Ubuntu – Will there still be a separate Netbook edition after Unity becomes the default desktop environment

desktop-environmentsubuntu-netbookunity

After a long time of enjoying the bliss of ignorance I've been reading up a bit on the developments in the land of desktop environments.
One thing I didn't find was whether there will still be (a need for) a separate netbook edition once Unity becomes the default environment on the Ubuntu desktop.
Surely someone here can tell me what I need to know?

Best Answer

Judging by Gerry Carr's Canonical Blog post as of Ubuntu 11.04 there will no longer be separate Ubuntu versions.

One of the benefits of the direction that’s been taken with the next release of Ubuntu is that there is no longer a need for a separate netbook edition. The introduction of the new shell for Ubuntu means that we have a user interface that works equally well whatever the form factor of the PC. And the underlying technology works on a range of architectures including those common in netbook, notebooks, desktops or whatever you choose to run it on. Hence the need for a separate version for netbooks is removed.

Even the name will simply be Ubuntu instead of Ubuntu Desktop Edition in the future.

Related Question