Ubuntu unity
From IThelp
The following text may serve as a succint navigation guide for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and later versions. The user interface for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is called unity; any windows users may feel more comfortable referring to it as a desktop.
Unity Dash
Unity dash is suppose to resemble the functionality and appearence of a dasboard (as one may find in a car or a plane), but it is not entirely wrong to think of it as a menu of sorts.