14 DAY TRIAL // Ubuntu developers will eventually converge Unity8, which currently runs only on Ubuntu for phones, on the desktop and they have assured us that it won’t be a watered-down version of the tablet version.
Besides the work that's being done on Ubuntu for phones and everything else that goes with it, one of the most interesting development advances has been made for Unity, the default desktop environment used by Ubuntu operating systems.
Up until now, in Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy Salamander) and even the soon-to-be-launched Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr), Unity7 was being used as the default version. It’s has been proven to work with very few problems, but it’s no longer suited for Canonical’s convergence purposes.
Right from the start of the development cycle for Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr), the developers have said that Ubuntu for phones will be the main focus. This also meant that Unity8 was an important part of that focus.
The current goal, but not the promise, is to bring Unity8 in Ubuntu 14.10. The main worry was that it was going to look too much like something designed for phones and tablets, but Ubuntu Community Manager Jono Bacon has assured us that it won’t be the case, mostly because convergence is also about adaptability.
“We want to ship Unity8 on the desktop once will converge it to look like a desktop operating system. Rest assured that Unity8, when it’s released onto the desktop, will look like a desktop.”
“Some people were a little bit worried that the desktop interface of Ubuntu was going to look like a tablet, almost like Metro. That’s not going to be the case, it’s going to look like a desktop,” said Jono Bacon in a comprehensive Ubuntu Development Update Presentation.
There you go, there is no reason to fear that a “Metro” incident will occur with Unity8 on the desktop, but if you want to get an idea about how it will look, you can always check Ubuntu for phones and tablets.