14 DAY TRIAL // Even if Mir and Unity 8 still have some time until they reach the desktop in a default capacity, it doesn't mean that the developers don't make important updates to them. A new progress report has been made available, showing off the improvements for both Mir and Unity 8.
Before detailing a little bit the changes made to Mir and Unity 8, we need to make sure everyone knows what they are. Most of the Ubuntu users are already familiar with them, but it never hurts to tell everyone again. Mir is a new display server developed by Canonical for the next-generation Ubuntu systems, like the new Ubuntu for phones or the upcoming Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. Unity 8 is the new desktop environment that will eventually replace the current generation.
All in all, the differences between the current X display server and Mir, and between Unity 7 and Unity 8 respectively, shouldn't be too big and users will find that their overall experience will remain the same. On the other hand, both Mir and Unity 8 are capable of doing some very interesting stuff and it will be very interesting to see them in action on the desktop.
Unity 8 and Mir are coming together
These two core components are already working on the Ubuntu for phones for some time, but it will take a while until they are ready for the desktop. This is a much more complex platform with many variable and hardware variations that need to be taken into consideration. Here are just a few interesting lines from the provided changelog.
"Work around unity8 for desktop config including listening for devices (like keyboard/mouse), remembering window size/placement. Full shell rotation feature branches being maintained & still getting automated testing in place (some illness slowed us down). Time spent on preparing for design team sprint for future of dash (navigation) and proper prompts/dialogs, meeting happening this week," writes Canonical's Kevin Gunn.
It's worth pointing out that many of the changes made by the devs actually apply both on the phone and the desktop, which is rather cool. Also, Mir now has support for sw cursor integration and a few other improvements have been made. To top thing off, a problem with the capturing of screenshots on the phone that was also displaying the volume has been corrected.
You can check the official mailing list for more details about the progress made on Mir and Unity 8.