Ubuntu MATE 21.10 Impish Indri 🧝 is out!

[bornagainpenguin]

I just wanted to get in there and thank you all for this release.

I usually take a look at interim releases as a curiosities and views of coming attractions. The rare times that I will go ahead and install a release I am usually unable to stick with it more than a week, before I run scurrying back to the LTS release. This release has been an exception to that.

I'm not sure what all happened but in this release (even with the two issues I've encountered, gdebi, workplaceswitcher) everything has just felt right somehow. Things have that glow of extra polish on it. Everything feels slightly evolved.

I will probably never give up the 'Traditional Desktop' no matter that I am happy there are all sorts of layouts for those who want them in Mate-Tweak but this release feels like progress for the first time. As much as I have appreciated Mate being there and that the developers have poured so much into the efforts to keep it alive, a lot of the time things felt as though they were on life support. This release though? This release...wow...

It feels like progress. Not like treading water, but actually going somewhere. I'm excited in a way I haven't really felt in a while now. I'm intrigued. I want to see where things go from here. I want to see Mate Desktop become a player again, the way that Gnome 2.x was a dominant force in the Linux Desktop in times past.

Again, I may never give up my 'Traditional Desktop' but I will definitely be running the 'Familiar Desktop' and testing some of the defaults in the next LTS release. This release seems to deliver on a promise I didn't know I was waiting for. It's just so well optimized, so polished. I've always thought that Ubuntu's Gnome 2.x\Mate Desktop had a little extra from the developers actively seeking and squashing 'papercuts' over the years but this release you have outdone yourself.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing what comes next. Thank you for that.

[Internaut]

I have a 65 Mustang rag top that runs as good as any 2021 same-size vehicle. No one told me I had to buy a 2021 Mustang in order to keep using Mustangs. If a 32 bit rig does everything the owner wants, why should they upgrade just keep up with appearances.

I am using a 32 bit Windoze system. It does reports, handles communication, surfs the internet, plays music, videos - all the same thing Win 10 does, only I don't have a weird new layout M$ upgrades to by moving icons around, adding new spying techniques, or force me to buy a new computer so they can turn it into a leash.
Beside Ubuntu, my 7 does it all just as well. I don't need to learn Linux programming, or learn new 'Office', surfing, or tweak ports.
BUT!!!, I'll admit, I have moved to Linux based I/Os for safety and privacy. So I am leaning Linux, and all the stuff pertinent to Ubuntu.

I rate Ubuntu, Pop and Pure ahead of any Windows including 7, but it's the inherent steep learning curve. If Linux rigs were as friendly as Windows I'm sure a lot would convert. Those I know personally that dove into the Linux arena said they just didn't have the time to learn the commands, their office is serving M$ Office, and some of their programs need Windows.

Just sign me Tiny Minority and loving it,
~i~
4 desktops x 64bit rigs, one Win 10, other Pop/OS, PureOS, and Ubuntu
3 laptops x 32bit = Win 7, 1 Ubuntu, and a PopOS
1 laptop Win 10.
I move the drives around now and then