Ubuntu Linux 11.04: A whale of changes for Canonical's user base

I recently had a chance to take a look at the Alpha 3 release of Ubuntu 11.04, the latest version of Canonical’s Linux desktop OS that is due in April. 11.04 is considered to be a major release for Ubuntu because it represents a significant departure from the default GNOME UI to the new Unity UI.

Unity doesn’t so as much replace GNOME interface entirely but acts as a replacement shell layer for the default GNOME 2.3.x shell.

Unity has received quite a bit of criticism from the GNOME purists because it was developed entirely in-house by Canonical without consultation from the greater GNOME/Ubuntu and Open Source community at large. Much like Steve Jobs drives many of the design changes for Mac OS X and other products at Apple, for better or for worse Canonical’s Mark Shuttleworth decided that the future of Ubuntu’s desktop was going to be with Unity.