A really shocking news for Unity fans. Canonical via its CEO, Mark Shuttleworth decide that Unity will be replaced by GNOME in the next Ubuntu LTS release (18.04 LTS). Canonical stops the development of Unity 8, convergence, Ubuntu Phone and some other features (Via OMGUbuntu). But apart from the decision, Ubuntu 17.04 was released few days ago and is it worth to upgrade to this version?
There are some interesting features that come with Ubuntu 17.04. But again, I am pretty sad they dropped Unity development because Unity is identical with Ubuntu and that makes Ubuntu different. Even many people complaint about Unity performance, I still don’t want to lose Unity from Linux world.
Ubuntu 17.04 Features
- NO Swap files required
- Linux Kernel 4.10
- Newly updated software
- Many minor fixes and upgrades
Ubuntu 17.04 Review
I run my Ubuntu 17.04 from a Live USB on top of my ThinkPad E440 Laptop. It runs pretty smooth, and at impressive speed. The most relevant improvement that I have here is the speed. The current version of Unity works pretty well and its feel better than ever. Please remember, I run it from USB drive!!. Switching between opened windows are also smooth. You can get the copy of Ubuntu 17.04 ISO and download Rufus application to create a Live USB from Windows machine.
I do care about Linux desktop appearance, default theming and looks. Ubuntu 17.04 default look is fine. Not my favorite but I think it still way better than some other distros such as CentOS, Debian or even Fedora. But it still can’t beat Deepin 15.4, Korora or Neon.
The new Linux Kernel 4.10 brings more hardware supports to Ubuntu. All hardware on my laptop are recognized and work properly. We can also install additional drivers if we want.
Updated Applications
Ubuntu 17.04 Zesty Zapus comes with several default applications such as LibreOffice 5.3.1.2, Mozilla Firefox 52.0.1, Transmission BitTorrent 2.92. The Ubuntu Store is more responsive now but I don’t use it mostly.
I wish Ubuntu will still develop Unity no matter what. Its a great desktop environment and its unique. Also, in this 17.04 version, Unitry does a great performance.
