[ubuntu] Canonical is giving up on Ubuntu for phones and tablets (and Unity)

[Arthur]

With such a limited range of phones and tablets running Ubuntu I guess this was inevitable.

 

Ubuntu Unity is dead: Desktop will switch back to GNOME next year

 

Six years after making Unity the default user interface on Ubuntu desktops, Canonical is giving up on the project and will switch the default Ubuntu desktop back to GNOME next year. Canonical is also ending development of Ubuntu software for phones and tablets, spelling doom for the goal of creating a converged experience with phones acting as desktops when docked with the right equipment.

 

Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth explained the move in a blog post Wednesday. "I’m writing to let you know that we will end our investment in Unity8, the phone and convergence shell," he wrote. "We will shift our default Ubuntu desktop back to GNOME for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS," which will ship in April 2018.

 

This is a return to the early years of Ubuntu, when the desktop shipped with GNOME instead of a Canonical-developed user interface. Shuttleworth's blog post didn't specifically say that phone and tablet development is ending. But Canonical Community Manager Michael Hall confirmed to Ars that the Ubuntu phone and tablet project is over.

 

Canonical is giving up on Ubuntu for phones and tablets

 

Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu linux distribution, has been trying to make a dent in the mobile market for years. Back in 2012, it developed a feature that allowed phones to dock into full Ubuntu PCs, similar to Samsung DeX. That eventually evolved into Ubuntu for phones and tablets, a mobile OS specifically designed to work as as phone and portable PC.

 

In a blog post, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth announced the end of Unity 8's development, which would have been Ubuntu's new interface across all platforms. The new version of Unity was integral to the future of Ubuntu on mobile devices, and as such, development for Ubuntu on phones and tablets is ending as well. Ubuntu on the desktop will return to using GNOME as the desktop environment.

 

Ubuntu Phone never gained any real traction from device manufacturers or carriers. Only six devices ever shipped with the OS, and only from Meizu and BQ. A handful of Android devices also received ports, either by Canonical or through the UBports project. By contrast, Mozilla's Firefox OS (which was killed off in February) shipped on 23 phones and three tablets.

 

This is just more evidence that Android and iOS are the only viable mobile operating systems on the market. Without the massive library of applications that both platforms have, Ubuntu Phone never really had a chance to succeed - but I commend Canonical for trying.

[FN-GM]

I liked unity, I think I was in the minority though.

 

I am not a heavy Ubuntu desktop user, so not the end of the world.

[admars]

I dabbled in Ubuntu but switched to Mint, as many ppl said, "Ubuntu done properly "

I've never seen an Ubuntu phone in real life was an interesting idea, price put me off trying, support, and apps like mobile banking.

[admars]

Ubuntu 17.04 is out now:

Distribution Release: Ubuntu 17.04 (DistroWatch.com News)

 

https://www.ubuntu.com/

 

the other variants out as the day goes on I guess

 

I probably won't get chance, but if I do, I may give it a go over the weekend

[shibaa987]

Well, I am big fan of Ubuntu and it's a sad news for me.

At the same time I am not much surprised because there are many other similar projects are either already failed or are at the verge of failure: Sailfish OS (made by ex-NOKIA employees), Firefox OS, Tizen (by Samsung Intel and others).

 

I feel like, Android is the key player here and somewhere responsible for the failure of other OS'

Android has already killed the Windows mobile OS completely and here is a news for all of ya:

Android now the world's dominant OS, surpassing Windows