Britney-obsessed Ubuntu 13.10 DUMPS X Windows-killer Mir in desktop U-turn

The new touchscreen-friendly user-interface system promised for next desktop version of Ubuntu has been PULLED just weeks before its release.

Mir and XMir – the Linux distro's replacement for the age-old X Windows graphics stack – will now NOT be enabled by default in the 13.10 desktop build - due out on 17 October.

Mir is the new display server that will, according to Ubuntu-maker Canonical, “unlock next-generation user experiences for devices ranging from Linux desktops to mobile devices powered by Ubuntu”. XMir is a halfway house, being an X Windows compatibility layer for users who can't run a pure Mir stack.

The plan to is eventually replace X Windows in Ubuntu with Mir so that software can seamlessly run across all supported devices - from tablets and phones to laptops and desktop computers. Version 13.10 was supposed to use Mir/XMir by default on the desktop or fall back to plain-old X Windows if forced to by a graphics driver incompatibility.