14 DAY TRIAL // The Ubuntu platform is moving towards its convergence goal, and the developers are getting closer to it. Applications like Ubuntu Notes show just how close the mobile and desktop platforms are, in terms of the underlying code and design.
There is no secret that Canonical is trying to unite the mobile and desktop platforms into a single codebase, and this goal no longer seems to be a distant achievement for them. They have been working on platform convergence for a few years now, and the first results are already here in the form of Unity 8 and Mir. Those are just a couple of technologies, but the Ubuntu OS will need to provide a more comprehensive experience with app integration.
Canonical started this journey with a product called Ubuntu for Android, but soon after they began to work on Ubuntu Touch for the phone, they realized where this was going. The Unity 8 desktop environment is already working on the mobile platform, and the Mir display server is powering the mobile experience. The OS is based on the Linux kernel, so it's just a matter of adapting the technology to work on the desktop as well.
The Ubuntu Notes app is just one example
What you see in the video below that was put together by Popescu Sorin is basically convergence at work. A single application that works just as well, no matter the form factor. It will be pretty much the same whether it's on a PC, a phone or tablet. The users won't have to do anything special, and the developers will make sure that the app feels natural to use on a desktop.
Some users have expressed concern over the fact that they will have to use mobile-looking apps on the desktop after Unity 8 is implemented, but that won't be the case. Just because the app on the phone and the apps on the desktop share the same code, it doesn't mean that it will work in the same way. The experience will be quite different.
It's hard to predict when the two platforms finally become one, but it will most likely happen after Ubuntu 16.04 LTS is made available next year.
