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Comment by gord | Hacker News Reader

Is this a new C api [competing with KDE / QT and GTK] ?

Why not use Javascript/SVG/HTML5 for Linux desktop UI ? It will happen eventually, anyway, Im not the only person saying this.

The browser stack is a better alternative to X-Windows protocol, on balance - you can keep the advantages of client/server separation by using ajax+websockets.

Or go the Node.js route and expose OS parts as Javascript API.

Either way you'll have an environment many more people will enjoy hacking UI on, and therefore better chance of improving Linux desktop.

Although its open source, its still another API that is used nowhere else.. so its expensive for a developer to jump in.

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Unity is just a window manager - not a new toolkit (you still use GTK, Qt or whatever else).

But you're right to think web technologies could work elsewhere. Gnome Shell is being developed in JavaScript amd CSS. See also the Palm Pre.

http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell

On a related note, see also JoliCloud, an Ubuntu based distro with some UI customization using web technologies. http://www.jolicloud.com/

Unity (and GNOME Shell for that matter) is probably best described as a "shell" rather than a window manager.

Like the old school GNOME Panel (and taskbar in Windows, Dock in OS X), the shell is for launching things, the entry point to getting your computer to do things.

Both Unity and GNOME Shell rely on an external window manager, albeit in an interesting way: They are plugins for mutter (a Clutter-based version of Metacity). When Unity switches to Compiz, it may be as a plugin or as a separate processs, not sure.

I thought I used the wrong term. Thanks for clarifying the differences.

Looks like you got a bit carried away. This is just a plain and simple window manager.

Quote :

"Unity brings together a powerful set of technologies designed to empower application developers and deliver a unique user experience"

From the above hype I mistakenly assumed Unity was something other than a nice Window Manager. Perhaps I do deserve to be down-voted for not wading thru pages of this tripe to find out what it actually means.

My comments still stand : Even if Unity is a superb WM .. does the Linux desktop really need another?

HTML5 would be a better way to do Linux Desktop UI.

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