Xubuntu - History

History

Xubuntu was originally intended to be released at the same time as Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy Badger, 13 October 2005, but the work was not complete by that date. Instead the Xubuntu name was used for the xubuntu-desktop metapackage available through the Synaptic Package Manager which installed the Xfce desktop.

The first official Xubuntu release, led by Jani Monoses, appeared on 1 June 2006, as part of the Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake line, which also included Kubuntu and Edubuntu.

Cody A.W. Somerville developed a comprehensive strategy for the Xubuntu project named the Xubuntu Strategy Document. In early 2009 the document was awaiting a second reading by the Ubuntu Community Council.

In February 2009 Mark Shuttleworth agreed that an official LXDE version of Ubuntu, Lubuntu, would be developed. The LXDE desktop uses the Openbox window manager and, like Xubuntu, is intended to be a low-system-requirement, low-RAM environment for netbooks, mobile devices and older PCs and will compete with Xubuntu in that niche.

In November 2009, Cody A.W. Somerville stepped down as the project leader and made a call for nominations to help find a successor. Lionel Le Folgoc was confirmed by the Xubuntu community as the new project leader on 10 January 2010 and requested the formation of an official Xubuntu council. As of late March 2010, discussions regarding the future of Xubuntu's governance and the role a council might play in it were still ongoing.

In March 2012 Charlie Kravetz, a former Xubuntu project leader, formally resigned from the project. He stated, "Due to circumstances now surrounding the Xubuntu project, I will no longer be able to participate in any capacity. For 18 months as Project Lead, I attempted to keep as many as possible involved with this project. Some of those individuals fought every attempt I made to better the project. Now, having observed the project from the sidelines for almost an entire release cycle, I find that those individuals were actually playing some kind of games, for reasons I will never understand. As of the release of 'Precise Pangolin' as Xubuntu 12.04, I am resigning any and all positions with the project. I wish the Xubuntu success in the future." Despite the resignation the project members indicated that Xubuntu 12.04 would go ahead as scheduled.