Unity Is Strength
Unity Is Strength
Choice is good? And we've chosen.
So farewell then, Unity. Ubuntu's new, shiny, convergence-enabling desktop, which I rather liked once I got used to it, will go the way of all cast-off projects as of version 18.04, when the most important Linux distro around will switch back to Gnome as its standard desktop. Unity will continue on as Yunit, a community-run fork, and the world will go on turning. This is all good.
Since the day Canonical chose Unity over Gnome as the user-friendly desktop, their destinies have been locked together. This town (in the sense that Linux is a town, which of course it isn't) ain't big enough for the both of them. So given that only one was going to survive, we should be glad that it's Gnome that wins, rather than the less popular, less open competitor.
We should be glad that, thanks to the GPL, Unity will live on for as long as there are developers willing to work on it. And we should be glad that desktop Linux has a benefactor who, when he realizes that one of his favorite projects isn't working, isn't afraid to pull the plug to stop wasting time and effort. I speak, of course, of Mark Shuttleworth, Ubuntu's End Of Level Boss, who tried to convince us that convergence was the future back in the day. It turns out that people don't want a single operating system that works across all their devices and are quite happy to use different interfaces on different devices.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.
-
KDE Linux Alpha Available for Daring Users
It's official, KDE Linux has arrived, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
-
AMD Initiates Graphics Driver Updates for Linux Kernel 6.18
This new AMD update focuses on power management, display handling, and hardware support for Radeon GPUs.
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.
-
RingReaper Malware Poses Danger to Linux Systems
A new kind of malware exploits modern Linux kernels for I/O operations.
-
Happy Birthday, Linux
On August 25, Linux officially turns 34.
-
VirtualBox 7.2 Has Arrived
With early support for Linux kernel 6.17 and other new additions, VirtualBox 7.2 is a must-update for users.
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.