Predictions for the future of the primary DE choice for Ubuntu...

[hoppipolla]

This is something I get concerned about from time to time, so I thought I would post a quick poll! I am very curious to see what people think!

Hoppi :)


EDIT -- Before people start going on, I am not really talking about the naming here, I'm wondering which DE will get the most focus from the Ubuntu project as a whole, regardless of what they call it! :)

[dragos240]

Gnome. I Think it will stay.

[hoppipolla]

what happened to the poll, it still looks dead? o.O

EDIT - THERE it is! lol

[dragos240]

I think they will stick with gnome 2.

[liquidbee]

Gnome will always be the default DE for Ubuntu. I think the main question here is, will Ubuntu ( Gnome ) be the #1 in the list of preferred distributions/derivatives ?

[hoppipolla]

Gnome will always be the default DE for Ubuntu. I think the main question here is, will Ubuntu ( Gnome ) be the #1 in the list of preferred distributions/derivatives ?

yeah sorry, that's what I meant - the primary DE :)

[RichardLinx]

I think at some point or another Ubuntu will move to GNOME 3, I don't think they'll use the "gnome-shell" interface though. And I'm sure it will be pretty good.

[NoaHall]

I would hope they stick with gnome 2 until the nonsense of gnome3 and its shell passes. But I think I read somewhere that they intend to upgrade to gnome 3.

[MelDJ]

gnome. if not, there will be no more ubuntu and it will become kubuntu. and the xfce version will become xkubuntu which sounds silly :)

[absinthe]

I don't understand why they would need to switch DE's. They've invested an awful lot into Gnome to just simply drop it as there primary DE.
As of right now Gnome 3 is in the extremely early phases and cannot be representative of what is to come. I'm glad people are excited about new open-source DE's but Gnome 3 isn't out of the womb yet.

[hoppipolla]

gnome. if not, there will be no more ubuntu and it will become kubuntu. and the xfce version will become xkubuntu which sounds silly :)

again, I'm not talking about the naming! Maybe I should have worded this differently ._.

[Pasdar]

Isn't Google developing a new Windows system/DE? Looking at the cooperation between Canocial and Anroid, i'd say Canocial hopes they make something good so they can move over to that.

[MelDJ]

again, I'm not talking about the naming! Maybe I should have worded this differently ._.

just joking :p.

[Vadi]

It has been good with Gnome... and I don't see that changing.

[praveesh]

I don't think they will consider KDE

[hoppipolla]

I don't think they will consider KDE

it's just, what if Gnome 3 ISN'T that good. What then? Will just keep trying until it is good?

I am looking forward to seeing GTK3.

[lovinglinux]

gnome. if not, there will be no more ubuntu and it will become kubuntu. and the xfce version will become xkubuntu which sounds silly :)

IMO, they should re-brand Ubuntu OS to Gubuntu and associate the Ubuntu name with a set of applications and services, that would comprise all Ubuntu flavors, the web infra-structure, Ubuntu One and whatever they invent in the future.

Ubuntu is already a powerful brand and can't be relegated to a second plan, but I don't think binding it to a specific DM for eternity is a good idea. At some point they might need to switch focus to another DM and doesn't make sense to run Ubuntu with KDE and Kubuntu at the same time.

[cguy]

OMG, hoppi, stop the thread spamming! :)

Go help people with *real* problems.

--

Don't take this as a declaration to war, please :)

[JillSwift]

Where's the option for "No matter what Canonical chooses to do, there will still be constant complaints that it was the wrong choice"? ;)

[CharmyBee]

I honestly think XFCE will kick both of their butts in the future.

[pluviosity]

Ubuntu will only stay with Gnome as long as it delivers.

While it may work well for a lot of people, I honestly don't see Gnome Shell working for a default desktop. It's too different from the dominant desktop paradigm that new Ubuntu users would be accustomed to. It may not be that much bigger of a learning curve, but it looks, feel, and use are different enough that it may be a deal breaker for prospective newbies.

I don't know what the minimum requirements are for Gnome Shell, but the system would have to use compositing, yes? What about systems that can't handle it? Is there a no-compositing mode for Gnome Shell? An off switch would help. If not, it hurts the image that Ubuntu can run on just about anything. Some people discover Ubuntu as a less-taxing alternative OS to, say, Vista because their legacy hardware won't support it.

Also, while I'm not one to judge the standards of certain professional institutions, it may be an unwelcomed change for, say, the French Police who currently use Ubuntu over Windows or OS X. Think "Playschool Windows XP look" effect on a bigger scale.

Whether Canonical stays with the most recent Gnome or switches to something else, they've got to be in a pickle right now. They can use the new interface, which may or may not be too radical enough to cause backlash. If they stay with Gnome 2, Canonical will be stuck with legacy software that they'll have to support.

Then there's KDE. They have what, one KDE developer? They'd have to make a lot of staff changes if they've got more GTK+/Gnome people than Qt/KDE people.

I believe I also read somewhere that Gnome is switching to a 9 month release schedule with Gnome 3. It's been a while, so I could be wrong or it could have changed, but that would conflict with Ubuntu's 6-month/2-year-LTS schedule. They could stay with Gnome and its 9 month schedule (if it's actually changing), or they could use KDE with its new 6 month schedule.

I foresee headaches all around.

[hoppipolla]

OMG, hoppi, stop the thread spamming! :)

Go help people with *real* problems.

--

Don't take this as a declaration to war, please :)

you mean the support forums? I used to do that more a few years ago, I guess now I'm just more curious as to where Ubuntu is taking Linux on the desktop... I do help people with support issues sometimes but the whole "scene" at the moment intrigues me, and let's face it the DE is one of the key components here.

The other are software installs/updates, user-friendliness, aesthetic appeal, range of apps etc etc.