Dustin Kirkland: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Desktop Default Application Survey

Back in March, we asked the HackerNews community, “What do you want to see in Ubuntu 17.10?”: https://ubu.one/AskHN

A passionate discussion ensued, the results of which are distilled into this post: http://ubu.one/thankHN

In fact, you can check that link, http://ubu.one/thankHN and see our progress so far this cycle. We already have a beta code in 17.10 available for your testing for several of those:

• GNOME replaced Unity
• Bluetooth improvements with a new BlueZ
• Switched to libinput
• 4K/Multimonitor/HiDPI improvements
• Upgraded to Network Manager 1.8
• New Subiquity server installer
• Minimal images (36MB, 18% smaller)

And several others have excellent work in progress, and will be complete by 17.10:

• Autoremove old kernels from /boot
• EXT4 encryption with fscrypt
• Better GPU/CUDA support

In summary -- your feedback matters! There are hundreds of engineers and designers working for *you* to continue making Ubuntu amazing!

Along with the switch from Unity to GNOME, we’re also reviewing some of the desktop applications we package and ship in Ubuntu. We’re looking to crowdsource input on your favorite Linux applications across a broad set of classic desktop functionality.

We invite you to contribute by listing the applications you find most useful in Linux in order of preference. To help us parse your input, please copy and paste the following bullets with your preferred apps in Linux desktop environments. You’re welcome to suggest multiple apps, please just order them prioritized (e.g. Web Browser: Firefox, Chrome, Chromium). If some of your functionality has moved entirely to the web, please note that too (e.g. Email Client: Gmail web, Office Suite: Office360 web). If the software isn’t free/open source, please note that (e.g. Music Player: Spotify client non-free). If I’ve missed a category, please add it in the same format. If your favorites aren’t packaged for Ubuntu yet, please let us know, as we’re creating hundreds of new snap packages for Ubuntu desktop applications, and we’re keen to learn what key snaps we’re missing.

• Web Browser: ???
• Email Client: ???
• Terminal: ???
• IDE: ???
• File manager: ???
• Basic Text Editor: ???
• IRC/Messaging Client: ???
• PDF Reader: ???
• Office Suite: ???
• Calendar: ???
• Video Player: ???
• Music Player: ???
• Photo Viewer: ???
• Screen recording: ???

In the interest of opening this survey as widely as possible, we’ve cross-posted this thread to HackerNews, Reddit, and Slashdot. We very much look forward to another friendly, energetic, collaborative discussion.

Thank you!

twitter.com/@DustinKirkland

On behalf of @Canonical and @Ubuntu