You can opt out of sending metrics back, but Mark Shuttleworth says that the metadata will help guide decisions about future releases and give Canonical a picture of what kind of hardware people are installing Ubuntu on. And Ubuntu has never been better. While the Unity user interface was very much a love it or hate it experience, it was for better or worse the thing slack ubuntu 18 10 defined Ubuntu for nearly the past decade. You might think the end of Unity would leave Ubuntu rudderless and drifting, but I'd argue it has done just the opposite. In my several months of testing throughout the beta release cycle, 18. In fact, that effort isn't even the most interesting part of what's new in 18. Much of what's great in this release isn't aimed at the desktop. Rather, server users deploying Ubuntu on any one of the major cloud platforms will really enjoy this latest iteration. That reality might be a little disconcerting to desktop users, many of whom are already convinced Ubuntu is going to abandon the desktop in favor of the more profitable worlds of server and IoT, but I don't think that's the case. If nothing else, Canonical knows developers need a solid desktop on which to do their work, so Ubuntu is unlikely to get rid of its desktop just because it's less profitable. While it's purely anecdotal, most developers I've met and worked with who used Ubuntu did so because they got used to it on a server first. That's why it makes sense of Canonical to slack ubuntu 18 10 on servers: not only is it where the money is, it's where a good portion of its desktop users is coming from. By comparison, Unity was solely the work of Canonical developers. So the short story is Unity is gone, but there's no need to panic. Nearly every part of Ubuntu 18. There's a new desktop, a new lock screen, some new default apps, and of course a new kernel under the hood. That said, the change is surprisingly easy to make in most cases. This is also the place to opt out of Ubuntu's data gathering, which grabs some statistics about your system hardware. One is to install the version of Unity 7 that's in the Ubuntu repos. It's community supported and seems to be active so far. With a little fiddling in the config editor, that can be made to mimic Unity pretty closely. There are some exceptions, though. Files is up to date, and there are no patches. That means there are some new features, like the ability to tag files and a new search interface. Ubuntu has done a bit of tweaking so that you can actually put launchers, folders, and files on your desktop, which should be welcome news for many Ubuntu users. For now at least, if you want files and folders on your desktop, you're all set. It has app indicators, status messages, network controls, and user slack ubuntu 18 10 like Unity, but this iteration also adds a different app menu and a calendar applet in the center of the screen. There's also something like a global menu, minus the menu. When apps are maximized, the name of the app appears in the top menu, along with a one-item menu—quit is generally your only option. A couple of apps slack ubuntu 18 10 a few extra items in their menus—Terminal and Files, for example—but it's a far cry from the menu-in-top-bar feature of Unity. Scott Gilbertson Another thing you'll notice in this release is that the window management buttons are back on the right side of the title bar. Once you get past the differences with Unity, however, there's much to like about this release. It's certainly a pretty desktop, and Ubuntu's default theme has received quite a few updates that make it look really nice, especially in Files. There were rumors of a brand-new theme, perhaps one that doesn't involve any brown or orange even, but that did not materialize in time for this release. I reverted to stock for the screenshot here, but I generally prefer the dark variant of the Arc theme. There's a new Night Light app, which warms your monitor's color temperature after sunset to lessen eye strain. There's also improved support for Thunderbolt 3, and there are media player controls in the message tray, which supports just about all the popular media players, including Rhythmbox and Spotify. If it displays apps on-screen and doesn't crash I'm happy. Ars may earn compensation on sales from links on this site. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.
