unity-design team mailing list archive

[Britt Yazel <bwyazel@xxxxxxxxx>]

As many of you have heard, Elementary OS has had it's beta 1 release, and
after spending using and learning their operating system, I have come to
appreciate it greatly. The primary reason for my appreciation is their
continuity in their user interface, they tasteful animations, and their
stability.

The one thing that Elementary has done extremely well is the creation of
their own DE called Pantheon. They have created more than just a shell for
Gnome3 (not to belittle what Unity has done), but they have also rebuilt
most of their underlying technologies as well to fit exactly their purpose,
rather than relying on Gnome. Gala is one such example, to remove their
dependence on Compiz. They have also made many of their own default
applications to fit THEIR purpose, rather than trying to make their purpose
fit a wide assortment of apps. (Midori, Maya, Noise, Scratch, etc)

Now, I dont mean to belittle Gnome or Ubuntu. I use Ubuntu on a daily basis
and love it greatly, and I also help with the Ubuntu Gnome Remix. I just
think that ridding ourselves of Compiz dependence, and making Unity more
than just the Visual shell, and rather creating more of the back-end
utilities in house (like Gala and Mutter) will lead to a desktop that is
more cohesive, rather than feeling "patchy".

If this isn't possible, then perhaps we should be working with the
Elementary team on their default app set and their underlying technologies,
(could Unity make use of Gala instead of compiz?) Is Noise closer to
Ubuntu's main goals for a music app than Rhythmbox?

Let me know what you guys think. Cheers!

 -Britt Yazel