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Could Ubuntu Linux 12.04 turn Canonical into the new Apple?

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Xerox PARC, Apple, Microsoft: these companies and more have contributed to the ubiquitous but evolving WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointers) user interface. According to Mark Shuttleworth Ubuntu is poised to revolutionise the menu this April.
Canonical's Ubuntu Linux is often considered the most popular and accessible Linux distribution available and its chief driving force, Mark Shuttleworth, is no stranger to innovation.

Almost two years ago Ubuntu's 10.04 Lucid Lynx release met with controversy and debate after the user interface was rejigged to display window buttons (minimise, maximise, close) on the left-hand side (as per MacOS) instead of its traditional right-hand side (as per Microsoft Windows).

While such a change is not radical so far as innovation goes it does reflect the willingness of the company to experiment and reject tradition in favour of new things.

The coming April 2012 release, 12.04, codenamed Precise Pangolin, is set to once again breed extreme feelings of like or dislike within its user community but with a change which competing operating system manufacturers will surely be watching.

Specifically, the traditional WIMP metaphor - windows, icon, menus and pointers - a critical part of the GUI over 40 years - may soon be known as the less-pronounceable WIHP if Shuttleworth has his way.

Shuttleworth's vision is to replace the historic 'menu' with his futuristic vision of a 'HUD'. In fact, Shuttleworth dubs his proposed makeover as a user 'intenterface'.

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David M Williams

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David has been computing since 1984 where he instantly gravitated to the family Commodore 64. He completed a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from 1990 to 1992, commencing full-time employment as a systems analyst at the end of that year. Within two years, he returned to his alma mater, the University of Newcastle, as a UNIX systems manager. This was a crucial time for UNIX at the University with the advent of the World-Wide-Web and the decline of VMS. David moved on to a brief stint in consulting, before returning to the University as IT Manager in 1998. In 2001, he joined an international software company as Asia-Pacific troubleshooter, specialising in AIX, HP/UX, Solaris and database systems. Settling down in Newcastle, David then found niche roles delivering hard-core tech to the recruitment industry and presently is the Chief Information Officer for a national resources company where he particularly specialises in mergers and acquisitions and enterprise applications.

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