Tom's Hardware published an in depth review of Ubuntu 11.04

A couple of weeks ago, Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, launched Ubuntu 11.04 'Natty Narwhal', one of the most highly anticipated and controversial desktop Linux distributions ever introduced. What makes Natty a landmark release is the inclusion of the brand new Canonical-developed Unity user interface. Unity replaces the GNOME 2 shell that served as Ubuntu's default UI since the distribution's inception.

The timing of Canonical's decision polarized both the Ubuntu and GNOME communities, as the GNOME project also recently finalized GNOME 3. Ubuntu 11.04 was originally slated to use GNOME 3, along with the new GNOME 3 shell, as its default GUI. The GNOME 3 shell is no less a drastic departure from GNOME 2 than Unity, and popular opinion is split in all directions.

  Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal), Reviewed In Depth