So we've run some polls asking the Ubuntu MATE community what default video player they prefer and what default layout they'd prefer. While the voting data is useful the discussions that follow are most insightful.
We recently added badges to all the Patrons and for those of you who've financially supported Ubuntu MATE in some way. I was pleasantly surprised how many people who are generously supporting Ubuntu MATE are here, in this forum. Therefore we're not running a poll and we're not going to have this discussion on the other Ubuntu MATE social platforms. We're having it here, with you, the people most engaged with the future of Ubuntu MATE. So, here we go...
Default email client
Thunderbird is on life support. If you don't follow the Linux news closely Thunderbird is not being actively maintained, Firefox is dropping many of the underlying technologies that Thunderbird shared. Mozilla is seeking a new custodian for Thunderbird. With this uncertain future and an LTS around the corner we're reviewing what the default email client should be for Ubuntu MATE.
Having discussed this with the Ubuntu MATE team Evolution is emerging as the most likely candidate. Now that MATE is GTK3 throughout, Evolution looks right at home alongside MATE and offers excellent integration with Google, Exchange and traditional mail and calendar protocols. If we were to drop Thunderbird from the default install, we'd make sure it is one click away in the Software Boutique.
We'd like to hear your thoughts about your email client preferences and your feedback using the current versions (not from 16.04 or earlier) of the popular desktop email clients.
Default photo organiser
Shotwell hasn't been updated in Ubuntu for some time. That said I hear the new 0.27 version will land in 17.10. There is however an integration issue with Shotwell and Ubuntu MATE, in order to share/upload images via photo sharing sites and social networks Shotwell requires online account integration which in turn pulls in a good deal of GNOME3 or Unity 7. Therefore much of the online integration available in Shotwell is not available in Ubuntu MATE and is, in my opinion, somewhat gimped because not being able to interact with online photo sharing is unacceptable.
gThumb on the other hand implements online photo sharing via it's own plugin system. gThumb offers many of the features provided by Shotwell and could potentially function as a stand alone image viewer and replace Eye of MATE too.
Now gThumb does make use of header bars to present some menus and options, which departs from the traditional look of the MATE Desktop suite. While that is disappointing I'm of the opinion that now Ubuntu is embracing GNOME3 we will see applications using header bars and client side decorations becoming common place. For applications outside of the MATE suite, we may not be able to choose the best default applications for the job without some that require the use of header bars. I believe the best we can do is ensure that the header bar and client side decoration support in Ubuntu MATE is first class. And this was something we invested a great deal of effort in during the 17.04 cycle. If we replace Shotwell we'll make sure it is still available via the Software Boutique to provide continuity for existing Ubuntu MATE users.
What do you think about this potential change? What are your preferred photo management applications and how well do they integrate with MATE?
) I’ve been using gThumb for the past few days instead of EOM as the default image viewer, and it works for me. I even forgot I made the change, so it passes that test for me! (And I agree with 
