Unity (user interface)

Not to be confused with Unity (game engine) or Unity Operating System.

Unity
Original author(s)Canonical Ltd.
Developer(s)Unity7, UnityX: Unity7 Maintainers
Lomiri (Unity8): UBports
Initial release9 June 2010; 14 years ago (2010-06-09)[1]
Stable release
7.7 / December 24, 2022
Repository
Written inUnity 2D: C++, JavaScript, QML
2.0–7.4: C, C++, Python, Vala[2]
8: C++ and QML[3]
UnityX: Fish
Operating systemUbuntu Desktop, Ubuntu TV, Ubuntu Touch
TypeGraphical shell
LicenseGPL v3, LGPL v3
Websiteunityd.org Edit this on Wikidata

Unity is a graphical shell for the GNOME desktop environment 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. Since 2017, its development was taken over by the Unity7 Maintainers (Unity7)[4] and UBports (Lomiri, formerly known as Unity8).

Unity7 is the default desktop environment in Ubuntu Unity, an official flavor of Ubuntu since 2022. Ubuntu Unity and Unity7 Maintainers have started working on the successor of Unity7, UnityX.[5]

It was part of the Ayatana project, an initiative with the stated intention of improving the user experience within Ubuntu.[6] 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.[7][8] Unlike GNOME, KDE Plasma, Xfce, or LXDE, Unity is not a collection of applications. It is designed to use existing programs.[9]

  1. ^ Canonical Ltd. (December 2010). "Publishing history of "unity" package in Ubuntu". Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  2. ^ Jagdish Patel, Neil (November 2010). "~unity-team/unity/trunk: 4105". Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference ars_technica_2013-10-17 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Unity7 Maintainers Team in Launchpad". Launchpad. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Restarting Unity development in 2021 - Progress Report". Ubuntu Community Hub. 6 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Ayatana – Ubuntu Wiki". Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  7. ^ Proffitt, Brian (10 May 2010). "Ubuntu Unity Interface Tailored for Netbook Screens". ITWorld. Archived from the original on 31 October 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  8. ^ "Welcome to Ubuntu 11.04". Ubuntu Official Documentation. Ubuntu documentation team. Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
  9. ^ Jackson, Joab (25 October 2010). "Software / Services Oct 25, 2010 1:20 pm Canonical Ubuntu Splits From GNOME Over Design Issues". PC World Business Center. Archived from the original on 29 November 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2010.