GNOME Shell has been removed from the repositories?

[Jo-Erlend Schinstad]

I've noticed that gnome-shell is not provided in the repositories for
Natty. It used to be available in universe, from Karmic to Maverick.
Why is this no longer the case?

I strongly believe that GNOME Shell should be available in the
repositories, and preferably in main. There is already too much talk
about Ubuntu moving away from GNOME. Removing gnome-shell from the
repositories will encourage that misconception. I personally remain
somewhat sceptical about both Unity and GNOME Shell, but I loudly
applaud the efforts of both projects to innovate and modernize the
desktop. I also think both projects show great promise, and I'm really
looking forward to see how they progress as they mature and are
exposed to a greater audience.

And I am a little concerned that by both switching to use Unity by
default and removing the main competitor -- GNOME Shell -- from the
repositories, it may seem like Ubuntu is using its power as the most
popular distro to eliminate competition. You will get Unity for free,
it will be installed and used by default. GNOME Shell, on the other
hand... You'll need to search the web, try to find a good PPA, add the
repository and then install it -- if you're really that interested. I
am really hesitant to mention the comparison that automatically
springs to my mind: Microsoft killed Netscape by providing Internet
Explorer for free and, more importantly, installing it by default. No
doubt, it's quite an efficient means of ridding oneself of
competition, but it really doesn't seem to be in the spirit of Ubuntu.

I don't want to come across as accusing anyone of doing that. But I am
concerned that's the way people will interpret it and that it'll help
fuel tribalism. I strongly believe that the competition between GNOME
Shell and Unity will bring out the best in both of them, but that will
require both of them to be exposed to as vast an audience as possible.
I'm not saying that GNOME Shell should be promoted or installed by
default, only that it should be available from the repositories, at
the very least in universe. I think that by promoting it to main, that
would send a strong signal that Canonical and Ubuntu are not in
conflict with GNOME. Also, if people are able to easily try GNOME
Shell, then if people do stick with it, developers of Unity has a much
better chance of learning why they do so, which will enable them to
improve. The same would be true for GNOME Shell, of course: if people
try it and chooses to use Unity instead, then they will have the
opportunity to learn. The question, therefore, is "is Ubuntu going to
enable the community around it to be able to improve?". These are the
important things in the free software community, and if Ubuntu can do
that, then it will have done something important, that will be
appreciated... :)

In summary: The current situation makes Unity a symbol of conflict and
an excuse for tribalism, which is as ironic as it is sad. The best
solution is to promote it to main.

Thanks for reading,

Jo-Erlend Schinstad