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Unity 8 Desktop Session Arrives in Ubuntu 16.10 (omgubuntu.co.uk)

Posted by msmash on from the good-things dept.

The latest updates to Ubuntu 16.10 Yakkety Yak add a Unity8 desktop session to the Ubuntu login screen. OMGUbuntu adds: Added to the Ubuntu meta package, the new Unity 8 desktop session will be available to try on all new installs and upgrades of Ubuntu 16.10, but only as an alternate login session to Unity 7. Unity 8 is not -- repeat: not -- going to be the default session in this release. Shipping it as a preview session is a great idea. It means to try Unity 8 on Ubuntu 16.10 you won't need to install a set of packages, or faff around with special set-up, or add a PPA. When at the Unity Greeter (aka the login screen) just click the session selector button, followed by 'Unity 8,' and then proceed to login as normal.

56 comments

  1. Errr by thegarbz · · Score: 2

    Did anyone else watch the video and see how much the guy was fussing around trying to dock the windows to the screen corners? I mean it looks like a slip of the mouse will maximise the window.

    Looks a bit like a stupid design choice.

    1. Re:Errr by johnck · · Score: 0

      "Looks a bit like a stupid design choice."

      That pretty much sums up everything that's been designed in Linux since 2010. systemd, gnome 3, grub2, etc.

    2. Re:Errr by F.Ultra · · Score: 2

      Now I don't know if this is changed in Unity8 but in the version in 16.04 you simply back off i little with the mouse and it sticks. I.e you drag it to an edge and that orange things starts to happen that shows that if you let go it will be maximised, if you then just move back a little the window remains but the orange thingy disappears.

    3. Re:Errr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's some underlying code, I think. I have the exact same problem on opensuse with plasma DE. I really think it's dumb to be able to maximize by throwing the window. Much better to use the button or double click the top bar, but the latter is dumb too since alot of distros "shade" or roll-up the window leaving only the titlebar.

      I just use the maximize button like a normal person and don't throw windows.

      'member when linux worked like you expected it to work? User-facing stuff is so lacking now, in a lot of ways it's pushed back ye olde Year of the Linux Desktop by years, if not another decade. My meme is "blame GNU."

    4. Re:Errr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      But I truly give a credit for the Ubuntu that they did a UI change which is optional. Ever since Windows 8 every UI change has been shoveled down the users throats as the poor users are so stupid they can not make a selection themselves which is best for them. The corporate UX departments know always what is best for us. Fortunately even on Ubuntu one can still change from default to a usable desktop environment.

    5. Re:Errr by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

      I don't know about the other stuff but you can never have too many gnomes...
      They're all we have in the fight against the gremlins!

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    6. Re:Errr by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Except, you know, having forced unity down our throats to begin with. A change we didn't want, for reasons that are still unclear, and which has done nothing but dilute and corrupt the Ubuntu distro.

    7. Re:Errr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So having watched it closely, I *think* he was trying to show off the different window sizes available from corner drag? I'm not sure though.

    8. Re:Errr by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

      Grehb34d! Aren't you familiar with the fundamental design principle of "nearly always break expectations"?

      It's second in the commandments. Right after "nothing demonstrates your individuality like a shitty tattoo, especially one like all your co-workers at at Starbucks have".

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    9. Re:Errr by AvitarX · · Score: 2

      I really wish they stuck with Gnome2, and kept it going.

      You know, the desktop that Sun invested real UI research into.

      That seems like it would have given the best shot at achieving their primary goal.

      I really liked Gnome 2 though, the first time I booted into it, it was like, this is nice, all my takes at the bottom, and menus at the top. no wasted space like the OSX dock.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    10. Re:Errr by Qzukk · · Score: 1

      'member when we used window managers and had a choice of how our system looked and worked, where we could pick the best window manager, the best file browser, the best music player and so on? This was back before "desktop environments" became all the rage and we were given the One True terminal/editor/browser/etc that the desktop environment "worked with".

      You can still have those days back, all you have to do is give up on KDE and Gnome.

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
    11. Re: Errr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I use Mint 17. It doesn't try to be a cellphone & allows multiple open windows & no 'tiles' cluttering up the screen. Who asked for Unity?

    12. Re:Errr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That's not true.

      You can use any application with any DE as long as you have the right libraries installed, the only exception I can think of are KDE widgets, which basically either are part of the KDE desktop anyway, or pretty damned useless, or stuff that is made specifically to use gnome's system tray, because the gnomes are idiots[1].

      So, if you're a KDE user you can use thunderbird or mutt, mrxvt or gnome-terminal and if you're using a plain WM, konsole or dolphin still works too, provided that you have the libs needed in the background.

      [1] Huge mess about this a few years ago, KDE came up with a spec, and the gnomes claimed it was unusable. The people at Canonical used it for Unity, thereby proving exactly how "unusable" it was, which didn't stop the gnomes from maintaining the position that it was "unusable", despite having two different implementations by two different teams. LOL.
      I seem to remember one of the big conflicts being that the systray couldn't stop applications from behaving "maliciously" inside it.. Yeah, the gnomes are *that* retarded.

    13. Re:Errr by youngone · · Score: 1

      nothing demonstrates your individuality like a shitty tattoo, especially one like all your co-workers at Starbucks have

      I'm going to steal this.

    14. Re:Errr by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      Yeah, exactly the stupid design choice I am talking about. Isn't this supposed to be a short cut to put a window in a certain position? If so it should be quick dirty and imprecise, not need careful mouse manipulation.

    15. Re:Errr by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      But I truly give a credit for the Ubuntu

      I don't. Window's dramatic UI change was rolled back in the face of angry customers to Windows 10, a UI which for all intents and purposes except for the tile thingies no one uses is pretty much identical to that of Windows 7 with a theme change.

      Unity... well you'll get to like it, trust us we know best.

    16. Re:Errr by Kozar_The_Malignant · · Score: 1

      Rats! Out of mod points. Somebody mod this up.

      --
      Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
    17. Re:Errr by jrumney · · Score: 1

      I mean it looks like a slip of the mouse will maximise the window.

      Isn't that already the case with Unity 7 (and Windows 7, and probably MacOS from some similar or probably older timeframe, since this seems like just the sort of UI stupidity that would have come from Apple originally).

    18. Re:Errr by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      That design problem afflicts the whole industry. They're obsessed with fisher price interfaces at the expense of usability.

    19. Re:Errr by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      3. don't be discoverable, instead have the user embark on a serendipitous journey of clicking and pointing so they may learn all the other features

      4. Make every twitch and movement and location a significant event

      5. Keep the userbase excited by altering location and actions of highly used features for each release, churn early, churn often

    20. Re:Errr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No wasted space? Funny, that's the opposite reaction I had, coming from KDE, Windows, Gnome 1.4 and a bunch of window managers.

      Stack up those title bars and the two horizontal bars, and you'll notice that's a lot of vertical space lost to display some grey shade. Wide screen monitors which became common later, acerbated the problem. Gnome 2 was an waste of time and space from the beginning from my perspective, and an early example of "the developers knows best, so shut up peon"[1] attitude that is so pervasive these days.

      [1] "Peons" being real, active users who are using your stuff for real work, rather than hypothetical ones or people mainly concerned with sitting back and admiring their own busywork.

    21. Re:Errr by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      The total bar height was the same as a KDE default bar or gnome panel from the last time I tried gnome.

      Lack of accountability is valid, but I also think overblown, I used compiz as a window manager though.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    22. Re:Errr by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      It's not careful, if I throw the window at the top it gets maximized, if i throw it to either left or the right side it gets sized to take up half the screen but if I move it there and move back a little I get the window to dock to either side instead of getting it to be maximized.

    23. Re:Errr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gnome 2 now has that very same feature of dragging a window to the top maximizes it.

  2. And, like every thread on Linux innovations... by fph+il+quozientatore · · Score: 0

    Systemd trolls coming in 3, 2, 1, ...

    --
    My first program:

    Hell Segmentation fault

    1. Re:And, like every thread on Linux innovations... by PvtVoid · · Score: 5, Funny

      Systemd trolls coming in 3, 2, 1, ...

      I think you meant 3 ... [pause] [pause] [pause] [pause] ... 2 ... [pause] [pause] [pause] ........

    2. Re:And, like every thread on Linux innovations... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, the systemd starts counting from 90 seconds downwards. It is just a natural design choice that a failed mount will magically resurrect itself if the boot is stopped for 1,5 minutes.

    3. Re:And, like every thread on Linux innovations... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Systemd trolls coming in 3, 2, 1, ...

      I think you meant 3 ... [pause] [pause] [pause] [pause] ... 2 ... [pause] [pause] [pause] ........

      More like: ...
      1:31 / 1:35
      1:32 / 1:35
      1:33 / 1:35
      1:34 / 1:35
      1:35 / 1:35
      1:36 / 3:10
      1:37 / 3:10
      1:38 / 3:10 ...

  3. twitter scripts... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    só porque não quero comer aquela retardadinha...

  4. Let's copy Windows 7! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Should have stopped at the start menu, and the desktop icons from Gnome 2!

    They change (copy) the freaking menu/artwork/themes every release. Avoiding the REAL problems like hardware support, decent office, a single desktop framework that just WORKS. Instead we have 5 different Office suits, 5 desktops, 10 mail clients. None really work out of the box without glitches, but hey, you have where to choose from!

    I prefer to stick to Apple for now, until M$ realizes how crap investment Windows is and move to Linux making it a real desktop. Hopefully soon ...

    Forgive my trolling, flu season ...

  5. Samsung proves Burning Man is for real by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is the year of the trifecta:

    1) Linux on the desktop
    2) Cubs win the World Series
    3) President Trump!

    1. Re:Samsung proves Burning Man is for real by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

    2. Re:Samsung proves Burning Man is for real by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do you have against the Cubs?

  6. That's it? by 3vi1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's been many months since I last tried Unity 8, and I'm quite disappointed to see the current state. With the focus Canonical has claimed towards convergence, I expected it to present a much friendlier interface by now... yet it doesn't appear to have progressed at all. Are they spending all their time on it fixing Mir, or building yet another web browser which no one is going to use?

    At this rate, when will it be ready for "real" users? 18.04? If that's their pace, why bother? Considering the other *complete* desktops are already building steam with Wayland, can Unity 8 hope to be anything except underwhelming when it finally crosses the finish line? Wayland's bound to be more feature-complete and stable than Mir when all is said and done due to the multiple desktop implementations being built on it, and those desktops have years of development over the components that Unity 8's now building from scratch.

    I've always been an Ubuntu supporter, but Canonical just seems too stubborn to steer away from the lighthouse now. It's frustrating to see a company I like wasting their time and resources hoping for a revolutionary product where there's no particular market or demand, as they've done with the phone.

  7. Unity sucks... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gnome-fallback (gnome-flashback) is the only way I'll use Ubuntu.

  8. Eeeyikes.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'll stick with Cinnamon.

    1. Re:Eeeyikes.... by fbobraga · · Score: 1

      And I with gnome-shell

  9. Wait a bit longer by DrYak · · Score: 3, Funny

    Systemd trolls coming in 3, 2, 1, ...

    Their system hasn't booted yet.

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
    1. Re:Wait a bit longer by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Systemd trolls coming in 3, 2, 1, ...

      Their system hasn't booted yet.

      Irony.

  10. Was I the only one thinking of the game engine? by HannethCom · · Score: 1

    I read Unity, and the first thing I thought of was another version for Portalarium to upgrade to. Then I saw Ubuntu and went, oh right, that is still a thing is it.

    --
    Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
    1. Re:Was I the only one thinking of the game engine? by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      This version runs 8-bit console games?

  11. Why keep promoting something no one wants? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No one likes Unity. No one. Not one single person. The only people who use it are Linux-noobs who were suckered into believing Ubuntu with the default desktop is a good choice.
    Why is this still being developed? No one who knows better uses it 'cause it's crap.
    Shuttleworth is NOT Steve Jobs although he wants to be. He doesn't have the magic ability to tell people that a crap product is great and have them all blindly believe it.

    (I am not a troll. I'm a professional Linux developer, and noobs and senior people alike - without exception - find Unity to be unusable garbage)

    1. Re:Why keep promoting something no one wants? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one likes Unity. No one. Not one single person.

      I don't hate Unity. I've used it in anger on a laptop and became effective with it. The only reason I don't use it now is that it doesn't work efficiently over VNC relative to other Linux desktops that don't use OpenGL rendering.

    2. Re:Why keep promoting something no one wants? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This prompted me to revisit this issue. Turns out that 16.10 LTS will indeed address the VNC problem with an enhanced "low graphics mode." Ubuntu explicitly mentions VNC as a use case. Yay.

      I'll have to give this a try after they release it; at the moment I'm using Ubuntu MATE only because it works well over VNC. Dear Ubuntu; whomever you've tasked with "low graphics mode" is doing The Lord's Work(tm). OpenGL animated desktops are great and all, but a Linux desktop can never afford to neglect remote solutions like VNC or simple framebuffer hardware. So I guess I'll see if "low graphics mode" actually works properly and isn't a glitchy mess.

    3. Re:Why keep promoting something no one wants? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm a noob to Linux using Unity. I find it fine to work with except the dash appears randomly when I don't want it to, the search function doesn't have any options, I find everything takes too many clicks, and I always have to look up the names of programs on the net before I know what to type in dash search. It slows me down a little but not enough to research an alternative.

    4. Re:Why keep promoting something no one wants? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This will also be helpful for those running Unity in VirtualBox.

    5. Re:Why keep promoting something no one wants? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      16.10 isn't LTS.

    6. Re:Why keep promoting something no one wants? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Install classic menu indicator.

    7. Re:Why keep promoting something no one wants? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Speak for yourself.
      I for one prefer Ubuntu with unity to other distros.

    8. Re:Why keep promoting something no one wants? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm a full time Linux sysadmin and regular Linux desktop user. I have extensive experience with a variety of Linux DEs. Guess what? I really like Unity. It's not perfect, but it's certainly very usable and makes for a great every day desktop. I use it as my daily driver at work, as do most of my team. Also at home too, although I tend to lean towards macOS there.

    9. Re:Why keep promoting something no one wants? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What? I just love it? Unity it's the single desktop environment that I can truly ignore my mouse.
      Nothing is even close to it.

      Look my workflow:
      super+number (open the desired position app in dash), so my often used apps are the first numbers. FF (pentadactyl addon), term, vim, pidgin
      With this wonderful map I barely use alt+tab, often I use alt+' to change between windows from the same app.
      alt+ctrl+number (switch workspace)
      alt+shift+number (switch workspace with active window)
      alt+shitf+' (ccsm put plugin, switch window between my monitors)
      hold alt (search in the application menu, its remarkable)
      super+keys/pages/etc (ccsm plugim, window positioning)

      I don't know about you guys but I truly can ignore my mouse and I love it.

  12. GNOME flashback by loufoque · · Score: 1

    GNOME flashback is still the only desktop environment usable on Ubuntu.
    I don't understand why they're still trying to reinvent the wheel with their crap.

    1. Re:GNOME flashback by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GNOME flashback is still the only desktop environment usable on Ubuntu.
      I don't understand why they're still trying to reinvent the wheel with their crap.

      Yes, GNOME Flashback is great.
      However, for some time my GNOME Flashback session was broken, and then I tried GNOME Classic, which is GNOME with gnome-shell but with some extensions to provide a classic experience akin to that to GNOME Flashback. It is really good too.

    2. Re:GNOME flashback by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GNOME flashback is still the only desktop environment usable on Ubuntu.
      I don't understand why they're still trying to reinvent the wheel with their crap.

      I'm using Xubuntu (Xfce desktop) and I find it best. I tried the live usb of Ubuntu (Unity), Gnome 4, KDE, Cynnamon, Mate and I find them all lacking. Either they have an unusable UI (like Unity), or they have bugs related to putting the taskbar on the left side (like KDE), or they are not customizable enough (most of them).

      Granted, Xfce has it's bugs also (Thunar crashing on file renames), but I still have to see a perfect software.

      Give Xfce a trial. You may like it.

  13. Plz Unity 8 don't mess with what I like in Unity 7 by maiko.cezar · · Score: 1

    Unity 7 it's the single desktop environment that I can truly ignore my mouse. Nothing is even close to it. Look my workflow: super+number (open the desired position app in dash), so my often used apps are the first numbers. FF (pentadactyl addon), term, vim, pidgin With this wonderful map I barely use alt+tab, often I use alt+' to change between windows from the same app. alt+ctrl+number (switch workspace) alt+shift+number (switch workspace with active window) alt+shitf+' (ccsm put plugin, switch window between my monitors) hold alt (search in the application menu, its remarkable) super+keys/pages/etc (ccsm plugim, window positioning) I don't know about you guys but I truly can ignore my mouse and I love it.