My Unifi Network Application v10.5.38 (self hosted) has started prompting me to change to Unifi OS. The prompt says that the existing one “will not support upcoming network versions”.
Hate to sound cynical, but are Unifi pushing a new platform as part of an enshittification process?
Or is this merely the introduction of a next gen application architecture? The linked page on Unifi’s site suggests the latter.
One thing I did spot - they do not support running this in a container. But presume ok to run in a VM ?
In short, enshittification is the gradual degradation of a platform’s functionality to maximize profits and I don’t see changing how a free app is delivered as that. The UniFi application is moving the self hosted version the new UniFi OS version which uses containers to deliver the updates smoother. I am not clear what’s worse about that in any way.
The new Unifi OS server runs in Podman. You cannot run it in a LXC container. If you want to run it in lets say Proxmox you need to use a VM. I don’t want to run another resource heavy VM. I installed Unifi Network Application 10.2.105 deb file in a LXC and it works. So for the time being i am good.
I’d like to see a video comparing Unifi OS to Unifi Network Server. I’ve been running the Unifi Network app in TrueNAS for quite a while. So while I get messages saying OS is going to be the supported application going forward, it’ll be a bit of a config change to spin up another VM.