the systray, better application integration, ability to drag lenses onto the launcher and that the 2D version will use the same decoration buttons as the 3D version.
Availability
As Unity and the supporting Ayatana projects are developed primarily for Ubuntu, Ubuntu is the first to offer new versions.Outside of Ubuntu, other Linux distributors have tried to pick up Ayatana - with varying success. The Ayatana components require other applications to be modified, which increases the complexity for adoption by others.
- Arch LinuxArch LinuxArch Linux is an independently developed, Linux-based operating system for i686 and x86-64 computers. It is composed predominantly of free and open source software, and supports community involvement....
offers many Ayatana components, including Unity and Unity 2D but as of November 2011, only Unity is available in a recent version. - FedoraFedora (operating system)Fedora is a RPM-based, general purpose collection of software, including an operating system based on the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat...
contributors have announced interest in offering Unity but this effort has been postponed until after Fedora 15. - FrugalwareFrugalwareFrugalware Linux is a general-purpose Linux distribution designed for intermediate users who are familiar with command-line operations. Early versions were based on Slackware, but it is now an independently-developed distribution...
has adopted Ayatana, including Unity and Unity 2D, as part of the development branch for an upcoming Frugalware release. - openSUSEOpenSUSEopenSUSE is a general purpose operating system built on top of the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported openSUSE Project and sponsored by SUSE...
offers many Ayatana components for GNOME. Bringing Unity itself to openSUSE has been put on hold, the developers citing problems with Compiz as main reason.
Unity vs. Unity 2D
Canonical maintains two discrete versions of Unity which are almost indistinguishable from a visual standpoint but very different on the technical level.Unity is written as a plugin for Compiz and is written in the programming languages C++ and Vala
Vala (programming language)
Vala is a programming language created with the goal of bringing modern language features to C, with no added runtime needs and with little overhead, by targeting the GObject object system. It is being developed by Jürg Billeter and Raffaele Sandrini. The syntax borrows heavily from C#...
and uses an uncommon OpenGL
OpenGL
OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
toolkit called Nux. Being a plugin for Compiz gives Unity GPU-accelerated performance on compatible systems.
Unity 2D is a set of individual applications. They are written in the GUI building language QML from the widespread Qt framework. By default Unity 2D uses the Metacity
Metacity
Metacity was the window manager used by default in the GNOME desktop environment until GNOME 3, where it was replaced by Mutter. The development of Metacity was started by Havoc Pennington and it is released under the GNU General Public License....
window manager but can also use accelerated window managers like Compiz
Compiz
Compiz is one of the first compositing window managers for the X Window System that uses 3D graphics hardware to create fast compositing desktop effects for window management. The effects, such as a minimization effect and a cube workspace are implemented as loadable plugins...
or KWin
KWin
KWin is a window manager for the X Window System. It is an integral part of the KDE Software Compilation, although it can be used on its own or with other desktop environments.- History :- Look and feel :...
.
In Ubuntu 11.10, Unity 2D uses Metacity's XRender based compositor to achieve transparency effects.
Starting with Ubuntu 11.10, Unity 2D replaced the classic GNOME Panel as the fall-back for users whose hardware cannot run the Compiz version of Unity.
By reviewers
Unity has received mixed reviews. Its design and deployment has been controversial and as a result some software reviewers have written about it, finding faults with its implementation and limitations. In spite of these, other reviewers have found Unity is an improvement over GNOME 2 and also that there is potential for Unity to improve over time.2010
In reviewing a very early version of Unity shortly after it was unveiled in the summer of 2010, Ryan Paul of Ars Technica
Ars Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
noted problems figuring out how to launch additional applications that are not on the dock bar. He also mentioned a number of bugs, including a lack of means to track which applications were open, along with other minor window management difficulties. He remarked that many of these were probably due to the early stage in the development process and expected it to improve over time. Paul concluded positively, "Our test of the Unity prototype leads us to believe that the project has considerable potential and could bring a lot of value to the Ubuntu Netbook Edition. Its unique visual style melds beautifully with Ubuntu's new default theme and its underlying interaction model seems compelling and well-suited for small screens."
In an extensive review of Ubuntu 10.10 shortly after its release in October 2010, Ryan Paul of Ars Technica made further observations on Unity at that time. He noted, “Unity is highly ambitious and offers a substantially different computing experience than the conventional Ubuntu desktop” and concluded that “The [application] selectors are visually appealing, but they are easily the weakest part of the Unity user experience. The poor performance significantly detracts from their value in day-to-day use and the lack of actual file management functionality largely renders the file selector useless. The underlying concepts behind their design are good, however, and they have the potential to be much more valuable in the future as unity matures."
2011
In March 2011 writer Benjamin Humphrey of OMG Ubuntu criticized the development version of Unity then being tested for Ubuntu 11.04 on a number of grounds, including a development process that is divorced from user experiences, the lack of response to user feedback, "the seemingly unbelievable lack of communication the design team has" and a user interface which he described as "cluttered and inconsistent" but overall concluded that “Unity is not all bad … While a number of the concepts in Unity may be flawed from a design point of view, the actual idea itself is not, and Canonical deserve applause for trying to jump start the stagnant open source desktop with Unity when the alternatives do not evoke confidence.”
On 14 April 2011 Ryan Paul of Ars Technica reviewed Unity as implemented in Ubuntu 11.04 beta, just two weeks before its stable release. At that time he reported that Unity was on track for inclusion in Natty Narwhal, despite the ambitious development schedule. He indicated, "close attention to detail shines through in many aspects of Unity. The menubar is clean and highly functional. The sidebar dock is visually appealing and has excellent default behaviors for automatic hiding." He did note that the interface still has some weak points, especially difficulties browsing for applications not on the dock, as well as switching between application categories. He singled out "random packages from the repositories, which are presented as applications that are available for installation in the launcher, are distracting and largely superfluous." Paul concluded "There is still a lot of room for improvement, but Unity is arguably a strong improvement over the conventional GNOME 2.x environment for day-to-day use. The breadth of the changes may be disorienting for some users, but most will like what they see when Unity lands on their desktop at the end of the month". Two weeks later he added the lack of configurability to his criticisms. In a very detailed assessment of Ubuntu 11.04 and Unity published on 12 May 2011, Ryan Paul further concluded Unity was a positive development for Ubuntu, but that more development needs to be invested to make it work right. He wrote: “They have done some incredibly impressive work so far and have delivered a desktop that is suitable for day-to-day use, but it is still very far from fulfilling its full potential.”
On 25 April 2011, the eve of the release of Ubuntu 11.04, reviewer Matt Hartley of IT Management criticized Unity, saying that the "dumbing down of the Linux desktop environment is bordering on insane."
Reviewer Joey Sneddon of OMG Ubuntu was more positive about Unity in his review of Ubuntu 11.04, encouraging users, "Sure it’s different – but different doesn’t mean bad; the best thing to do is to give it a chance." He concluded that Unity on the desktop makes "better use of screen space, intuitive interface layouts and, most importantly, making a desktop that works for the user and not in spite of them".
Following the release of Ubuntu 11.04 Canonical Ltd founder Mark Shuttleworth
Mark Shuttleworth
Mark Richard Shuttleworth is a South African entrepreneur who was the second self-funded space tourist. Shuttleworth founded Canonical Ltd. and as of 2010, provides leadership for the Ubuntu operating system...
indicated that while he was generally happy with the implementation of Unity, he felt that there was room for improvement. Shuttleworth said, "I recognise there are issues, and I would not be satisfied unless we fixed many of them in 11.10...Unity was the best option for the average user upgrading or installing. There are LOTS of people for whom it isn’t the best, but we had to choose a default position...It’s by no means perfect, and it would be egotistical to suggest otherwise...I think the bulk of it has worked out fantastically – both at an engineering level (Compiz, Nux) and in the user experience."
In reviewing Unity in Ubuntu 11.04 on 9 May 2011, Jesse Smith of Distrowatch
DistroWatch
DistroWatch is a website which provides news, popularity rankings, and other general information about various Linux distributions as well as other free software/open source Unix-like operating systems such as OpenSolaris, MINIX and BSD. It now contains information on several hundred distributions...
criticized its lack of customization, menu handling and Unity hardware requirements, saying "there's really nothing here which should demand 3D acceleration". He also noted that "the layout doesn't translate well to large screens or multiple-screen systems". Jack M. Germain of Linux Insider reviewed Unity on 11 May 2011, indicating strong dislike for it, saying, "Put me in the Hate It category" and indicating that as development has proceeded he likes it less and less.
More criticism appeared after the release of Ubuntu 11.10. In November 2011 Robert Storey writing in DistroWatch
DistroWatch
DistroWatch is a website which provides news, popularity rankings, and other general information about various Linux distributions as well as other free software/open source Unix-like operating systems such as OpenSolaris, MINIX and BSD. It now contains information on several hundred distributions...
noted that developer work on Unity is now taking up so much time that little is getting done on outstanding Ubuntu bugs, resulting in a distribution that is not as stable or as fast as it should be. Storey concluded "Perhaps it would be worth putting up with the bugs if Unity was the greatest thing since sliced bread - something wonderful that is going to revolutionize desktop computing. But it's not. I tried Unity, and it's kind of cute, but nothing to write home about."
By developers
Developers of Linux distributions based upon Ubuntu have also weighed in on the introduction of Unity. Some have been critical, including two distributions who base their criticism on usability testingUsability testing
Usability testing is a technique used in user-centered interaction design to evaluate a product by testing it on users. This can be seen as an irreplaceable usability practice, since it gives direct input on how real users use the system...
. Marco Ghirlana, the lead developer of the audio- and video-centric ArtistX, stated, "When I tried Unity on computer illiterates, they were less productive and took ages to understand the concepts behind it. When I show them how to use it, they said that it is pretty to see but hard to use." Stephen Ewen, the lead developer for UberStudent
UberStudent
UberStudent is a free and opensource computer operating system and collection of programs for higher education and college-bound secondary students, their teachers and schools, and researchers, knowledge workers, and lifelong learners....
, an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution for higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
and college-bound high school students, stated, "Unity's design decreases both visual and functional accessibility, which tabulates to decreased productivity." Ewen also criticized Unity's menu scheme as much less accessible than on GNOME 2, which he said, "means that the brain cannot map as quickly to program categories and subcategories, which again means further decreased productivity."
See also
- Comparison of X Window System desktop environments
- Comparison of X window managersComparison of X window managersThis article compares variety of different X window managers. For an introduction to the topic, see X Window System.- See also :* Comparison of X Window System desktop environments* Window manager...