<P> On 12 March 2009, Ubuntu announced developer support for 3rd - party cloud management platforms, such as those used at Amazon EC2 . </P> <P> Since Ubuntu 17.10, GNOME 3 is the default GUI for Ubuntu Desktop, while Unity is still the default in older versions, including all current LTS versions . However, a community - driven fork of Unity 8, called Yunit, has been created to continue the development of Unity . Shuttleworth wrote on 8 April 2017, "We will invest in Ubuntu GNOME with the intent of delivering a fantastic all - GNOME desktop . We're helping the Ubuntu GNOME team, not creating something different or competitive with that effort . While I am passionate about the design ideas in Unity, and hope GNOME may be more open to them now, I think we should respect the GNOME design leadership by delivering GNOME the way GNOME wants it delivered . Our role in that, as usual, will be to make sure that upgrades, integration, security, performance and the full experience are fantastic ." Shuttleworth also mentioned that Canonical will cease development for Ubuntu Phone, Tablet, and convergence . </P> <P> A default installation of Ubuntu contains a wide range of software that includes LibreOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, Transmission, and several lightweight games such as Sudoku and chess . Many additional software packages are accessible from the built in Ubuntu Software Center as well as any other APT - based package management tools . Many additional software packages that are no longer installed by default, such as Evolution, GIMP, Pidgin, and Synaptic, are still accessible in the repositories, installable with the built in Ubuntu Software Center; or by any other APT - based package management tool and Snappy . </P> <P> Ubuntu operates under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and all of the application software installed by default is free software . In addition, Ubuntu installs some hardware drivers that are available only in binary format, but such packages are clearly marked in the restricted component . </P>

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