Ubuntu Linux 11.04 to ship Unity 'shell'

Jono Bacon, Canonical's Ubuntu Community Manager (and of LUGradio fame) posted a blog entry yesterday announcing Mark Shuttleworth's announcement at that Ubuntu Developer Summit that Ubuntu Linux 11.04 will be shipping with the Unity interface. Phew.

My gut reaction is caution. I tried Ubuntu Netbook on an old Acer Aspire One and found it very slow, cramped and unconfigurable. I now have a customised version of Xubuntu running, streamlined, easy to use and swift.

So, I'm not overly anxious to have a left-hand vertical dock and different interface foisted upon my beloved Ubuntu. There's an interesting blog post by bolsh over at GNOME blogs entitled Ubuntu to move to Unity as default desktop for 11.04, with some more in-depth analysis about what it means for Canonical's relationship with the GNOME desktop and equal doses of caution.