Following on a discussion with the HackerNews community on the things that users want to see in the upcoming Ubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) operating system, Canonical's Dustin Kirkland is now asking the Ubuntu community to vote for the default apps of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
Since then, Canonical listened to users and already implemented a bunch of their request in Ubuntu 17.10, including the replacement of the deprecated Unity interface with the GNOME desktop environment, Bluetooth improvements via new BlueZ version, as well as more HiDPI improvements for 4K screens and multi-monitor setups.
Additionally, it upgraded the default network connection manager to NetworkManager 1.8, switched to use the libinput library as a generic X.Org input driver and for handling input devices in Wayland compositors, implemented the brand new Subiquity server installer, and shortened the size of the minimal images with 18%.
And they're also working hard on bringing better GPU/CUDA support, EXT4 encryption support with fscrypt, and the ability for the OS to automatically remove old kernels from /boot in Ubuntu 17.10. But now, they want you to vote for the default applications of Ubuntu 18.04, the next LTS (Long Term Support) release of the OS launching April 2018.
"We invite you to contribute by listing the applications you find most useful in Linux in order of preference," said Dustin Kirkland, Ubuntu Product and Strategy at Canonical. "To help us parse your input, please copy and paste the following bullets with your preferred apps in Linux desktop environments."
"Users are welcome to suggest multiple apps"
Canonical says that users are welcome to suggest multiple applications for a single category, but you should order them prioritized. They want you to choose the default web browser, email client, file manager, office suite, audio player, movie player, image viewer, text editor, terminal emulator, IRC and messaging client, calendar app, PDF reader, and screen recorder.
You can also suggest web apps, as well as apps that aren't yet available in the Ubuntu repositories. So it looks like Canonical is finally listening to the community and wants to shape Ubuntu into the operating system users want and need, not the other way areas, at least on the desktop. To vote for your favorite apps right now you should visit Dustin Kirkland's announcement.
