We picked up some more of the comments made by Mark Shuttleworth recently on Google+, where the Canonical and Ubuntu founder answered various questions posted by members of the Ubuntu community.
This comes as a follow-up article on yesterday’s report that Ubuntu GNOME is becoming the default flavor of the popular Linux-based operating system, and that the Unity 7 user interface will be available for installation from the official repositories after the launch of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS next year in April.
And we’re talking today about Snaps, as Canonical’s Mark Shuttleworth promises to keep its vision of providing universal binary packages for Ubuntu and other GNU/Linux distributions willing to adopt the Snappy technologies on their operating systems, including Debian, Fedora, and openSUSE.
For those unfamiliar with Snaps, they allow users to install a certain application on multiple Linux-based operating systems without the need to download and install any of its dependencies. It works pretty much the same as Flatpak or AppImage, but it’s developed and maintained entirely by Canonical for its Ubuntu Core OS.
Snaps to integrate fully with GNOME, Ubuntu Core is coming along nicely
According to Mark Shuttleworth, it appears that Snaps will integrate fully with both the GNOME and KDE desktop environments, and they could also come to the elementary OS distro and the MATE desktop, providing a clean way to deliver up-to-date apps to users.
“Snaps continue for Ubuntu and other distributions (now Fedora, openSUSE, Debian and others). They will also integrate fully with GNOME, KDE, and I hope Elementary, MATE, etc. too,” said Mark Shuttleworth. “They are an amazingly clean way to deliver apps and since most of the major software companies target Ubuntu this is a good way to enable other distros to benefit too.”
As for Ubuntu Core, the open-source operating system designed specifically to run on embedded and IoT devices, Canonical’s Mark Shuttleworth assures users that it’s coming along nicely, while remaining very device-centric. “It feels like it’s on rails compared to classic deb-based Ubuntu which feels like it is on a mountain bike with fat tires and gears that let you go anywhere,” added the Ubuntu founder.
While Mark Shuttleworth still dreams of seeing an all-snap desktop become a reality, which could happen in a very distant future with Ubuntu, the Canonical founder reveals the fact that the powerful and fast Mir graphics composition engine is used on a lot of IoT (Internet of Things) projects as a compositor, and loved by many smart people who know its true power.
