Shuttleworth on the Ubuntu 12.04 desktop

No you don't have to abandon Ubuntu, but the fact is Shuttleworth has basically (IMO) said everything but Unity has no future at Ubuntu so if you don't like Unity at some point in the future you are going to be SOL. So then why would you hang around? Linux Mint is a direct response to this Unity silliness, it went from an also ran third rate Distro to a direct competitor to Ubuntu darn near overnight (IMO simply because it offered Gnome2 as a default install) if you go by buzz.