Unity Desktop Makes a Comeback With the Upcoming Ubuntu 22.10

I loved the Unity desktop but not enough to keep on using it when Ubuntu ditched it in 2017 for GNOME.

I have started liking the customized GNOME Ubuntu offers. And the old flame enters again.

📣 Ubuntu Unity is going to be an official Ubuntu flavor with the release of version 22.10 Kinetic Kudu.

A quick recap to Ubuntu Unity Remix

The young developer Rudra Saraswat started (another) new distribution called Ubuntu Unity Remix back in 2020. It was built on top of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with the same Unity 7 that was abandoned by Ubuntu.

I ignored it. It was just the old Unity with Ubuntu 20.04 as base. A code untouched for three years? I saw no reasons to use it.

And it went on like that for almost two years. No changes were made to the Unity code base.

But then in June 2022, for the first time in six years, a new version of Unity was released.

Announcing the stable release of Unity 7.6

Unity 7.6 will be the first major release of Unity in 6 years (the last release was in May 2016).

unityUbuntu Unity

In my opinion, it was the first time the project showed real progress. It was no longer just a combination of the same old Unity code with a new Ubuntu base. There was actual code development.

The Ubuntu Unity Remix team seems determined to not just keep Unity alive but keep it healthy by fixing bugs and adding new features.

And that determination is what helped them gain the official Ubuntu flavor. Congratulations to them!

Official Ubuntu flavor? What kind of honor badge is that?

Ubuntu flavours offer a unique way to experience Ubuntu, each with their own choice of default applications and settings. Ubuntu flavours are owned and developed by members of global community and backed by the full Ubuntu archive for packages and updates.

The diverse Linux world has several desktop environments (DEs).

While the Ubuntu developers focus on the GNOME desktop, community members offer Ubuntu with DEs like KDE (Kubuntu), Xfce (Xubuntu) etc. There are also special purpose variants like Ubuntu Studio (for audio and video editors) and Ubuntu Kylin (for Chinese users).

These official flavors follow the same release cycle as the main Ubuntu release and get the same packages and updates as the default Ubuntu GNOME.

Not all Ubuntu remixes are official flavors though. Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix and Ubuntu DDE Remix exist but don't have the 'official tag' yet.

What next for Ubuntu Unity Remix?

First, it is now called Ubuntu Unity, not Ubuntu Unity Remix. Since it is an official flavor now, it can drop the 'remix' from its name. The 'remix' indicates that the project is not officially supported by Ubuntu/Canonical.

As an official flavor, the daily builds of Ubuntu Unity Remix version 22.10 will be served from the Ubuntu archives (not added at the moment).

It will follow the same release schedule as Ubuntu 22.10 and will be released in October along with the other Ubuntu flavors.

You can follow the project's progress on its website or join its social media channels.

💬 What do you think of Ubuntu Unity getting the official flavor status? Are you looking forward to going back to Unity? The comment section is all yours.

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