Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Unity (user interface)
Unity is a graphical shell originally developed by Canonical Ltd. for its Ubuntu operating system. It debuted in 2010 in the netbook edition of Ubuntu 10.10 and was used until Ubuntu 17.10. Following its discontinuation by Canonical in 2017, development of forks of Unity7 and Unity8 has continued – the latter was renamed Lomiri in February 2020.
Unity7 is the default desktop environment in Ubuntu Unity, an official flavor of Ubuntu since 2022. The maintainers of Ubuntu Unity and Unity7 have started working on the successor of Unity7, UnityX.
It was part of the Ayatana project, an initiative with the stated intention of improving the user experience within Ubuntu. It was initially designed to make more efficient use of space given the limited screen size of netbooks, including, for example, a vertical application switcher called the launcher, and a space-saving horizontal multipurpose top menu bar. Unlike GNOME, KDE Plasma, Xfce, or LXDE, Unity is not a collection of applications. It is designed to use existing programs.
The Unity user interface consists of several components:
Dash is a desktop search utility with preview ability. It enables searching for applications and files. Dash supports search plug-ins, known as Scopes (formerly Lenses). Out of the box, it can query Google Docs, Ubuntu One Music Store, YouTube, Amazon, and social networks (for example, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+). Starting with Ubuntu 13.10, online search queries are sent to a Canonical web service which determines the type of query and directs them to the appropriate third-party web service. Pornographic results are filtered out.
One of the new features of Unity in Ubuntu 12.10 is the shopping lens. As of October 2012, it sent search terms from the user's home lens to Canonical's servers via HTTPS, which would forward them to Amazon which, as part of the search process, sends images of matching products to the lens via HTTP, with Canonical receiving a small commission upon a sale.
Many reviewers criticized it: as the home lens is the natural means to search for content on the local machine, reviewers were concerned about the disclosure of queries that were intended to be local, creating a privacy problem. The feature is active by default (instead of opt-in) and many users could be unaware of it.
On 23 September 2012, Mark Shuttleworth defended the feature. He posted "the Home Lens of the Dash should let you find *anything* anywhere" and that the shopping lens is a step in that direction. He argued that anonymity is preserved because Canonical servers mediate the communication between Unity and Amazon and users could trust Ubuntu. Ubuntu Community Manager Jono Bacon posted "These features are neatly and unobtrusively integrated into the dash, and they not only provide a more useful and comprehensive dash in giving you visibility on this content, but it also generates revenue to help continue to grow and improve Ubuntu." Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols from ZDNet said the feature does not bother him and wrote "If they can make some users happy and some revenue for the company at the same time, that's fine by me." Ted Samson at InfoWorld reported the responses from Shuttleworth and Bacon, but he still criticized the feature.
Hub AI
Unity (user interface) AI simulator
(@Unity (user interface)_simulator)
Unity (user interface)
Unity is a graphical shell originally developed by Canonical Ltd. for its Ubuntu operating system. It debuted in 2010 in the netbook edition of Ubuntu 10.10 and was used until Ubuntu 17.10. Following its discontinuation by Canonical in 2017, development of forks of Unity7 and Unity8 has continued – the latter was renamed Lomiri in February 2020.
Unity7 is the default desktop environment in Ubuntu Unity, an official flavor of Ubuntu since 2022. The maintainers of Ubuntu Unity and Unity7 have started working on the successor of Unity7, UnityX.
It was part of the Ayatana project, an initiative with the stated intention of improving the user experience within Ubuntu. It was initially designed to make more efficient use of space given the limited screen size of netbooks, including, for example, a vertical application switcher called the launcher, and a space-saving horizontal multipurpose top menu bar. Unlike GNOME, KDE Plasma, Xfce, or LXDE, Unity is not a collection of applications. It is designed to use existing programs.
The Unity user interface consists of several components:
Dash is a desktop search utility with preview ability. It enables searching for applications and files. Dash supports search plug-ins, known as Scopes (formerly Lenses). Out of the box, it can query Google Docs, Ubuntu One Music Store, YouTube, Amazon, and social networks (for example, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+). Starting with Ubuntu 13.10, online search queries are sent to a Canonical web service which determines the type of query and directs them to the appropriate third-party web service. Pornographic results are filtered out.
One of the new features of Unity in Ubuntu 12.10 is the shopping lens. As of October 2012, it sent search terms from the user's home lens to Canonical's servers via HTTPS, which would forward them to Amazon which, as part of the search process, sends images of matching products to the lens via HTTP, with Canonical receiving a small commission upon a sale.
Many reviewers criticized it: as the home lens is the natural means to search for content on the local machine, reviewers were concerned about the disclosure of queries that were intended to be local, creating a privacy problem. The feature is active by default (instead of opt-in) and many users could be unaware of it.
On 23 September 2012, Mark Shuttleworth defended the feature. He posted "the Home Lens of the Dash should let you find *anything* anywhere" and that the shopping lens is a step in that direction. He argued that anonymity is preserved because Canonical servers mediate the communication between Unity and Amazon and users could trust Ubuntu. Ubuntu Community Manager Jono Bacon posted "These features are neatly and unobtrusively integrated into the dash, and they not only provide a more useful and comprehensive dash in giving you visibility on this content, but it also generates revenue to help continue to grow and improve Ubuntu." Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols from ZDNet said the feature does not bother him and wrote "If they can make some users happy and some revenue for the company at the same time, that's fine by me." Ted Samson at InfoWorld reported the responses from Shuttleworth and Bacon, but he still criticized the feature.