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+It's been nearly two and half years since the Openshot video editor released an update. The long awaited OpenShot 2.0 was beginning to feel like vaporware until a Kickstarter campaign raised over $45K USD and promised a cross-platform release.
+
+Kickstarter backers got their first look at OpenShot 2.0 beta at the end of last year, but now everyone can try it out. There are downloads available for Mac, Windows and Linux (Ubuntu PPA). 
+
+While the cross platform aspect is nice, Windows and Mac OS both already have very capable, free as in beer video editors. The real winners here are Linux users who now have an editor that's on par with Apple's iMovie (even more powerful than recent versions of iMovie) and bears considerable resemblance to the industry standard Final Cut Pro.
+
+As I noted in my review of video editors for Linux, Openshot was once the go-to standard for video editing on GNOME-based distros. And now with 2.0 OpenShot is back and better than ever.
+
+The new release features a completely reworked timeline and, perhaps most important, an autosave engine that automatically saves your project at set intervals. In addition to the autosave feature (which should be enabled by default) OpenShot 2.0 has a new automatic backup and recovery feature. Even if you haven't saved your project yet, the autosave engine will make a backup and, should OpenShot crash, it will recover your most recent backup on re-launch.
+
+That's particularly handy since as of now OpenShot 2.0 remains a beta and it did crash a few times in my testing. Each time though I restarted it and picked up right where I left off. Given the general instability of other Linux video editors (KDenLive comes to mind) the session restore alone puts OpenShot ahead of competitors.
+
+Also welcome are the editing interface speed improvements. Provided you have the available RAM, the interface is very snappy, with no lag when you're scrolling or zooming the timeline. If you're a long-time OpenShot user you'll also notice performance improvements in other areas, including the real-time previews. That said, OpenShot 2.0 does benefit from large amounts of RAM, when it comes to editing video there's no such thing as too much RAM.
+
+The OpenShot 2.0 user interface has been completely reworked and features much more intuitive and easy to use editing tools. Perhaps the most useful of these is the timeline as the center of the app. Just about everything you need to do to a clip can be done from the timeline context menu. Just right-click the timeline and you can copy and paste clips as well as insert fades, animations or effects. 
+
+The new timeline context menu puts the bulk of the options available in OpenShot in one place. For the most part it works, though in some cases the menu can get a few levels deep, which makes navigating your cursor through them a little awkward. In most cases though, it's a huge time saver and saves you one of the big headaches of video editors -- figuring out where the features you need actually are.
+
+Combining the context menu with the drag and drop video clip support, the keyboard shortcuts for frame stepping (J, K and L), I was able to quickly go from having no idea where anything was to making edits at the same speed I can in more familiar editors. In fact OpenShot 2.0 was the easiest video editor I've ever had to figure out.
+
+Another big time saver is the new split clip dialog, which lets you take a single video file, and quickly cut it up into shorter clips. Functionality-wise it's no different than splitting clips on the timeline, but it makes it easy to name the clips as you go, which helps keep your project organized -- perhaps one of the bigger challenges of video editing.
+
+There's also a new dialog that moves clips in the opposite direction -- bulk adding them to the timeline. I haven't found a use for this yet, though I can see it being helpful if you wanted to make a slideshow out of hundreds of images, or just wanted to dump a lot of clips on the timeline at once for some reason.
+
+Feature-wise OpenShot competes well with just about any video editor short of Avid or Final Cut Pro, which most users won't need or even want. OpenShot 2.0 manages to strike a nice balance between complexity and full-featured to deliver a video editor that should keep just about everyone short of Hollywood pros happy.
+
+For Linux users, particularly those using GNOME-related desktops, the native look and feel, along with the well thought out interface make OpenShot more appealing than competitors like KDenLive. In fact it's managed to win me over from KDenLive.
+
+screenshots
+
+openshot-02-1.jpg The new Openshot 2.0 default interface.
+openshot-02-2.jpg In Openshot 2.0 almost everything you need to do is available via the timeline content menu.
+openshot-02-3.jpg The OpenShot 2.0 export options dialog has preset for all your favorite video sharing sites.
diff --git a/published/slack-alternatives.txt b/published/slack-alternatives.txt
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+Open source software is not possible without collaboration and collaboration is not possible without communication. Collaborative communication in open source projects typically means some form of distributed chat.
+
+In the past and indeed the present for most projects, that means IRC. IRC has some disadvantages though, and developers love a shiny new toy, which is part of the reason more than a few projects have moved to using Slack as the chat medium for their open source projects.
+
+While there is nothing wrong with Slack -- in fact it's insanely good at managing and organizing distributed conversations -- it's not necessarily the best choice for open source projects. Indeed this is not the purpose of Slack. Slack's intended use is to provide a single dashboard or app for all sorts of different communication tools -- email, chat, Twitter, and more.
+
+Slack is not primarily for public chats. The company itself discourages this use case, which should give large open source projects pause. But more to the point, Slack is closed source software controlled by a single company. It's the antithesis of open source.
+
+In effect, moving from IRC to Slack means replacing an open protocol with decades of open source client software development and a robust distributed system for a single point of failure. Again, not to disparage Slack. 
+
+Some open source software developers have spoken out against Slack as an IRC replacement, notably, Drew DeVault, whose post "<a href="https://drewdevault.com/2015/11/11/Bring-more-tor-into-your-life.html">please don't use Slack for FOSS projects</a>" made the rounds in programming circles a few months back. DeVault argues that "Slack is not a tool built for open source projects to use for communication with their userbase... It's a tool built for teams and it is ill-suited to this use-case."
+
+There are essentially three problems with IRC that Slack and its imitators (more on those in a minute) solve. First, creating an account is easier. Enter an email address and password and you're done. Slack is also already widely used; there's a good chance a significant portion of developers looking to contribute to any given FOSS project are already using Slack elsewhere.
+
+The second thing Slack offers is built-in support for attaching files and pasting code. While some IRC clients will follow links and pull in outside data like code snippets or images, some will not which means you can't rely on these features being present for everyone. With IRC you need to rely on a pastebin and file upload service to handle code and files. 
+
+The other major advantage Slack has over IRC is persistent, searchable sessions. That makes it easy to see what you missed while you where away. While it's possible to do this with IRC, it's not easy.
+
+There are ongoing efforts to improve IRC, notably the <a href="http://ircv3.net/">IRCv3</a> project, but if you're looking for a solution right now, IRC comes up short.
+
+And there's no question that Slack is a very well designed, easy to use chat system. But it's closed source which makes it a questionable choice for open source projects. Still, if good old IRC really isn't working anymore -- and I would suggest your project take some time to really evaluate that question before proceeding -- there are open source Slack imitators that can also solve some of the problems with IRC, but are self-hosted and FOSS licensed.
+
+The two closest things to Slack in the open source world are <a href="http://www.mattermost.org/">Mattermost</a> and <a href="https://rocket.chat/">Rocket Chat</a>. Both support all the popular features of Slack including inline code snippets (Rocket Chat even offers code highlighting), inline images, archived searchable conversations, easy sign up, web apps, desktop apps, and mobile clients. Rocket Chat also includes support for Markdown, and Mattermost can import Slack user accounts and channel archives to smooth the transition. 
+
+Where the two differ is in the user interface and in the backend setup (Rocket Chat uses MongoDB behind the scenes, while Mattermost uses PostgreSQL). Mattermost user interface is a bit closer to Slack, while Rocket Chat seems to have taken more inspiration from full-featured IRC clients. 
+
+Both, however, are self-hosted, which means projects can get most of the advantages of Slack over IRC, but retain control of the open source tools. If the history of web services teaches anything, it's that relying on third-party services for key parts of your development infrastructure is almost guaranteed to fail in the long run.
+
+While Mattermost and Rocket Chat, along with other services like <a href="https://www.irccloud.com/">IRCCloud</a>, which piggybacks on IRC to offer a more Slack-like experience, can fulfill 90 percent of the Slack experience, none of the them match Slack 100 percent. Mattermost lacks an Android client (it's in the works), none of them have the amount of third-party integration that Slack offers, and none of them have the install base that Slack currently enjoys.
+
+It's the last point that the open source community needs to consider. Ubiquitous install trumps everything else. With more and more developers using Slack on small teams at work (as it's intended to be used) it's natural to want to use the same tools for other projects. 
+
+There's an opportunity here for open source though. Setting up and using Slack may be simple, but extending it is not. If more developers turn to open source solutions there will be more developers to hack on those solutions. More momentum means more features, more cool hacks and in the end a more useful product. This is why Apache trumps Microsoft IIS, WordPress thrives while Movable Type is just a memory, and Linux is the most wildly deployed OS on the server.
+
+On the other side of the argument, lack of developer interest in alternatives is part of why Dropbox has no real open source competitor, Google Docs continues to be more popular than open source alternatives, and Skype faces almost no competition from the FOSS world.
+
+Slack may be the best choice now, but investing in open source alternatives like Mattermost or Rocket Chat is the best choice for the open source community in the long term. 
diff --git a/published/solus-review.txt b/published/solus-review.txt
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+The Linux world is full of spin offs, clones and distros that improve upon some parent project. The most famous lineage being Mint, which is based off Ubuntu, which is in turn based off Debian. What's less common is entirely new distros starting from zero and building their own stack.
+
+That's exactly what a new distro by the name of <a href="https://solus-project.com/">Solus</a> has done. That's not to say Solus doesn't, like any software, stand on the shoulders of giants, just that Solus stands on a few less shoulders than others.
+
+The Solus project recently hit the 1.0 milestone and then quickly followed that up with a 1.1 release last week. If you're looking for something new, including a desktop that's entirely its own, Solus is well worth a look.
+
+Solus did not appear out of thin air, there was an earlier project with the very similar name, Solus OS, which did begin life as a Debian derivative. Solus OS was abandoned back in 2013 due to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131024224752/http://solusos.com/closing-doors/">lack of manpower</a>. The reborn Solus Project (briefly EvolveOS), however, is not based on Debian or any other distro.
+
+Solus is designed to be user friendly, but clearly minimalist. You won't find tons of graphical bling or any experimental "HUD" or "Shell" interfaces. Instead Solus offers a clean, well designed desktop experience that sports a flat, modern look and a healthy dose of its own take on the desktop experience.
+
+The homegrown desktop GUI known as "Budgie", is built on top of a GNOME/GTK back end, which means it has many GNOME-esque elements to it. Windows feature the client side decorations, the file browser is Nautilus, dressed up in a slightly different skin, and the usual accompaniment of GNOME apps is present -- Calendar, gEdit, Rhythmbox, Firefox and Thunderbird.
+
+The user interface is markedly different than GNOME though. There's no Shell. Instead, a main menu gives you access to applications sorted by category, as well as a search bar. It's minimal, but it works. One thing missing is any sort of office suite. There's a category in Budgie's main menu, but the only app in it is GNOME Calendar. 
+
+On the right side of the screen there's an applet, notification and customization center referred to as Raven. Raven slides in and out from the right side of the screen and offers a calendar, volume widget and media player controls and artwork (when something is playing). This is also where you'll find all the controls to add, remove, and modify Budgie panels and their associated applets. Raven also has some basic controls to change GTK and icon themes, making it a bit like a mini system settings.
+
+Raven is a very slick system that trumps GNOME's own efforts as similar features. 
+
+The Solus desktop as a whole is incredibly well thought out and manages to nicely balance a sane set of defaults with a good bit of customization available for those who want it. It does end up looking a bit like a GNOME theme at times -- which is, at least partly, what it is, you can even install the Arc theme in GNOME -- but it's different enough that it stands well on its own.
+
+Where Solus doesn't stand as well on its own is exactly where you'd expect a brand new distro to come up short -- available software.
+
+Solus uses the eopkg (formerly PiSi) package manager. There's a software center included and if you need to install something from the command line the syntax of eopkg mirrors that of apt-get (for the most part). The principle advantage, <a href="https://solus-project.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1064">according to</a>, Solus Project founder Ikey Doherty, is the "far superior developer experience [and] massively reduced maintenance cost/time."
+
+While the package manager and Software Center function just fine, don't expect to find them stocked as full of apps as veteran distros. Solus is new and its packaging system is just getting started. This is one of the costs of starting from scratch, Solus isn't piggybacking off Ubuntu or GNOME or Fedora. That has advantages, as Doherty puts it, "for what we want to do, being built from scratch is actually easier." But it also has disadvantages and package selection is one of them.
+
+That said, I didn't actually run into any missing software. Everything I typically use was available. I was surprised to find that the repos even had a number of things I would not have expected to find, like the latest stable version of the Darktable RAW photo editor and youtube-dl, my favorite way to grab YouTube videos.
+
+Suffice to say that the basic packages you'd need for your typical desktop use -- web browsing, IRC, image editing, music players, common utilities and system settings -- are all there with numerous options for each. In this sense, given that making packages available and keeping them up to date is one of the biggest challenges new distros face, Solus is off to a great start.
+
+Solus is clearly in its early days and you need to know up front that the package selection is less than you might be used to and the community is smaller. That means far fewer tutorials on the web, far fewer people to turn to for help (Solus does have active user forums with plenty of users around to help out newcomers) and possibly missing software packages. 
+
+As long as you know that going in, Solus can be a great distro to use, even on a daily basis.
+
+One thing that's less clear is who Solus is really for. Having used it for a couple of months now I would say that it works well for anyone who wants a traditional desktop experience, but a more modern feeling interface than what you'd find in MATE or Xfce. That sounds a bit like what Cinnamon offers, so if you like Cinnamon, but want something a little lighter, Solus is a good bet. That may be a small audience, but that also may be what Linux needs more of -- distro diversity. Solus may never supplant Mint or Ubuntu, but that's okay. It's a solid little distro with a clean elegant interface that makes a compelling alternative.
+
+screenshots
+
+solus-01.jpg Once Solus is install you'll be greeted by the clean, minimalist Budgie desktop.
+solus-02.jpg Solus features the very slick Raven notification and customization center. 
+solus-03.jpg Solus's clean and simple start menu and homegrown Software Center.
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diff --git a/published/ubuntu1604betafinal.txt b/published/ubuntu1604betafinal.txt
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+Canonical has released the first and only beta for its coming Ubuntu 16.04 release, dubbed Xenial Xerus (Xerus is a genus of African ground squirrels).
+
+Ubuntu 16.04 is a Long Term Support (LTS) release which means it will enjoy full support and updates until 2021. 
+
+16.04 is the first major upgrade for LTS users in two years. Sometimes in the Ubuntu ecosystem two years can mean quite a shocking change for LTS users, but this time around the user interface of Ubuntu remains largely unchanged since 14.04 was released in 2014. 
+
+There have been plenty of welcome upgrades and there are quite a few new applications and upgraded features in 16.04 -- as well as some noteworthy things missing -- but the desktop and basic Unity user interface has not seen any major updates in the last two years.
+
+There's one small tweak that will likely be getting a lot of attention in this release -- the online search features in Unity have been disabled by default. No more "spyware" turned on out of the box.
+
+That should make anyone who values their privacy happy. More importantly it might help repair Canonical's somewhat bruised image in the open source community. Those who liked the online search results can turn them back on with a quick trip to the privacy settings panel.
+
+Another change for those upgrading from the last LTS release is the move to systemd for the init system. Ubuntu's own effort, Upstart, was abandoned several releases ago in favor of what has quickly become the only option in Linux init systems -- systemd. The transition from Upstart to systemd is not as dramatic as moving from older init systems, but there are still a number of "gotchas" to be aware of. The Ubuntu wiki has a page to <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SystemdForUpstartUsers">help Upstart users</a> get up to speed with systemd.
+
+There's another interesting user interface change in this beta. There's no telling if it'll actually make the final release but -- hang on to your hats -- you can now move the Unity launcher to the bottom of the screen.
+
+The change may have some use case beyond the desktop, but most of the work appears to have come from <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/1552630">the Ubuntu Kylin developers</a> and it will be the default option for the official Chinese version of Ubuntu. 
+
+If you've always wanted to move the launcher to the bottom of the screen, your day has arrived. The default position remains the same for Ubuntu proper though. As of this beta you'll need to install dconf-editor and navigate to com > canonical > unity > launcher > launcher-position to switch it to the bottom. Work is under way to move it to a more accessible location, presumably somewhere in the Appearance settings panel. I should also point out that in my testing the auto-hide did not work when the launcher was on the bottom.
+
+Other big changes coming in the final version of Ubuntu 16.04 involve what you won't find, namely the Ubuntu Software Center. The Software Center was once a best of breed app, far ahead of its peers in both the slick user interface and the impressive reviews and previews available for many apps. But then it was largely abandoned and over the last few releases it's been barely limping along. 
+
+With 16.04 Canonical is pulling the plug completely. Instead you'll find a lightly themed version of the default GNOME Software app. Functionally GNOME Software is not much different from Ubuntu's homegrown app, though the user interface is simpler, cleaner and most importantly more reliable.
+
+A couple of other familiar apps are also missing in this release, the disc burning software Brasero and messaging software Empathy. If you still need either they're in the software repositories. 
+
+There's one other missing thing in Ubuntu 16.04, the proprietary AMD Catalyst graphics for AMD GPUs, often called simply the fglrx driver. Canonical says that AMD won't support 16.04 and Canonical isn't going to pick up the slack. Instead it suggests making the move to the open source AMDGU and Radeon alternatives. Unfortunately both lag quite a bit behind the proprietary drivers. Without the fglrx drivers Radeon users will lose support for any applications that require OpenGL 4.3 or later. 
+
+To be clear, <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-discuss/2016-March/016315.html">the proprietary drivers will never work with 16.04</a>. Even compiling them by hand won't get them working (they do not work with the version of Xorg used in 16.04). The Ubuntu 16.04 upgrade process will remove both the fglrx driver and the Xorg.conf you have now, so if you have an AMD GPU I strongly suggest doing some testing with the live CD before you commit to upgrading.
+
+Also under the hood Xenial Xerus will be based on the Linux kernel 4.4 LTS, which brings quite a few new goodies, including the ability to update firmware through the new GNOME Software app, also making its debut in this release (more on that below). The updated kernel also means Ubuntu's ZFS support is almost complete. ZFS support is now baked directly into Ubuntu and officially supported by Canonical, in fact a post on the company's Insights blog <a href="https://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/02/16/zfs-is-the-fs-for-containers-in-ubuntu-16-04 /">declares</a> "ZFS is <em>the</em> FS for containers in Ubuntu 16.04".
+
+While Unity 8 is still not a part of Ubuntu 16.04 by default, it's getting much closer. In fact there will likely be two ways to run 16.04: Unity 7 and Unity 8 with Mir support. The latter will also, barring any unforeseen holdups, be the default for Ubuntu 16.10, due later this year.
+
+There's still a few weeks to go and this beta definitely has some rough edges, but Ubuntu 16.04 is shaping up to be an excellent release, particularly from an LTS stability standpoint. LTS releases always have to find a balance between incorporating the best of what's new with the need to support those features and apps for five years. Leaving Unity 8 out of it means that Ubuntu users who just want stability can wait out the transition to Unity 8 with a stable system that still stays relatively up to date. Those who want to stay on the bleeding edge can upgrade again when Unity 8 arrive in 16.10.
+
+screenshots
+
+ubuntu1604beta-01.jpg - Ubuntu 16.04 may allow you to put the Unity menu on the bottom of the screen.
+ubuntu1604beta-02.jpg - The online search features for Unity will be off by default in this release.
+ubuntu1604beta-03.jpg - The Ubuntu Software Center is gone Ubuntu 16.04, replaced by GNOME Software.
+ubuntu1604beta-04.jpg - Ubuntu 16.04 is also notable for what's not in it, like the disc burning software Brasero.
diff --git a/published/ubuntu1604betaflavors.txt b/published/ubuntu1604betaflavors.txt
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+Canonical's next version of Ubuntu has hit the first beta stage. While Ubuntu's Unity release sits out the first beta, and this time around so does Kubuntu, there are plenty of changes and new features in the rest of the Ubuntu family.
+
+This release cycle is gearing up for the next Long Term Support release, which means all Ubuntu 16.04 flavors will be supported for five years. 
+
+Perhaps the biggest news in the Ubuntu family in this release lies in Ubuntu MATE. The relative newcomer to the Ubuntu family still offers a desktop experience reminiscent of Ubuntu 9.10 0-- that is, one modeled after GNOME 2.x -- but there's a new (optional) hybrid mode that adds some of the features of Unity to MATE.
+
+Dubbed, "Mutiny" by <a href="https://twitter.com/ubuntu_mate/status/701910620766150657">Ubuntu MATE's developers</a>, the new option adds a Unity-style top menu to the MATE desktop. 
+
+MATE traditionalists, don't panic, the Mutiny panel layout is entirely optional. And it's also not actually Unity. It uses two panels to recreate the look of Unity -- both are just panels styled to look like Unity. The result is actually quite nice, even if you don't particularly like Unity.
+
+To activate the Mutiny panels, head to System >> MATE Tweak and change the panel option to Mutiny.The result will be a top panel that, to the right of the screen is nearly identical to the stock MATE panel, but lacks the menu options on the left. Instead there's an additional panel on the left edge of the screen that does a good job of mimicking the same panel in Unity. At the top there's a menu item which, instead of opening the Unity shell, gives you access to all the MATE menus.
+
+Also new in this release is Ubuntu MATE's "Software Boutique", which is the distro's own version of a software center (the Unity version of Ubuntu will reportedly be using a new software center for 16.04). At the moment there's only about 120 apps in the Software Boutique, but what's there looks really nice with lengthy descriptions, screenshots and the ability to filter apps by category. If you need something that's not in the Boutique there's a handy link to access other software centers, including the stock Ubuntu version (and of course there's always apt-get).
+
+Other changes in MATE include software updates -- MATE itself is now at v1.12.1 and the Caja file manager is now at 1.12.4 -- and some under the hood work that the Ubuntu MATE team says should reduced CPU usage "across the board."
+
+With its (optional) new look and the flavor-specific software tools, Ubuntu MATE is starting to feel like a distro in its own right, while maintaining those well stocked Ubuntu repos and the rock solid underlying system. In many ways it feels like Ubuntu without, well, the Ubuntu.
+
+Another flavor with a big set of changes in store for the 16.04 release is Ubuntu GNOME.
+
+The GNOME desktop based version of Ubuntu also gets the usual slew of software updates, with the GNOME Shell bumping to 3.18, along with, as the release notes say, "most" of GNOME 3.18. I didn't notice any applications stuck at previous versions, but there may be some under the hood tools that are a version behind.
+
+As with Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu GNOME has a new default software center, though in Ubuntu GNOME's case it's GNOME Software, which is well polished at this point. There are a couple of other new GNOME apps installed by default in this release, namely GNOME Calendar and GNOME logs. The former is notable for being one of the better calendar applications available for Linux users. That's not to say it's perfect, but it beats having to install all of Evolution just to get a working calendar.
+
+Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 also gets the experimental wayland session support that other distros have been offering for a while now. It's not there by default, but if you install gnome-session-wayland and log out you'll see a new option to log in with "GNOME on wayland." Before you do, make sure you're using an OSS GPU driver because that's all that Ubuntu GNOME supports right now.
+
+Three other flavors have release out of this first beta, including Lubuntu, Xubuntu and Ubuntu Kylin. There's really nothing new in Lubuntu. Sorry LXDE fans, you'll have to keep waiting for the arrival of the fabled LXQT desktop.
+
+Xubuntu 16.04 beta 1 does have some updates, notably the latest version of the XFCE 4.12 desktop. Also note that the Xubuntu release notes suggest you don't try to upgrade to the beta. Install fresh or wait for the final release.
+
+That's good advice for any of these releases -- this is a beta release, install at your own risk. I didn't encounter too many problems with any of the flavors, but there was one disconcerting message from the installer in all the releases I tested that complained about "creation of swap space in partition failed." This appears to be a regression of an older bug; there's <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/partman-basicfilesystems/+bug/990744">a workaround</a> in this bug report.
+
+
+ubuntu-mate-01.jpg The default Ubuntu MATE desktop remains stock MATE.
+ubuntu-mate-02.jpg The new Mutiny mode adds a Unity style top bar and side panel for those looking for a slightly different take on MATE.
+ubuntu-mate-03.jpg The new Ubuntu MATE Software Boutique .
+ubuntu-gnome-01.jpg Ubuntu GNOME, now with the stock GNOME software app.