Ubuntu, Kubuntu 13.10 Unleashed 143
llebeel writes "Canonical announced its free Ubuntu 13.10 Linux operating system (OS) release, on the same day as Microsoft's remedial Windows 8.1 service pack update. We speak to Canonical founder and Ubuntu creator Mark Shuttleworth who tells us what to expect."
Adds reader jrepin: "Kubuntu Linux 13.10 has just been released and is available for download. It comes with KDE Software Compilation 4.11, a new application for discovering and installing software, a simpler way to manage your system users. and a new Network Manager applet gives a simpler UI for connecting to a range of network types. You can now setup Wifi networking from the installer making it easier to install updates and extra packages during the install." ZDNet has a fairly tepid review of the incremental rather than startling improvements of the new release, and notes "Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, due for release on 17 April next year, will now perhaps come as even more of a shock if its promised big changes are fully realised."
Re:Biggest problem with Ubuntu: Upgrades (Score:5, Insightful)
People like what they're used to, even if it's not necessarily the best thing.
That's why it takes an awful lot of work to convince someone to switch from Windows to Linux, especially when they are at a point in which regedit-hacking is "natural" and "easy" to them.
That's why neither Emacs nor Vi have adopted standard rest-of-the-world shortcuts such as ctrl+c, ctrl+v, after they've been around for, like, 30 years?
That's why you can't remove an option or change something in a software without disrupting someone's workflow (I'm too lazy to look up the relevant xkcd).
My answer is: forget about these old get-off-my-lawn users grumbling and go on, especially if what you are doing makes sense from a usability point of view. Focus on making things easy for new users instead.
(I guess I can kiss my karma goodbye - I have probably offended every possible category of Slashdot users here.)
Re:Ubuntu good for linux? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think in the early days Ubuntu was very good for linux. It showed that you could have a linux install that was fairly user friendly.
Other distros, like SuSE, had achieved this before Ubuntu was released.
Re:ZDNet Article (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, but think of all the page views they get by simply taking a bunch of screen shots and writing two sentences for each screen shots. Gone are the days when you have to write 15 full paragraphs to get a five page article. Now all you have to do is take a few screen shots and make up inane sentences to go with them.
What's more, is that they don't even manage to ruin the surprise of what the experience is actually like.
Re:Ubuntu good for linux? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not rocket science. Rightly or wrongly Canonical has decided that the future of general computing is in the mobile space and they are working on getting Ubuntu there and bridging the gap between the mobile computing experience and the desktop computing experience.
In simplest of terms, they're trying to make a distro that can be both a phone and a desktop all in the same device. Again -- rightly or wrongly -- they have decided that they needed to move certain things in house to best accomplish that goal (Mir) and needed a specific interface they were in control of to scale between display form factors (Unity).
If you are a person that thinks this direction is wrong and will hurt Linux in the long run, then you belong in the "bad for Linux" category. I'm a person that thinks this is absolutely the best way for Linux to finally have its "year of the desktop" similar to how Apple made their comeback but with a twist -- by providing a compelling mobile experience with a device that just so happens to be able to double as someone's desktop when they want a bigger screen.
Pay attention to plunging desktop sales numbers. As people find ways to make mobile devices and tablets their only computing devices, this strategy will start to look smarter and smarter. Whatever else you think of Canonical (and by extension Ubuntu), this will either make them or break them.
Re:"promised big changes" (Score:5, Insightful)
linux 'fragmentation' is a real problem.
as soon as some distro gets their gui for mgmt working, they change it and start all over again ;(
Windows fragmentation is a real problem. As soon as we get used to the latest version of their GUI, they change it and start all over again.