Canonical wants to develop new file manager app for Ubuntu 14.10

Canonical wants to develop an entirely new file management application for Ubuntu 14.10. It must run in the Unity 8 environment. The plans for a new file manager are said to be the result of growing dissatisfaction with Nautilus’ minimalist course.

Nautilus, the official file manager for the Gnome desktop, has lost more and more functionality in recent versions. For example, the dual pane view, a mode in which two or more windows could be displayed side by side, is no longer available in recent versions. The developers say they are striving for further simplification of the interface, but many Ubuntu users are not happy about the loss of functionality.

The dissatisfaction is not only heard by end users. For example, Ubuntu developer and Canonical employee Oliver Grawert indicates that Canonical wants to put Nautilus aside and switch to a completely new file management application. This should not only regain a lot of functionality, but also be optimized for the Unity 8 interface that is still under development.

A project has been created on Launchpad for the new file manager. The aim is to replace Nautilus in Ubuntu 14.10, which should be released in October. A release in the upcoming LTS version in April is not feasible. Incidentally, the file manager application will not only run on the desktop, but also on tablets and smartphones.