When it debuted this spring, Ubuntu 11.10 caused more than a few gasps from the Linux faithful. The introduction of the Unity as the new desktop interface marked a dramatic shift for the Ubuntu desktop experience, and it’s a change that many Canonical faithful weren’t too thrilled about.
It’s always a balancing act for Canonical, of course. Ubuntu is far and away the most popular desktop Linux distribution, and its users are generally a savvy and opinionated bunch. Decisions like UI changes and switching default applications tend to draw plenty of debate from users — so they’re not taken lightly. Plenty of noise was made when Banshee became the default audio player in 11.04, but believe it or not a much bigger switch was also considered: the distribution’s default web browser.
Canonical’s CEO Mark Shuttleworth, as it turns out, is a big fan of Google Chrome. In a discussion with Network World, Shuttleworth praises Google for the way Chrome performs on Linux. “You don’t often see that in a cross-platform project. We may well be in a position where Chrome on Ubuntu and Chrome on Linux is a better experience than Chrome on any other platform.”
Chrome adoption has also been on a rapid rise in recent versions, doubling its market share in some regions from just one year ago. The upstart browser is raising even more eyebrows now that Chromebooks are hitting the market, and when you combine these three factors — performance, consumer interest, and Shuttleworth’s personal endorsement — it’s really no surprise that Firefox was nearly unseated as the default browser in Ubuntu 11.04.
Ultimately, however, Canonical decided to maintain the status quo and stick with Mozilla in Natty Narwhal. According to Shuttleworth, that’s not likely to change for at least a year — which is very good news for Mozilla, since it now has some much-needed time to show that the decision was a smart one to make.
With a newly-adopted and drastically shortened release cycle, and two new bleeding-edge channels to facilitate end-user testing, Mozilla has positioned Firefox to respond more quickly to changes in the web and challenges from its competitors. Being able to iterate with speed will let Firefox developers deliver new features to users more quickly than before and keep excitement levels — and hopefully marketshare — at a high level. Much of the buzz Google has managed to generate with Chrome was, after all, the result of quickly delivering new features like profile synchronization, extension support, and malware protection from one version to the next.
While making changes to its browser simply to retain its status on Ubuntu isn’t likely to be a high priority (at least publicly) for Mozilla, being unseated by Chrome or Chromium would nevertheless be a significant defeat. Pride is obviously on the line, though, and there’s every reason to believe that Mozilla will rise to the challenge. And who knows? With Firefox 5, 6, 7, and 8 all due out before a decision will be made, perhaps Shuttleworth himself will have a new favorite browser before the arrival of Ubuntu 12.04.
Comments
Post a Comment