Ubuntu Unity 25.04 Brings Back Ubuntu’s Biggest Miss
Once upon a time, Canonical migrated away from the GNOME-based desktop to create its own, in-house desktop called Unity.
With Unity, there was an ultimate goal: desktop convergence. The idea was to take a Ubuntu phone (which also used the Unity interface) and converge it with the desktop, such that if you docked your phone, it would automatically transform into a desktop interface.
Samsung later did the same thing with DEX, and Google might be heading in the same direction with Android.
Unfortunately, the Ubuntu phone couldn’t get off the ground, and Canonical backed off from the promise of convergence. Shortly after that, the company announced it was moving back to a GNOME-based desktop.
Alas, Unity was no more.
In my opinion, that move was the biggest disappointment I’ve experienced with Linux over the last 28 years. From my perspective, Unity wasn’t just a beautiful UI; it was also one of the most efficient desktops on the market. Unity had a few features never before seen on the desktop that made using it a joy and an exercise in serious efficiency.
I mourned but moved on.
Fortunately, Unity eventually rose from the grave by way of an official Ubuntu Flavor, called Ubuntu Unity. The official description of Ubuntu Unity reads:
Bringing the best of Ubuntu and Unity together, Ubuntu Unity is a beautiful, slick and lightweight Ubuntu flavour. With its beautiful design, efficient and elegant workflow, and features like the heads-up display (HUD), the Global Menu, powerful search and a high level of customizability (using the Unity Tweak Tool), you’ll be able to work with an unparalleled level of efficiency. You can also choose from a wide range of window animations and effects available in Compiz.
I’m going to jump right into this and mention my favorite features of Unity: the heads-up display (HUD) and the Global Menu.
HUD
Imagine if the GNOME Application Overview made it possible to not only open apps, but search for just about anything, open files, play media and more. The HUD (Figure 1) is essentially the Application Overview on steroids.
Figure 1: The HUD is an application overview with some extra magic.
The only caveat is that the HUD is not quite as flexible as it was during its official Ubuntu period. When it was a part of the official Ubuntu distribution, you could also run commands, install applications and even add searches for services like Amazon. It was spiffy.
Even still, the HUD allows you to filter your searches like no other overview or desktop menu. Just open the HUD (with the Super key), click Filter results, and select what you want to filter for your results.
It’s pretty swell.
Global Menu
My next favorite piece of the Unity pie is the Global Menu (Figure 2), which also happens to make the UI incredibly efficient.
Figure 2: The Ubuntu Unity Global Menu in action.
Allow me to set the stage.
You’re working on a LibreOffice document and you want to center a string of text. Normally, you’d place the cursor on the text and then navigate the LibreOffice menu or go through the sidebar to center that text.
Here’s how that goes with the Global Menu:
- With the cursor on the text to be centered, hit the Alt key on your keyboard.
- Type “center.”
- When the Center result appears, hit Enter on your keyboard.
That’s it.
The Global Menu makes most application menus searchable in this fashion, making for a seriously efficient workflow. This feature alone makes me yearn for the days when Ubuntu was building its own desktop environment.
But what about the Ubuntu Unity distribution? How does it fare?
Very well.
Caveat Emptor
There are, however, a couple of caveats to consider.
First off, Ubuntu Unity doesn’t always feel like the most stable desktop on the market. I’ve experienced plenty of hiccups, stalls and other oddities over the years since it first came into being. With each release, those things improve, but it has yet to feel like the DE is out of alpha. But this is Unity7, so it’s not an alpha release.
Second, the package manager frontend is Synaptic, which is an old-school GUI. Synaptic does a fine job of helping you install and manage applications, but it lacks Snap or Flatpak integration and (as I mentioned) the UI is outdated (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Synaptic gets the job done, but it lacks some features found in modern app centers.
Should You Use Ubuntu Unity?
This is a tricky question for a couple of reasons. First, there’s the fact that Ubuntu Unity isn’t quite as stable-feeling as the standard Ubuntu release. Second, Unity does demand a bit more system resources.
When I first spun up a virtual machine for Unity, I gave it the usual 3GB of RAM and 2 CPU cores, which was not enough. I had to bump the RAM up to 6GB and the cores to 4 just to get the desktop to function properly. Because of this, you’ll want to test Ubuntu Unity on a more modern machine. Install this on an old system, and the performance will most likely be a deal breaker.
But if you have a modern system with a bit more juice, Ubuntu Unity should perform just fine.
If you’re looking for an incredibly efficient desktop interface (and have the machine for it), Ubuntu Unity is a lot of fun. It also happens to be a rather elegant-looking desktop to boot.
Read about the latest release here and download an ISO from this official download link.
