Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but personally I think the two wallpapers shown are awful.

This new wallpaper ( https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/Intrepid/Earthenibex_wallpaper?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=earthenibex-edit.png ) with Dust theme ( https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/DustTheme ) looks really GREAT. Now i need only a professional dark icons :)

Ain't it a bit weird for a default wallpaper? Looks like a good entry for a ground&dirt texture collection, not for an elegant desktop. I'm glad I'll be able to change it once I upgrade ;).
Which doesn't change the fact that Ubuntu remains my favourite and beloved operating system :)

It's better than the dots wallpaper. That's not saying much though...

i really like the new wallpaper and i can see were they are going with it. i sure hope that they will make an awesome theme for ubuntu

I like them a lot. If this is the direction that the Ubuntu art team are looking down, I'm excited.

@Skoruppa I saw some nice black icons for the mac in a recent lifehacker article: http://lifehacker.com/5060772/the-mac-meets-windows-dual+desktop

So I converted them to .png files to use in Ubuntu. It is not a drop in replacement icon set but you can choose individual icons to use such as in a dock or the desktop:

http://rapidshare.com/files/152446559/BlackSystem_.tar.gz.html

I'm terribly sorry, I don't mean to be rude. But this article is terrible. Softpedia is meant to be professional.

For starters, the dark theme was meant for testing purposes to test dark themes with various applications. From it, we all found out that OOo doesn't play well with such things. It was in a testing release because well, it was for testing. Also, of course Canonical has hired professionals for his new artwork team. It was announced on Ken Wimer's (From Canonical's) blog and Mark Shuttleworth's.

Sorry D:

As an amateur graphic design, I must say that the wallpaper is quite nice. I'm sure all of you were expecting the traditional 3D graphics wallpapers. (which take about as much time to make as it does to take a shit, and they look the part as well.)

Isn't it obvious that all new OS sports new wallpapers ???
Anyway the Interpid will be the best of ubuntu :)

openoffice 3.0, are you sure?

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openoffice.org/+bug/267376

Nothing special at all. They're gonna have to do much better than that to grab some attention... attraction is always how it starts! :)

If you are vain or stupid enough to select an operating system based on looks alone, you deserve to get Vista foisted upon you, or whatever
other crap you get, as long as it is pretty.

I like this wallpaper a lot. I could definitely get used to it.

A coffee stain? Oh well... beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I like it -- it is sharp, original, and carries on the Africa-themed look we've long expected from Ubuntu. That said, it wouldn't hurt to have a dozen theme alternatives for people who don't agree with me. (And for that matter, how about more themes installed by default for the OpenOffice presentation program?) Like it or not, eye-candy (sometimes) will sell an OS. Why not compete on a visually level playing field with the other players (and be technically superior at the same time)?

I really like this background. It fits the art (oil paintings) that I've got in my studio perfectly. These toned down, warm colors are very well choosen!

Actually I quite like it. At first glance you may not like it because it's not your average common wallpaper theme that people expect but this is real art and I appreciate that. It's interesting. I have the default theme for 8.04 which again was a work art and I probably have this as default too. I love Ubuntu to shake things up a little.

Yea!! Linux has Walpaper!!!

No wonder Windows has 90% of the market... One word for Linux... Hibernate.

Just get Linux to Hibernate successfully around 50% of the time - then that would be something to write about. Otherwise the rest of us will get things done on that commercial OS with lots of apps.

Too funny.

OpenOffice.org 3.0.0?
The motu told me that was unlikely due to being past feature freeze....
Well, no matter, if it is in 8.10, I'll be very glad to see it :)

KDE > GNOME

i think linux has to improve his environment cause the first look is very important.

Isn't it?

The OS is based on an african word, so it only makes sense to have a kind of rustic, human theme. Nothing says comfort more than old leather.. Of course everyone has their own taste, but it seems that they've been going this way for some time.

"The goggles, they do nothing!"

They look very nice, especially the dark one.

But however took those screenshots has a horrible sense of taste.

The metacity/emerald theme doesn't fit the gtk theme at all.

Also the single panel at the bottom is not to my liking.

Oh come on!

Ubuntu releases a new wallpaper and so what?

Is that the best Softpedia can do?

I believe that SERIOUS geek websites have better things to do than writing about some wallpapers. It's getting more attention than the new kernel 2.6.27!

Don't misjudge me, I am a happy Ubuntu-user myself. I do however, find this article very ridiculous.

I like the font settings in screenshot ubuntu810-intrepidibexwall-large_002.jpg. Which font are you using?

Just look at it! A new wallpaper! And it will get Ubuntu closer to OS X! ...are you linux fanboys really all living on another planet or what?

Personally, I'm amazed you bothered to write an article about this. It seems a bit unnecessary to shout to the world, "There's a new wallpaper!", if you ask me.

hi there

on the site

www.ubuntu.com

does not show this wallpaper in fact show only the wallpaper in the beta

ummmm
strange

ozie
Portugal

Ouch... awfull - the 3'rd image (2'ng image - the darkest one?) looks like someone screaming! Shoulders on the right - face tilted high with the chin jutting out and a crying into the air....
Not a background I want.

It's a wallpaper only DEXTER could love ! :D

Still dog-bleep brown. That, my friends, is why I use Linux Mint. :-)

I thought that it looked dirty and weird until I googled "ibex" and found a Wikipedia entry with a picture of one.

Now, I can see the Ibex in the wallpaper and it looks pretty good.

The font is Sans, size 9 (for all) with Subpixel smoothing (LCDs)

why do people always complain on the internet

Augh, what's the point?

I'm not sure what these people like, to be honest. Everything made by the Ubuntu team is just insulted and demeaned, because it's brown. This is a very beautiful wallpaper, and I'll be happy to use it (on my awesome Ubuntu based Openbox install ;D).

Not happy about the theme, though. The fact is, it's hardly changed and it's nearly universally hated. And they've promised to change it, twice (in 8.04 and 8.10).

TO KYLE WHITE ABOVE COMMENT 23 - "The OS is based on an african word, so it only makes sense to have a kind of rustic, human theme

This is the most stupid statement i have ever heard in my whole life. You are so gullible and know so little about the rest of the world...What did you mean by associating africa with rustic...and i am sure u have never left ur country before. Choose an example like nebraska in your country the next time you think of the word rustic. You are plain stupid associating africa(ubuntu) with the descriptive words coarse, simple, rough....Grow up and broaden your world view....

The theme of a dry blood stained wall in an African mud hut after some ethnic cleansing recently occurred is not quite my thing. Another problem I have with it is the poor legibility of icons and icon texts. You can't just make something African looking and slam that into a desktop background. Much more consideration is needed than that.

A.Q., what is your tourettes rant all about? He only said "rustic". There's nothing wrong with that or has that become the new R-word? You in your attempt to victimize him (perhaps to make you feel better about yourself), made the associations "course, simple, rough" and also associated them with Africa, not him.

wow, this is pointless, if you dont like the new wallpaper, google a different one, I personly like it, but this is my first time using Ubuntu (I dual boot with XP) and I love it