Ubuntu Archive

Ars has a review of Ubuntu 7.10. They conclude: "Ubuntu 7.10 provides an unparalleled desktop Linux experience and sets new standards for power and ease of use. This release lives up to Ubuntu's reputation and delivers cutting-edge new features and solid enhancements. Although Ubuntu 7.10 is very impressive, some of the new additions - particularly Compiz and Tracker - lack the polish and robustness that they need to truly shine. These technologies are still a work in progress and give Ubuntu 7.10 a slightly unfinished feel. Ubuntu also unfortunately inherits some of the minor weaknesses of the GNOME desktop environment."

"Now let’s not get side-tracked from the primary topic. I’ve decided to focus less on making this an entertaining read and instead provide more brief and to the point examples. This being a sequel article, will certainly prove disappointing to many so I might as well not hold back even if this installment turns into more of a behavior and functional sanity check than a visual presentation critique." More here.

"The purpose of this article is not to emphasize the strengths and merits of Ubuntu user experience, but instead to shed a brighter light on areas that have been neglected due to shortage of time and resources, usability testing, and various software and artwork defects. I hope those who are sometimes overprotective of open-source software will take my recommendations with a pinch of salt and see this article for what it really tries to be: a vocal user experience report and constructive criticism."

APCMag has a lenghty article on switching from Windows to Ubuntu. "When I was first given this task I had to sit and blink a few times, if for nothing else than dramatic pause. I'm a self-confessed Linux nut, as some of you may know, but even I'm cautious to do away with Windows completely. There's a reason I have a dual-boot Windows and Linux machine. Several of them, in fact. But have I just been conditioned into using Windows because of past experience, or applications, or file formats, or the myriad other reasons that make Windows a comfort zone because it's all so familiar?"

The release candidate for Ubuntu 7.10 has been released. "The Ubuntu developers are hurrying to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software that the open source and free software communities have to offer. This is the Ubuntu 7.10 release candidate, which brings a host of excellent new features. We consider this release candidate to be complete, stable and suitable for testing by any user. The final stable version will be released in October 2007."

A review of Linux Mint Celena. "I think Celena is a breath of fresh air. It is the best GNOME distribution I have ever used. The artwork is simply amazing, I think PCLinuxOS must take a hint or two from Celena. Strong emphasis is given to integrating the theme with applications. I can see the hard work Mint developers have put behind custom applications like Mint Menu, MintUpload, MintAssitant and Mint Control Center. They have done a commendable job and made our lives easy. They have not followed the trend and have included KDE applications, wherever they felt the need."

Just like Eugenia yesterday, I also upgraded my laptop's Ubuntu Feisty installation to Gutsy a few days ago. The upgrade process went completely awry, though, so I was forced to do a fresh install. Not a bad thing, as it gave me the opportunity to take a look at Ubuntu's soon-to-be-released Gutsy Gibbon with GNOME 2.20

I upgraded my laptop to the latest Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon a few days ago only to be greeted with an additional feel of polish and goodness. Read more for our mini preview.

"My verdict: Even in the relatively slick Ubuntu variation, Linux is still too rough around the edges for the vast majority of computer users", says Mossberg. Among others, he complains about one of the things I did too when I was writing my stream of Ubuntu reviews back in Spring.

"Ubuntu Xorg maintainer Bryce Harrington recently demonstrated the BulletProof-X feature that is planned for inclusion in Ubuntu 7.10. BulletProof-X provides a failsafe mode which will ensure that users never have to manually configure their graphics hardware settings from the command line."

Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 5 has been released. "The Ubuntu developers are hurrying to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the Open Source Community has to offer. Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 5 is the fifth alpha release of Ubuntu 7.10, and this alpha release brings a host of excellent new features."

Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 4 is the fourth alpha release of Ubuntu 7.10, and this alpha release brings a list of new features, including Tracker, Openoffice 2.3 Beta, AppArmor, and more. For PowerPC and PS3 see this page in the wiki.

Google Trends recently updated their online "popularity" meter and Ubuntu remains the clear No1 Linux distro in terms of search trend. Fedora and Debian seem to be battling for the second position, while SuSE had a small "trend" loss in the 3rd place. Then, we find Gentoo, Mandriva, then Red Hat and Kubuntu. While this trend meter is not an official Linux distro market/mind share, it's considered a pretty good approximation. Meanwhile, Fedora seems more strong in USA, while SuSE in Europe.

"Canonical announced today the availability of Landscape, its web-based systems management tool for Ubuntu servers and desktops. Available to Canonical's support subscribers, Landscape provides a key tool for the growing number of businesses that want to take advantage of the ease of use of Ubuntu and have previously seen system administration or support as a hurdle."