9 ms·

The new branding of Ubuntu

156 points by mapleoin 17y ago

xenonite 17y ago
the older gtk-theme was better, more well rounded. Too much different colors here. Dirty - not clean. But, hey, I hope it's not final. Also too much spacings everywhere. The fonts are still okay, even though fedora has a more unique appearance. And why change the current font face? It's good!
timmorgan 17y ago
Feels a bit too "precise" for me. Ubuntu is supposed to stand for togetherness -- this feels a little colder than I'm used to.
- mapleoin 17y ago
  I'm getting the same impression. This feels like it's trying to be more corporate.
  - jasonlotito 17y ago
    It's already accomplished the community aspect. Why not try to branch out into new areas with a fresh new look? It's the same Ubuntu. They just need to start wearing a suit once in a while.
    - timmorgan 17y ago
      If the grassroots community feels Ubuntu has sold out to the corporate world, things will change (edit: and not for the better). I'm not sure one distro can be everything to everyone -- that's why we have so many.
      - jasonlotito 17y ago
        But remember that even Ubuntu has many different official flavors already. I really don't think they are selling out, they are just putting on a new face, and frankly, it's just a cleaner face.
  - kanwisher 17y ago
    Really? I thought they were getting a bit more of the web2.0 vibe with the openness in the design, and a lot less. I'm thinking more along 37signals guys.
bugs 17y ago
I really do hope this pans out so long as ubuntu stays free and for the most part[1] open I'll support what they are doing for linux and operating systems. [1]: So long as the base for ubuntu is free and open I'm happy and if they create software that costs money but it is not required to have a non-hindered user experience I'll consider them open edit: I really hope that the orange starts getting toned down
- jules 17y ago
  Commercial software for Ubuntu could really help its adoption. Currently commercial software is pretty much limited to things like Maple.
  - bugs 17y ago
    Agreed, but the thing is it really is going to have to be good software. In example it would take a very good software package to move ubuntu users from openoffice to another alternative. But there are some places where ubuntu is somewhat lacking that might not need amazing software: something like itunes with a store and device support etcetera but I can't really think of more examples.
    - jules 17y ago
      E.g. Dreamweaver, Photoshop, games. The same thing that Windows people pay for, really.
swah 17y ago
I don't like it. They should just try to mimic OSX...
aw3c2 17y ago
The GTK themes seem terrible to me. Not only did they move the top buttons to the left (good luck explaining to mom why she won't find the X where she's used to) but also it looks very inconsistent. Also the colours... It looks like one of those old themes why your friends still make fun of your Linux. The web theme looks like a generic hosting company' website. Or like a hardware manufacturer. I love the mission though, "Light" is a very good selling point for Linux. You might not agree about that for Ubuntu but more Ubuntu = more Linux = yay.
- snitko 17y ago
  I agree. I also see no point in making a different theme the default one, because you can easily change it to another. And also because most people would be updating their distros and would not notice any changes.
- jfarmer 17y ago
  Is the X really an issue? That's where it is on Mac OS X.
  - DougBTX 17y ago
    On Windows and OS X, the close button is at the far top right or far top left respectively. This theme introduces a new variant: third from top left.
  - jacobolus 17y ago
    The top left is where the close button has been the Mac since the mid-80s. But the question is not “is it really an issue?” but rather “why is it being moved?” Change for change’s sake is stupid.
    - cookiecaper 17y ago
      Seems like the consensus is: "(10:30:18 PM) vish: the metacity buttons on the left is nothing more than trying to copy OSX :/". I hope they have their own focus groups to back this up or something. Maybe they assume a Mac user is more likely to experiment and therefore more likely to try Ubuntu, so they would put the controls in their default place. I'm not happy about that either. Otherwise, I think it looks fine.
ajross 17y ago
Site down and google doesn't have a cache link up. Can someone post a summary?
- sadiq 17y ago
  While the images don't seem to want to load there's a good writeup at: http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/03/03/refreshing-the-ubuntu-brand/ http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/03/03/refreshing-the-ubuntu-br...
jackowayed 17y ago
Wonder how much Asus paid to be the computer pictured for "10.04 has arrived" (which I assume will be the homepage for awhile after launch?)
jrockway 17y ago
I like this a lot. I am not one to care much about looks (I use xmonad at home and Windows XP with the blue background at work), but I think this is a really appealing theme that doesn't get in the way; very much like OS X's plastic theme. (Aqua got in the way, which is why Apple phased it out.) They describe it as light, and I think that's exactly right -- it's simple, not bulky, and colorful enough to be visually pleasing. I think people trying Linux for the first time with this theme will enjoy it. (GNOME itself has a nice MacOS 7 feeling that I also like. I think new users will also like it.) I am just speculating, because I just do everything in Emacs. I'm only have GNOME around for evince.
thejake 17y ago
This is a gigantic step... sideways. Big clunky fonts and an excessive amount of blank space. It's like the American car of UIs.
- dmaz 17y ago
  I'm using the Droid Sans font for the UI. It's a great improvement in conciseness and should be the default interface font. Regarding spacing, the space in the toolbar and status bar is being used a bit more efficiently than before, but cutting off the status bar skews the balance, and overall, the layout looks a little haphazard.
  - mgunes 17y ago
    I'm using the Droid Sans font for the UI. It's a great improvement in conciseness and should be the default interface font. Here's a good argument as to why it shouldn't: http://troy-sobotka.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-droid-isnt-answer.html http://troy-sobotka.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-droid-isnt-answ...
    - thristian 17y ago
      I'll grant that Droid has a number of typographical problems outlined nicely in that article (although I suspect his complains about kerning and colour might well be addressed by careful choice of GNOME's font-rendering options), but nevertheless I find Droid to be the most pleasant-to-read Free-as-in-speech font I know of. It's certainly slicker than the slow-moving and clumsy Vera/DejaVu, and the less said about the Liberation the better. You could probably tempt me with Lucida Sans, if B&H ever released outline versions to go with the X11 bitmap fonts, but until another giant corporation shells out for a new custom typeface or FontForge becomes usable by designers, Droid is where it's at.
      - sandGorgon 17y ago
        I used Droid for a long time and now am using Cantarell (another GPL font) for my interface... along with Inconsolata for monospace.
jsz0 17y ago
They need to seriously reconsider this GTK theme. I feel like maybe they're trying too hard to look different. Does anyone actually like it? Besides bad color selection it's inconsistent. The menubar doesn't even match the rest of the UI which seems like the most obvious bit of consistency you'd expect. Even between the two variants it's lacking consistently. The dark version has menus that match the menubar color, the light variant does not. At least the old Taco Bell bathroom theme was consistent. I may not have liked the colors but you could ignore that easily enough. This theme just screams at my eyes and not in a good way.
Roridge 17y ago
I love it.. change with the times, dare to be modern and move along. All companies could learn from this.
gurraman 17y ago
I'm not particularly fond of the GTK-themes. It's always hard to accept new and all, but they lack that unique touch of the earlier interface. The web site mockups feel like a mix of apple.com and a cheap hosting solution. Now, I get that they're merely mockups, but it tells a little about the team behind the redesign. The logo is not bad (better in the smaller variants). I like the use of purple. It's pretty unique (if you do not contrast their wallpaper to certain polar aurora wallpapers) and they can totally work that color. I would have expected something more unique -- something much more refined -- of an Ubuntu redesign than this.
jamesbritt 17y ago
Does this mean that suspend and hibernation will work reliably out of the box? Because that means way more to me than a desktop theme I always end up changing anyway.
- FlorinAndrei 17y ago
  Even with 9.10, booting up takes very little time. It's very impressive. I don't even think of using suspend now. And v10 is supposed to boot even faster. Yay! :)
  - bugs 17y ago
    Unless you are using something like a laptop and close the lid.
- thristian 17y ago
  Suspend and hibernation pretty much entirely depend on what hardware you have. I used Ubuntu 9.04 on an Apple MacBook with all-Intel hardware, and suspend/resume was bullet-proof. If you've got hardware that isn't well supported by open drivers (nVidia and ATi graphics are the usual culprits), well, good luck.
htsh 17y ago
The thing that immediately sticks out to me is that the bottom gnome panel is no longer there. Up until now, default ubuntu (and gnome) setups have had one panel at the top and another at the bottom, and the first thing I'd do on a system is to get rid of one of the two. This made more sense with 4x3 screens but now with many laptops at 16x9, it seems silly to waste that much screen real estate. The mac has a menu bar up top and a dock, but they also move application menu commands to the top, saving some space there.
- thesethings 17y ago
  Good catch. I was so distracted by the window management moving to the left, I didn't see that. That's an important part of previewing windows. Even if that specific panel is now gone, something has do something similar (give you a visualization of what's open, how many desktops you have.) I'm now even more eager to try this out.
- pyre 17y ago
  That does raise one question, though: Where will minimized windows go? Those screenshots don't show that. They've removed the bottom bar, but there isn't any place (that's visible at least) to select minimized windows, unless they are planning on just using the Compiz window selector entirely for that purpose (i.e. minimized windows just 'disappear' except from the window selector).
  - htsh 17y ago
    I've always put those in the same bar, reducing the ubuntu menu to just an icon (instead of the separate applications, places, & system) in a setup similar to Windows, with open windows in between the application launcher button (start or whatever) and the notification area on the right side.
    - pyre 17y ago
      I realize that one can do that, I'm just wondering what the default setup will be. Based on those screenshots, there will be nothing to show you a window list (other than the Compiz window switcher). They have to have some sort of solution or reasoning, they wouldn't leave the default setup broken until someone configured it.
thesethings 17y ago
I am lukewarm on this specific design, but am totally happy and excited by how ambitious this all is (not just the theme, but the logos, collateral, etc.) I want Canonical and Ubuntu to kick butt. Mark seems like he's really making an effort to be a "product" person, which open source could use more of. Bravo! (And this has always been reflected in Ubuntu, which I really appreciate.) Some nits: The new font is a step backward. The softness of the old font was both distinct, unique, AND comfortable. The new one is not as unique. And I don't think will age so well. (Plus, fonts and logos are not something that need an overhaul as often as themes and campaigns. I just think it was maybe too soon to overhaul the font. It was a strong brand.) I LOVE the new colors. Yeah, there's an Apple overlap, but I don't think "APPLE!" as soon as I see it. Window controls on the left: I don't like it. I have desktops on all three major OS's, so it's not because I'm trained for one way or the other. There's just something that feels better about them being on the right. Overall: I'm giving it all a chance, and will jump in with both feet when it's released, without undoing the major changes. The main point here is: They really care and have a vision. Whenever somebody makes a tool/OS/webapp/meal with a really specific vision, i always give it the benefit of the doubt, and try it THEIR way, not bending to my preferences or instinct to add salt/take off the tomato/go to my favorite theme/etc. When I don't try stuff with that trust, i often miss out. I hope Linux users give it a fair shot, even if stuff feels funny at first.
zoomzoom83 17y ago
I rather dislike pretty much all of it, but I'll wait and see if it grows on me. In particular the GTK Themes seem really ugly. I don't like Dark themes at all, and the light one looks too much like Plastik from KDE. Personally I'm a big fan of the old "Human Clearlooks" theme, which I'll probably be sticking to for some time - but I'll definitely give the new one a go and see if it grows on me.
DannoHung 17y ago
Dear God, it's an unholy union of Windows and OS X.
- arohner 17y ago
  That's been a good description of Linux UI since OSX first appeared. Before that, it was an unholy bastardization of Windows.
rsheridan6 17y ago
I am somehow reminded of those cars from the nineties with the now outlawed purple ground effects lights.
jodrellblank 17y ago
A month or so ago I linked to a Ubuntu "fix 100 trivial bugs" project, pointing to a bug which was open for several years. I just checked it again, it hasn't progressed. But at least there's a new theme out. Themes. The worst idea in computing since license keys.
jmcejuela 17y ago
I love the new look. At first sight, they just achieved what they wanted to express: lightness, reliability, precision.
joris 17y ago
Ok, the logo's definitely quite a deviation from the super-"friendly" previous version. It feels a lot more "corporate" to me. I really liked the friendly feel of the previous logo, but it does tell me something interesting... The fact that it looks more "corporate"/"professional", may indicate that Canonical is going to pursue corporate deploys more aggressively than before. They're still not making a profit as a company. If we want Ubuntu to continue its prosper for a long time, it's good to keep having Canonical as its backer. Of course you can argue whether making a logo more "corporate" will help in selling it as a "serious" product, but that's not the point here. If Canonical feels this will help them, it will.
badsectoracula 17y ago
Are they ever going to get away from the brown color?
toothcomb 17y ago
It takes a bit of time to get used to a change like this. It has been haphazard up till now version to version. And the themes never feel totally cohesive. Why have different logos for xubuntu and edubuntu etc, why the different names? Why not have Ubuntu education edition. Or Ubuntu light instead? Perhaps they should have poured money into gnome instead. And concentrated on the logo. Instead it looks, as other people have commented, like a bastard child of OSX and windows. Just pay a good designer. And keep it simple.

156 points by mapleoin 17y ago

the older gtk-theme was better, more well rounded. Too much different colors here. Dirty - not clean. But, hey, I hope it's not final. Also too much spacings everywhere. The fonts are still okay, even though fedora has a more unique appearance. And why change the current font face? It's good!

timmorgan 17y ago

Feels a bit too "precise" for me. Ubuntu is supposed to stand for togetherness -- this feels a little colder than I'm used to.

mapleoin 17y ago
I'm getting the same impression. This feels like it's trying to be more corporate.
- jasonlotito 17y ago
  It's already accomplished the community aspect. Why not try to branch out into new areas with a fresh new look? It's the same Ubuntu. They just need to start wearing a suit once in a while.
  - timmorgan 17y ago
    If the grassroots community feels Ubuntu has sold out to the corporate world, things will change (edit: and not for the better). I'm not sure one distro can be everything to everyone -- that's why we have so many.
    - jasonlotito 17y ago
      But remember that even Ubuntu has many different official flavors already. I really don't think they are selling out, they are just putting on a new face, and frankly, it's just a cleaner face.
- kanwisher 17y ago
  Really? I thought they were getting a bit more of the web2.0 vibe with the openness in the design, and a lot less. I'm thinking more along 37signals guys.

bugs 17y ago

I really do hope this pans out so long as ubuntu stays free and for the most part[1] open I'll support what they are doing for linux and operating systems. [1]: So long as the base for ubuntu is free and open I'm happy and if they create software that costs money but it is not required to have a non-hindered user experience I'll consider them open edit: I really hope that the orange starts getting toned down

jules 17y ago
Commercial software for Ubuntu could really help its adoption. Currently commercial software is pretty much limited to things like Maple.
- bugs 17y ago
  Agreed, but the thing is it really is going to have to be good software. In example it would take a very good software package to move ubuntu users from openoffice to another alternative. But there are some places where ubuntu is somewhat lacking that might not need amazing software: something like itunes with a store and device support etcetera but I can't really think of more examples.
  - jules 17y ago
    E.g. Dreamweaver, Photoshop, games. The same thing that Windows people pay for, really.

swah 17y ago

I don't like it. They should just try to mimic OSX...

aw3c2 17y ago

The GTK themes seem terrible to me. Not only did they move the top buttons to the left (good luck explaining to mom why she won't find the X where she's used to) but also it looks very inconsistent. Also the colours... It looks like one of those old themes why your friends still make fun of your Linux. The web theme looks like a generic hosting company' website. Or like a hardware manufacturer. I love the mission though, "Light" is a very good selling point for Linux. You might not agree about that for Ubuntu but more Ubuntu = more Linux = yay.

snitko 17y ago
I agree. I also see no point in making a different theme the default one, because you can easily change it to another. And also because most people would be updating their distros and would not notice any changes.
jfarmer 17y ago
Is the X really an issue? That's where it is on Mac OS X.
- DougBTX 17y ago
  On Windows and OS X, the close button is at the far top right or far top left respectively. This theme introduces a new variant: third from top left.
- jacobolus 17y ago
  The top left is where the close button has been the Mac since the mid-80s. But the question is not “is it really an issue?” but rather “why is it being moved?” Change for change’s sake is stupid.
  - cookiecaper 17y ago
    Seems like the consensus is: "(10:30:18 PM) vish: the metacity buttons on the left is nothing more than trying to copy OSX :/". I hope they have their own focus groups to back this up or something. Maybe they assume a Mac user is more likely to experiment and therefore more likely to try Ubuntu, so they would put the controls in their default place. I'm not happy about that either. Otherwise, I think it looks fine.

ajross 17y ago

Site down and google doesn't have a cache link up. Can someone post a summary?

sadiq 17y ago
While the images don't seem to want to load there's a good writeup at: http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/03/03/refreshing-the-ubuntu-brand/ http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/03/03/refreshing-the-ubuntu-br...

jackowayed 17y ago

Wonder how much Asus paid to be the computer pictured for "10.04 has arrived" (which I assume will be the homepage for awhile after launch?)

jrockway 17y ago

I like this a lot. I am not one to care much about looks (I use xmonad at home and Windows XP with the blue background at work), but I think this is a really appealing theme that doesn't get in the way; very much like OS X's plastic theme. (Aqua got in the way, which is why Apple phased it out.) They describe it as light, and I think that's exactly right -- it's simple, not bulky, and colorful enough to be visually pleasing. I think people trying Linux for the first time with this theme will enjoy it. (GNOME itself has a nice MacOS 7 feeling that I also like. I think new users will also like it.) I am just speculating, because I just do everything in Emacs. I'm only have GNOME around for evince.

thejake 17y ago

This is a gigantic step... sideways. Big clunky fonts and an excessive amount of blank space. It's like the American car of UIs.

dmaz 17y ago
I'm using the Droid Sans font for the UI. It's a great improvement in conciseness and should be the default interface font. Regarding spacing, the space in the toolbar and status bar is being used a bit more efficiently than before, but cutting off the status bar skews the balance, and overall, the layout looks a little haphazard.
- mgunes 17y ago
  I'm using the Droid Sans font for the UI. It's a great improvement in conciseness and should be the default interface font. Here's a good argument as to why it shouldn't: http://troy-sobotka.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-droid-isnt-answer.html http://troy-sobotka.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-droid-isnt-answ...
  - thristian 17y ago
    I'll grant that Droid has a number of typographical problems outlined nicely in that article (although I suspect his complains about kerning and colour might well be addressed by careful choice of GNOME's font-rendering options), but nevertheless I find Droid to be the most pleasant-to-read Free-as-in-speech font I know of. It's certainly slicker than the slow-moving and clumsy Vera/DejaVu, and the less said about the Liberation the better. You could probably tempt me with Lucida Sans, if B&H ever released outline versions to go with the X11 bitmap fonts, but until another giant corporation shells out for a new custom typeface or FontForge becomes usable by designers, Droid is where it's at.
    - sandGorgon 17y ago
      I used Droid for a long time and now am using Cantarell (another GPL font) for my interface... along with Inconsolata for monospace.

jsz0 17y ago

They need to seriously reconsider this GTK theme. I feel like maybe they're trying too hard to look different. Does anyone actually like it? Besides bad color selection it's inconsistent. The menubar doesn't even match the rest of the UI which seems like the most obvious bit of consistency you'd expect. Even between the two variants it's lacking consistently. The dark version has menus that match the menubar color, the light variant does not. At least the old Taco Bell bathroom theme was consistent. I may not have liked the colors but you could ignore that easily enough. This theme just screams at my eyes and not in a good way.

Roridge 17y ago

I love it.. change with the times, dare to be modern and move along. All companies could learn from this.

gurraman 17y ago

I'm not particularly fond of the GTK-themes. It's always hard to accept new and all, but they lack that unique touch of the earlier interface. The web site mockups feel like a mix of apple.com and a cheap hosting solution. Now, I get that they're merely mockups, but it tells a little about the team behind the redesign. The logo is not bad (better in the smaller variants). I like the use of purple. It's pretty unique (if you do not contrast their wallpaper to certain polar aurora wallpapers) and they can totally work that color. I would have expected something more unique -- something much more refined -- of an Ubuntu redesign than this.

jamesbritt 17y ago

Does this mean that suspend and hibernation will work reliably out of the box? Because that means way more to me than a desktop theme I always end up changing anyway.

FlorinAndrei 17y ago
Even with 9.10, booting up takes very little time. It's very impressive. I don't even think of using suspend now. And v10 is supposed to boot even faster. Yay! :)
- bugs 17y ago
  Unless you are using something like a laptop and close the lid.
thristian 17y ago
Suspend and hibernation pretty much entirely depend on what hardware you have. I used Ubuntu 9.04 on an Apple MacBook with all-Intel hardware, and suspend/resume was bullet-proof. If you've got hardware that isn't well supported by open drivers (nVidia and ATi graphics are the usual culprits), well, good luck.

htsh 17y ago

The thing that immediately sticks out to me is that the bottom gnome panel is no longer there. Up until now, default ubuntu (and gnome) setups have had one panel at the top and another at the bottom, and the first thing I'd do on a system is to get rid of one of the two. This made more sense with 4x3 screens but now with many laptops at 16x9, it seems silly to waste that much screen real estate. The mac has a menu bar up top and a dock, but they also move application menu commands to the top, saving some space there.

thesethings 17y ago
Good catch. I was so distracted by the window management moving to the left, I didn't see that. That's an important part of previewing windows. Even if that specific panel is now gone, something has do something similar (give you a visualization of what's open, how many desktops you have.) I'm now even more eager to try this out.
pyre 17y ago
That does raise one question, though: Where will minimized windows go? Those screenshots don't show that. They've removed the bottom bar, but there isn't any place (that's visible at least) to select minimized windows, unless they are planning on just using the Compiz window selector entirely for that purpose (i.e. minimized windows just 'disappear' except from the window selector).
- htsh 17y ago
  I've always put those in the same bar, reducing the ubuntu menu to just an icon (instead of the separate applications, places, & system) in a setup similar to Windows, with open windows in between the application launcher button (start or whatever) and the notification area on the right side.
  - pyre 17y ago
    I realize that one can do that, I'm just wondering what the default setup will be. Based on those screenshots, there will be nothing to show you a window list (other than the Compiz window switcher). They have to have some sort of solution or reasoning, they wouldn't leave the default setup broken until someone configured it.

thesethings 17y ago

I am lukewarm on this specific design, but am totally happy and excited by how ambitious this all is (not just the theme, but the logos, collateral, etc.) I want Canonical and Ubuntu to kick butt. Mark seems like he's really making an effort to be a "product" person, which open source could use more of. Bravo! (And this has always been reflected in Ubuntu, which I really appreciate.) Some nits: The new font is a step backward. The softness of the old font was both distinct, unique, AND comfortable. The new one is not as unique. And I don't think will age so well. (Plus, fonts and logos are not something that need an overhaul as often as themes and campaigns. I just think it was maybe too soon to overhaul the font. It was a strong brand.) I LOVE the new colors. Yeah, there's an Apple overlap, but I don't think "APPLE!" as soon as I see it. Window controls on the left: I don't like it. I have desktops on all three major OS's, so it's not because I'm trained for one way or the other. There's just something that feels better about them being on the right. Overall: I'm giving it all a chance, and will jump in with both feet when it's released, without undoing the major changes. The main point here is: They really care and have a vision. Whenever somebody makes a tool/OS/webapp/meal with a really specific vision, i always give it the benefit of the doubt, and try it THEIR way, not bending to my preferences or instinct to add salt/take off the tomato/go to my favorite theme/etc. When I don't try stuff with that trust, i often miss out. I hope Linux users give it a fair shot, even if stuff feels funny at first.

zoomzoom83 17y ago

I rather dislike pretty much all of it, but I'll wait and see if it grows on me. In particular the GTK Themes seem really ugly. I don't like Dark themes at all, and the light one looks too much like Plastik from KDE. Personally I'm a big fan of the old "Human Clearlooks" theme, which I'll probably be sticking to for some time - but I'll definitely give the new one a go and see if it grows on me.

DannoHung 17y ago

Dear God, it's an unholy union of Windows and OS X.

arohner 17y ago
That's been a good description of Linux UI since OSX first appeared. Before that, it was an unholy bastardization of Windows.

rsheridan6 17y ago

I am somehow reminded of those cars from the nineties with the now outlawed purple ground effects lights.

jodrellblank 17y ago

A month or so ago I linked to a Ubuntu "fix 100 trivial bugs" project, pointing to a bug which was open for several years. I just checked it again, it hasn't progressed. But at least there's a new theme out. Themes. The worst idea in computing since license keys.

jmcejuela 17y ago

I love the new look. At first sight, they just achieved what they wanted to express: lightness, reliability, precision.

joris 17y ago

Ok, the logo's definitely quite a deviation from the super-"friendly" previous version. It feels a lot more "corporate" to me. I really liked the friendly feel of the previous logo, but it does tell me something interesting... The fact that it looks more "corporate"/"professional", may indicate that Canonical is going to pursue corporate deploys more aggressively than before. They're still not making a profit as a company. If we want Ubuntu to continue its prosper for a long time, it's good to keep having Canonical as its backer. Of course you can argue whether making a logo more "corporate" will help in selling it as a "serious" product, but that's not the point here. If Canonical feels this will help them, it will.

badsectoracula 17y ago

Are they ever going to get away from the brown color?

toothcomb 17y ago

It takes a bit of time to get used to a change like this. It has been haphazard up till now version to version. And the themes never feel totally cohesive. Why have different logos for xubuntu and edubuntu etc, why the different names? Why not have Ubuntu education edition. Or Ubuntu light instead? Perhaps they should have poured money into gnome instead. And concentrated on the logo. Instead it looks, as other people have commented, like a bastard child of OSX and windows. Just pay a good designer. And keep it simple.