Unity

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What Does Unity Mean?

The Unity desktop is a desktop GUI developed by the Unity Project 2010 and maintained by Canonical. Unity is currently found within the Ubuntu Linux operating system. Unity’s emphasis is on simplicity and intuitiveness, and it maintains enough similarity to more traditional desktops that it is easy for users to use and understand.

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Techopedia Explains Unity

The Unity desktop is a little different than what most end users are used to, and the primary reason behind this involves the deployment of the vertical task manager on the left-hand side of the screen. This has been termed the "launcher." This is somewhat similar to the various Mac desktops that have the launcher panel on the bottom of the screen.

The launcher is the main interface between the end user and Unity, and it includes icons to commonly used applications. If a desired application is not currently in the launcher, Unity has a search feature that allows the end user to type in the name of a given application in order to gain access to it.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.