What’s more, I found the integration with Ubuntu’s Messaging Menu, notification system, launcher, plugins, etc to be buggy and hit-and-miss in my hands-on with it. Of itself this isn’t a bad change in fact, for a whole heap of reasons it makes a lot of sense.īut the browser is neither as featured as Firefox, or as intuitive to use. Unity Web Apps no longer use Firefox (or Chromium, if you use that as default) as a container, but the QML-powered Ubuntu Browser used on the phone and tablet builds.

Rhythmbox is updated to version 3.0.2, and Empathy version 3.8.6. The latest versions of LibreOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird and Shotwell are included. The UI has also been optimised for high pixel density displays, allowing the OS to play nicely on the latest hardware. Animations are seamless, with few (if any) visible tears, glitches or flinching.

Unity 8 Preview: Don’t expect anything special or stable, but ideal for developersĬompiz, the graphics engine Unity uses, feels buttery smooth.

App Menu Option: Puts app menus back in app windows.

App & Window Spread Typing: Narrow windows down by name.

Theme Changes: borderless windows, antialiased corners and gradient tweaks.

New Lock Screen: slick, matches login screen and now easier to access.

All of these thread throughout the OS to enhance rather than overhaul. Three key elements are intrinsic to this release looking and working as great as it does: speed, options, and design. And with this potentially the last proper outing of it, it’s fitting that it’ll be maintained for the next five years.

In Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, Unity finally hit its stride.

The version of Unity in this release does everything you want it to, in a way that no longer feels half-baked or forced. Rough edges have been smoothed out much wanted options have been re-added (however reluctantly) and with hardware support in the Linux kernel, which underpins the OS as a whole, more robust than ever, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS is pretty much the complete package.

Download ubuntu 14.04 now