System76 Releases Updated Pop!_OS Based Off Ubuntu 18.04

[tmpdir]

Not using poops (wut... Nasty spellchecking). But definitely watching it, because Ubuntu really feels dated. Hope this brings some refresh.

For now installing gnome desktop on Ubuntu to have a handle free distro (one that costs least time for me personally)

[mmstick]

They wanted to have some control over the OS they were delivering on their hardware.

Their CEO said the biggest complaints they heard about Ubuntu were:
The time it takes to set up a productive environment.
Removing bloatware.
Up-to-date drivers and software.
A fast app center that works well.

And they claim to have fixed all these.

System76 engineer here. Actually, it's because Canonical has been on a continuing downward trend to move away from the desktop, and focusing only on servers and IoT. System76's business revolves entirely around the desktop, as a desktop hardware OEM. That means that Canonical's interests are going the exact opposite of where our interests lie. Therefore, the change is so that we can provide a better solution from a desktop hardware OEM perspective,and a better out of the box desktop experience that is demanded by our customers.

[isantop]

The truth is that they wanted to use Elementary's software app instead of GNOME software for promoting all these new elementary apps.

Actually, Pop_Shop doesn't include any elementary AppCenter apps (per the elementary project's request), and it's a good reason. Those apps are designed pretty specifically for elementary OS, and would look and feel sorely out of place on Pop. The main reason we went with a store based on AppCenter is that AppCenter opens up much faster than GNOME Software, and it's much faster to use. Try opening up the store and searching for an app on both GNOME software and Pop_Shop. You'll find that it's much quicker to get a result on Pop_Shop because of the clever caching AppCenter does in the background. GNOME Software requires an Apt update each time it runs before it can display metadata for apps, which is why it's so much slower.