While we are are buzzing about Windows 7 today, the good, the bad, the same old same old, there is another less funded, and less reported release, the Release Candidate of Ubuntu’s regular scheduled product, Ubuntu 9.10, or Karmic Koala.
I suppose it is a testament to quality that the Karmic Koala release was not sped up ,and pushed before all the quickly quashed bugs were taken care of. Had they done it, and not had everything well investigated, the naysayers would be loudly proclaiming that Ubuntu was not worth anyone’s time. Next week, with some of the Windows 7 fueled furor dying down, it will be a clear field for the proper reception of the latest Ubuntu revision.
I look forward to the streamlined boot, and plan on a side by side (twin Western Digital drives, with Windows 7 Enterprise on one, and Karmic Koala on the other) comparison, which will guide my recommendations to some clients, as I think that many people can effectively use Linux and interact with people who don’t with no problems.
Other that the quick boot, which I won’t fully realize, as I don’t own a SSD, I look forward to changes in the user interface – hopefully in a diametrically opposite one from Windows 7 – the large cartoonish icons are a big problem for me. In Windows 7, since I don’t have a touch screen, it was the very first thing I changed after install. Since Ubuntu is not going into the touch screen era, i hope we will see a more refined standard interface, with smaller text and icons easily allowing more information per screen, and less like the sight-impaired versions of Windows.
The article on ComputerWorld tells us that one week from today is when we will get our October treat, on October 29, and with hope of no tricks.
The upcoming Canonical release, which is code-named Karmic Koala, is the latest version of the popular flavor of the Linux OS. The development release on Thursday pushed the OS one step closer to final release, which is due on Oct. 29, according to the company’s release schedule Web page.
The story tells of the one area in which Linux in general is making headway against the code bases from Redmond. Microsoft wants desperately to put Windows XP into that home for retired operating systems, where visits are only to relive old fond memories, and no one mentions the OS that Godfather Ballmer states is now persona non grata. That area is netbooks. And where Windows XP is not new enough, and Windows 7 is way too expensive, Linux is just right.
Ubuntu 9.10 RC is an upgrade from the previous version, Ubuntu 9.04, which carried the code name Jaunty Jackalope. Built on the latest Linux 2.6.31.1 kernel, Ubuntu 9.10 offers faster boot times, an improved user interface and programming tools for easier software development, according to Canonical. The company is offering different versions of the OS with a variety of graphical desktop environments. The environments integrate everyday applications including instant-messaging software, Web browser, document viewers and multimedia software.
Canonical is offering versions of the OS with a variety of desktop environments, including Gnome, KDE and XFCE. These environments, built on top of the Linux kernel, have unique graphical user interfaces and integrated software.
If only Windows 7 could be so modular! If Microsoft had the forethought of the designers of Linux, there might be no Linux, for the people who liked things from XP or 2000 would be allowed to keep them, along with adding in the improved things from Windows 7 (note I still did not utter the V word)
Karmic Koala includes a new “Ubuntu Software Center” from which users can easily add or remove programs, similar to a feature available in Windows. It improves on an earlier feature for adding and removing programs. The OS also fixes many bugs from previous Ubuntu editions and builds in driver support for more hardware.
Canonical is also offering its online storage and file-sharing service, called Ubuntu One, by default in Ubuntu 9.10. Users can back up, share or sync data with others through the Ubuntu One Web site. The service gives 2GB of online storage free to Ubuntu users, with an additional 50GB costing US$10 a month.
Do you notice how the builders of Linux incorporate the good things about Windows, yet manage to keep away from adding the things that really annoy?
It’s an amazing thing.
I’ll bet that to use Ubuntu One you aren’t locked into using Firefox, the way Microsoft makes you use Internet Exploder to use Skydrive.
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works great with Ubuntu, Windows, and just about every other operating system currently in use…
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