The Ubuntu project supports a constellation of different editions or flavors that are all built on the Ubuntu codebase. Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE), Lubuntu (Ubuntu with LXQt), and Xubuntu (Ubuntu with Xfce) are all popular alternatives to the default Gnome-based configuration. If you're looking to combine the power and reliability of Ubuntu with a simple and intuitive desktop environment, Ubuntu MATE [1] might offer the best of both worlds.

The MATE (pronounced ma-tay) project was started in 2011 by developers who disagreed with the direction of the Gnome desktop at the time of the Gnome 3 release [2]. They argued that new Gnome Shell was unnecessarily complicated, and they wanted to continue with the Gnome environment they had grown accustomed to with Gnome 2. The developers forked the Gnome 2 code to launch the MATE project. Since then, the MATE desktop has found a stable place in the Linux desktop pantheon. Originally launched by the Arch Linux community, today MATE is often associated with Linux Mint, where it is one of the headline desktop options.

It didn't take long for the Ubuntu community to show an interest in the MATE desktop. Ubuntu MATE launched in 2014, and by 2015, it had gained official Ubuntu flavor status. (See the box entitled "The Leader" for a brief profile of Ubuntu MATE project leader Martin "Wimpy" Wimpress.) I first learned about Ubuntu MATE at a local Linux Meetup [3] in 2016. My first impression was that the project looked like solid work, and the team was well organized with an impressive level of maturity and organizational structure considering the length of its existence.

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