Unity 8 still won't be a good choice to use on Ubuntu 20.04

Unity 8

Earlier this decade, Canonical told us about a convergence that was intended to make it possible for us to use the same operating system on computers, tablets, and mobile phones. The graphical environment that this ubiquitous operating system would use would be Unity, more specifically a Unity 8 which had a similar distribution to Unity 7, but with a flatter design and modern. The company backtracked on convergence and went back to GNOME on Ubuntu, but ubports continued with the development of Ubuntu Touch and the graphical environment.

This has been made known by the UBports developers answering a question about Unity 8 on Ubuntu 20.04. They say yes, there will be something to download this April, but it will definitely not be "usable." In all likelihood, yes will be an option a year later, coinciding with the release of Ubuntu 21.04 HAnimal target. Still, they do not promise anything and ask for more help from developers who can contribute work or carry out tests.

Unity 8 is still a year away from being usable

In the sense of having something available to download, then most likely yes. But it will definitely not be usable. You still need a lot of work on the desk part. You can expect something vaguely usable in the space of a year, but we're not making any promises about it. As with all work of this type, more involvement from experienced developers would go a long way. However, this is a highly advanced and specialized area, so finding people will be difficult.

As we have explained, Unity 8 was intended to be an evolution of the previous version that would also look good on mobile devices. It left a very good taste in everyone who tried it, but Canonical never released it because they gave up and decided to go back to a more updated version of the graphical environment that gave us so much joy. In just over a year, it is probably an option to consider.


Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

*

*

  1. Responsible for the data: Miguel Ángel Gatón
  2. Purpose of the data: Control SPAM, comment management.
  3. Legitimation: Your consent
  4. Communication of the data: The data will not be communicated to third parties except by legal obligation.
  5. Data storage: Database hosted by Occentus Networks (EU)
  6. Rights: At any time you can limit, recover and delete your information.