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One of the big features that Ubuntu 8.04 was supposed to ship with in April was a completely revamped theme. That was one of the key things that everyone was looking forward to, but it has since been erased off the list.
Normally every Long Term Support (LTS) release is supposed to get a fresh new look, which the last LTS release that happened in was Ubuntu 6.06 back in June 2006. Since Ubuntu 8.04 is also a LTS release many people were expecting to see widespread visual changes across the operating system, but that’s now getting pushed back to 8.10 which will be out in late 2008.
Kenneth Wimer, who does the artwork for many of the Ubuntu variants, said:
Many of the basic questions have now been answered and we can begin to move forward in earnest – remember though, we are not going to change the theme for Hardy radically as it is the last of the LTS cycle (stated in previous mails, launchpad blueprints, irc, etc).
The screenshot that you see above is just one of the many mockups that have been submitted as a possible redesign. I have to admit that it looks rather sweet, and I like the light-colored appearance of the entire mockup. Hopefully when Ubuntu does receive the facelift it will look something like that.
All is not lost though. Ubuntu 8.04 will still be bursting with new features including PulseAudio, Brasero disk burner, Compiz Fusion improvements, and much more. I don’t think there’s any need for me to say that I’m pretty excited to see what the final product is like!
Sidenote: A Long Term Support (LTS) version of Ubuntu means that they will release updates for three years on the desktop edition and five years on server edition.
[via Tombuntu]
Ahhh baga…oh well. I use my own mix and match theme any way (GNOME icons, Clearlooks, with whatever I feel like having for my wallpaper).
P.S. some of those mock ups looked really well done.
Gelatin (the theme you wrote about) is available for download! Well, sorta. The panels don’t look like the screenshot yet.
[kims-area.com]
The current trend in consumer packaging is towards white space and a “clean” look. Dark schemes look…old.
The ” gelatin theme has a rather unusually large title bar with ugly looking close and maximize buttons. Other than that i like the theme.
I also use a combinatio of GTK themes and icon sets. Right now i have the nuove theme with ubuntu studio icons.
ubuntu 8.0 is a exciting release. Firefox 3, brasero, pulseaudio, UFW( uncomplicated firewall) Vinagre VNC client and so many new addiions. i cant wait
Sweet, I would be pretty happy seeing that full theme available as a standalone theme. Then I don’t have to wait to have a great-looking system.
I was rather taken back by how good some of them looked. They obviously put a lot of time into making something functional that also looked good.