Following Canonical's pivot away from its internally-developed Unity user interface and Mir display server, Ubuntu has enjoyed two relatively low-drama years, as the Linux Desktop market homogenized during its transition back to a customized GNOME desktop. In a review of the most recent release, TechRepublic's Jack Wallen declared that "Ubuntu 19.04 should seriously impress anyone looking for a fast and reliable Linux desktop platform."
Largely, it's been a slow-and-steady pace for Ubuntu since the pivot from Unity to GNOME, though the distribution made headlines for plans to end support for 32-bit support. This prompted Valve, operators of games marketplace Steam, to re-think its approach toward Ubuntu, which it previously characterized as "as the best-supported path for desktop users."
TechRepublic's James Sanders interviewed Will Cooke, director of engineering for Ubuntu Desktop at Canonical, about the distribution's long-term plans for legacy 32-bit support, shipping a desktop in a post-Unity-era Ubuntu, and why Linux should be the first choice for users migrating from Windows 7 prior to the end of support.
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ubuntu-what-does-the-future-look-like-post-unity/
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Pino P on Wednesday July 10 2019, @08:55PM (1 child)
Historically, one major advantage of Ubuntu and other distributions based on it was better hardware autodetection and more defaults that "just work" during install for common classes of desktop and laptop computing tasks. About when did Slackware catch up in that respect?
(Score: 3, Informative) by melikamp on Wednesday July 10 2019, @09:00PM
Hardware detection is in the kernel now, but what you are saying is still an issue when it comes to user-friendliness. You can't really compare Ubuntu to Slackware in this area: I mean, for x-sake, Slackware still boots into command line on install, AND THAT'S TEH WAY WE LIKE IT, tyvm. Ubuntu, otoh, goes out of its way to set shit up so that the user doesn't have to, and it it really make a difference.