Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal Out Now; Raring Ringtail In the Works

An anonymous reader writes "The six month cycle that Canonical adheres to for Ubuntu releases has come around again today. Ubuntu 12.10 'Quantal Quetzal' has been released. There's a whole range of new features and updates, but here are the most important: WebApps — treats online services as if they are desktop apps (Gmail, Twitter, Facebook); Online Services — control logins to all your services from a single window and get them integrated into search results (e.g. GDocs for file searches); Dash Preview — right click any icon, get a detailed preview of what it is; Linux kernel 3.5.4; GNOME 3.6; Nautilus 3.4; latest Unity; No more Unity 2D, fallback is the Gallium llvmpipe software rasterizer; Default apps updated (Firefox 16.01, Thunderbird 16.01, LibreOffice 3.6.2, Totem, Shotwell, Rythmbox); Full disc encryption available during install; Single, 800MB distribution for all architectures." It's now available for download. The next version, due in six months' time, will be called Raring Ringtail.

lamest name ever

[X0563511]

Most of them are campy but not ridiculous. Quantal? Really? Not only is that silly sounding, but it doesn't even follow along the kind of names they have been using.

quantal, adj.
1. Physics
        a. Of or relating to a quantum or a quantized system.
        b. Existing in only one of two possible states.
2. Biology Of or designating an all-or-none response or effect: a quantal reaction.

Adware/Spyware

[Anonymous Coward]

To get rid of the annoying adware/spyware in Unity.

$ sudo apt-get remove unity-scope-musicstores unity-lens-shopping

Ubuntu is NSFW

[rmstar]

Seriously. If you search for 'titanic' and don't type fast enough you may see adult content.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/18/ubuntu_12_10_review/ [theregister.co.uk]

Or see the bug "No obvious way to restrict shopping suggestions from displaying adult products".

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity-lens-shopping/+bug/1054282 [launchpad.net]

I think the devs and the people responsible are underestimating the degree to which this is a major fuckup.

Re:! stable

[horza]

As sad as I am to say that, each Ubuntu release looks more and more broken, in fact it even reminds me of Windows.

Really? Your computer suddenly shuts down for no apparent reason whilst you are playing a game, only to find it reboots and completes some random update? You can't work because of the constant stream of Java/Flash/Antivirus that keep blinking at you to update them? All the utilities you regularly use keep flashing up nag screens at you or are crippled requiring you to upgrade to the "pro" version?

YMMV, for me Ubuntu gets more and more stable with each release. I have zero problems with PP (only a few apps like Simplescan and a couple of others). The only reason I won't upgrade for the forseeable future is the advertising spam in the Dashboard.

Phillip.

Re:lamest name ever

[drinkypoo]

I never understood the appeal of Xubuntu. What's wrong with debian testing and the xfce-desktop task?

Ubuntu is a bit more updated and you can use PPAs because you'll have the deps. If these things don't matter to you, then nothing.

Haters will hate

[js_sebastian]

WebApps — treats online services as if they are desktop apps (Gmail, Twitter, Facebook)

Do. Not. Want.

Well maybe you don't. But millions of people use gmail, and some of them use ubungu. I know several people who have made the jump of forwarding all of their email accounts to gmail and using that exclusively as a mail client, because honestly it is a better client than the desktop alternatives (thunderbird/evolution/kmail). Making gmail a full-fledged citizen on ubuntu means it can behave just like a desktop app, with a gmail icon in the launcher, notifications arriving together with those from other applications in the system, etc. I for one am looking forward to this feature.

Dash Preview — right click any icon, get a detailed preview of what it is

Why? Should this not be the job of the file manager? Doesn't it already do this?

Well, maybe you're not searching through your file system. Maybe you search for an application to install, and can see a screenshot before clicking. Maybe you are searching for a song in your music collection, you get a preview of the album art, and a button to enqueue it or start playing it. And so on, with many third-party extensions likely to be coming. Is this useless eye-candy? maybe, but it is a lot more than the file previews in your file system browser, and I bet that after a bit of experimenting and tweaking some cool stuff will come out of this.

come on guys

[Anonymous Coward]

Now try to open a second one.

ctrl + alt + t
ctrl + alt + t
ctrl + alt + t
ctrl + alt + t

now I have 4 terminals open, how many do you want?

Re:I tried the preview

[Knuckles]

But really found the integration with webservices annoying.

You mean you don't like getting a popup window every time you visit a website? What's wrong with you!

Obviously you didn't even see the feature in action, it does not behave that way AT ALL

Re:lamest name ever

[jamstar7]

Well, to be fair, back with Win98, OEMs were bundling all kinda shit in the way of online services like AOL, MSN, etc, when they shipped a new computer out. They got a 'kickback' from the service for each license they shipped, which helped lower the cost of the computer. This is just more of the same, with an eye to put a buck or 3 in Canonical's pocket without too much fanfare or hassle.