Unity developers answering questions on reddit.

[castrojo]

Enjoy!

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/k2nvl/we_are_the_ubuntu_unity_development_team_we_3/

[fatality_uk]

For me, they just have to answer one question. What were they thinking in the first place?

[Thewhistlingwind]

For me, they just have to answer one question. What were they thinking in the first place?

Mark wants the Ubuntu project to be, to a degree, independent. (He created Ubuntu instead of giving the money to Debian directly because he felt it would hurt the project.) He felt that his requirements and concerns weren't matching up with those of the GNOME team, so he switched Ubuntu's desktop environment to Unity. Mark decided that to give the Ubuntu team more freedom on where they'd like to go with Ubuntu, a desktop environment controlled by the Ubuntu project was necessary.

Makes sense on paper.

[b2zeldafreak]

So is Unity eventually going to go from being a plugin for Gnome to its own Desktop environment?

I think alot of the problems people are expressing with Unity are somewhat caused by the fact that Unity is a Gnome addon

[Thewhistlingwind]

So is Unity eventually going to go from being a plugin for Gnome to its own Desktop environment?

I think alot of the problems people are expressing with Unity are somewhat caused by the fact that Unity is a Gnome addon

As I understand it, Unity is built with GTK, but is not necessarily a Gnome "plug in"

I don't think Shuttleworth wants to spend the resources to replicate the gnome tool kit. (And further fragment Linux DE's.)

[grahammechanical]

I think that Mark Shuttleworth wants a user interface that suits handheld devices with Ubuntu pre-installed. And he wants it without having to beg the Gnome people to make the changes/adjustments that are needed. The Canonical people working on Gnome tried that and it did not work. So, Canonical is developing a UI that Canonical has control over and copyright to.

Regards.

[cariboo]

I think that Mark Shuttleworth wants a user interface that suits handheld devices with Ubuntu pre-installed. And he wants it without having to beg the Gnome people to make the changes/adjustments that are needed. The Canonical people working on Gnome tried that and it did not work. So, Canonical is developing a UI that Canonical has control over and copyright to.

Regards.

Could you please provide a link from Canonical/Ubuntu that proves this.

The reason Unity was initially developed, was because gnome 3 wasn't ready to be released during the Natty development cycle and with Gnome 2 not being developed anymore. something had to be done. There are also some political reasons that have been well documented.

For some this is an emotional issue, they've spent a lot of time learning the Gnome 2 interface, and they don't seem to want to move on. For the people in that position, you have a couple of choices, the easiest would be to move on, the hardest would be to fork Gnome 2.

Forking gnome 2 would mean hiring developers to continue the work that has been done already, as from what I understand, it's to much for a hobbyist to take on.

[hansdown]

Great read,castrojo.

Thanks, for that.

The devs seem.... almost, human.

[drawkcab]

I fired up a live session on my laptop. I think unity 2d might suit my netbook if it were actually functioning.

[trollolo]

>Reddit

WHY

[sffvba[e0rt]

>Reddit

WHY

Exposure perhaps...


404

[Bandit]

I tried to read most of the post. First it started good with asking question about why the heck isnt the dock movable.. Then it turned in to blahh blahh blahh..

A better question would why the heck wasnt Docky used instead when its already completely functional. Tragically all I am seeing is a bunch of reinventing of the wheel just for the sake of having your own brand.. Its complete nonsense IMHO.

[forrestcupp]

I like how the devs said there are suggestions that they would like to implement and they wouldn't take much time, but they are only allowed to do what the design team tells them to do.

What we need is a Q&A session with the design team, not the developers.

[zekopeko]

I tried to read most of the post. First it started good with asking question about why the heck isnt the dock movable.. Then it turned in to blahh blahh blahh..

A better question would why the heck wasnt Docky used instead when its already completely functional. Tragically all I am seeing is a bunch of reinventing of the wheel just for the sake of having your own brand.. Its complete nonsense IMHO.

Why Docky wasn't used was answered.

[Bandit]

Why Docky wasn't used was answered.

Hmm I missed that I guess. What did they say about it, what was their purpose for re-inventing a dock..

[FreeTheBee]

Hmm I missed that I guess. What did they say about it, what was their purpose for re-inventing a dock..

This has been my main question regarding unity as well.

Why docky and gnome-do weren't used. (http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/k2nvl/we_are_the_ubuntu_unity_development_team_we_3/c2h3sv9)