The latest development releases of Ubuntu 17.10 have indicated substantial changes in the next Ubuntu release. Changes that will affect many users of the distribution and that at least will generate controversy among the members of the Community.
Ubuntu 17.10 will change window controls by default. This means that the maximize, minimize and close buttons will be on the right of the window, on our left if we take our view as a reference.
The distribution Ubuntu changed the position of window controls in 2010, something that generated a lot of controversy, not because it was ineffective but because many users who changed their operating system or distribution had problems with the change and it was also the only distribution that did. Finally, the controversy gave way, as well as problems with position change and thanks to customizations, but the request always remained and now Ubuntu has taken it up again.
Window controls generated a lot of controversy in 2010 and will generate controversy with Ubuntu 17.10
This change will be applied in Ubuntu 17.10 and in the rest of its flavors, being present in the next and subsequent versions. But window controls aren't the only new thing we've come across. Wayland, the famous Open Source graphical server, has finally been confirmed as Ubuntu's graphical server. It will be the same version used by other distributions but officially it has become Ubuntu's graphical server, something that many of us sensed as Unity 8 was strongly related to MIR. About MIR we do not know anything like the compatibility of Unity 7 with Wayland, but if it is changed, possibly there are no problems between the graphic server and the desktop.
And with this, more cosmetic changes that Ubuntu 17.10 will receive, changes that some will like and not others, but that really do not harm the performance and power that the Ubuntu distribution currently has.
The idea of putting the controls near the file menu, edit, is good, although other systems have it on the left, I do not think that is why it is ineffective or that it is better. But it is also something that can be customized in some flavors of Ubuntu.