Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal Out Now; Raring Ringtail In the Works 318
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.
Re:lamest name ever (Score:5, Insightful)
I abandoned plain Ubuntu in favor of XUbuntu last year after giving 11.04 a try for a couple of months. In a recent discussion, a lot of people have told me there's a huge improvement in Unity... I actually don't really like concept that much, but I'm going to give it a go in case I was swayed more by the execution than the concept. However:
WebApps — treats online services as if they are desktop apps (Gmail, Twitter, Facebook)
Do. Not. Want.
Online Services — control logins to all your services from a single window and get them integrated into search results
Do. Not. Want.
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?
I'm thinking the last thing I just wouldn't use - I'm hoping I can just disable the first things. I'm trying to get away from "social" apps, not get more into them. The only thing I'd use is gmail, and I'm happy with it in my browser and, if I wasn't, could configure an email client to use it. IOW, I agree - I don't personally see any value in these things.
Tis what we get when web desginers make a distro.. (Score:1, Insightful)
Ubuntu is taking the approach of Microsoft - all pretty crap, little functionality, selling out their users, and so much abstraction that it forces the users to be perpetually ignorant of how their computer actually works. You need SOME basic understanding with Linux, otherwise you'll end up in package dependency hell.
Instead of just following tutorial after tutorial from their wiki and OMGBuntu, why not take a break and learn more about Linux first, so you can set yourself up with a distro that works well and doesn't feel like something that's being funded by governments of the world to try and spy on the people who use linux...like Debian, Archlinux, or really anything that's not run by someone like Shuttleworth.
Linux needs a standard shell API (Score:5, Insightful)
Now that both Unity and Gnome have their own completely separate APIs for online accounts, it's time to start thinking about making life easier for application developers (instead of harder.)
Why haven't we created a single, standard shell API? Is it that so much to ask? Us app developers shouldn't have to spend extra time customizing our applications so they work under each shell.
Users shouldn't have to worry about whether or not their app's features will work with their shell. Why should they be forced to care?
No, it's time to put standard APIs in place and stick with them. Linux is supposed to be about choice for the user, not about preventing interoperability.
Obligatory (Score:5, Insightful)
Why haven't we created a single, standard shell API?
Not disagreeing with you, but... http://xkcd.com/927/ [xkcd.com]
Re:if they keep using unity.. (Score:5, Insightful)
You know, I've been down on Unity as much as the next guy, until a wild thing happened: my 13 year old son sat down in front of it, never having used it before, and started navigating and using it like it was the most natural thing in the world.
I was shocked, he didn't have any of the old UI paradigm hangups that I have, he looked at it with completely new eyes, and was immediately productive with it, using it in ways that had not been obvious to me.
After seeing this, I really had to reconsider my Unity griping. These guys really know something about usability, and while yes, there are flaws, they seem to be getting ironed out.
Obligatory xkcd? (Score:2, Insightful)
http://xkcd.com/927/
Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu (Score:5, Insightful)
Real nerds run whatever the hell they feel works best for them and don't bother with trends.
Worried about privacy, data, and more... (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't say I'm comfortable with the direction Ubuntu is heading regarding privacy, online services and "apps" and more.
The whole Amazon shopping "lens" is by far the most blatant issue. I'm sorry, no operating system (or truly, any program) should build in covert, opt-out only targeted adware/spyware/affiliate, especially without informing the user. The error is all the more egregious because it is made by an OS that is supposed to be respecting your privacy, tuned for the user's benefit, and generally operating under the ethos of Linux and the open source community. How much trouble could it have been to let the user decide for themselves which elements the search/lens system would use? Those that had any sort of affiliate/financial benefit, upon its first activation would provide a notification to the effect of "Please note that the Amazon lens appends the Ubuntu referral/affiliate ID to searches made on the website. This means when you purchase an item on Amazon that you found using the lens, Ubuntu will receive a small portion of the proceeds. Please note that we at Ubuntu do not receive any record of what item your purchased or any other personally identifiable data related to your Amazon transaction. We encourage you to leave the affiliate ID opted-in as it helps us to bring all the great software in Ubuntu to you without cost, but if you wish to opt out simply uncheck the box to your right. You may also enter another affiliate ID if you check the box below and enter the information of your preferred supporter". With this honesty, I can gather that many users would leave the affiliate ID intact. It is completely unacceptable to not provide this information.
Thanks to Canonical demonstrating their lack of ethics when it comes to the Amazon lens, I'm increasingly suspicious that the OS is not designed with user preference and privacy, but instead puts covert financial benefit ahead of everything else. For instance, I think the lenses and web-apps themselves are dangerous from a security standpoint as it seems that by incorporating both local and remote/Internet results and programs, without the discreet choice of the user to do so, it obfuscates what data resides where, especially amongst the less technical users who need the most protection. There should be clear definitions of local, offline data and remote, online data and all users should have to make the conscious choice to say "Yes, I want my desktop search or application to interact with and pull data from the Internet, and this is exactly how". I also have to wonder how much of the data prevalent in these searches is being harvested - if Canonical is willing to covertly include their Amazon affiliate in the default desktop search of their OS, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't just as covertly take any information that their WebApps/OnlineServices/Lenses etc... and make it available for sale.
Users of a Linux OS, much less the vanguard desktop Linux OS which acts as the face of Linux to many newcomers, shouldn't have to worry their OS is being designed to undermine user experience, preference, and privacy for profit. It damages the entire Linux and open source community, which have brought many users to their distributions by saying "Hey, we're not like those guys. We put user experience and ethics before profit. Look, its all Free and Open etc...". While it isn't exactly fair to the entire Linux and FOSS community, Canonical's actions will bring down judgements of hypocrisy and be an easy sticking point for critics and competitors. I know many will say "Just apt-get remove XXXYJASDJFDFDSD if you don't like it" or "Switch to another distro", but realize that especially for those who are new to Linux/FOSS, they aren't going to stick around for that if they have a bad experience - they'll just leave.
Linux and FOSS have made some huge gains in the past few years, especially on the desktop. Look at all the new development and interest brought simply by the announcement that Steam will be coming to Linux.
Re:lamest name ever (Score:3, Insightful)
WebApps — treats online services as if they are desktop apps (Gmail, Twitter, Facebook)
Do. Not. Want.
Then do. Not. Take.
Online Services — control logins to all your services from a single window and get them integrated into search results
Do. Not. Want.
Then do. Not. Take.
Seriously, what is WRONG with you? Entitled much?
Re:if they keep using unity.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:lamest name ever (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm trying to get away from "social" apps, not get more into them.
Glad to see I'm not alone in my sentiments towards the "social" apps".
If only they had a 'KILL' button for 'em.
Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu (Score:5, Insightful)
As great as open source is that indeed is one of the two elephants in the room (the other being documentation*.) Bugs get completely ignored as new versions get rolled out and then later marked as "Won't Fix". Firefox fixing their memory leak "any day now" is the running joke.
It's no different from commercial version in that respect; only commercial software vendors won't communicate that they're not going to fix it or that its a bug at all to start with, and you have no visibility to their bug databases.
And, FYI, many security vulnerabilities present in Win7 have been reported or related to reported bugs in Windows going back over 15 years.
Re:lamest name ever (Score:5, Insightful)
That is a click, and 4 key presses, followed by another click.
When I could do it in 3 clicks in either gnome or xfce.
Linux pretty much lives in the console. To do anything of any gravity, you will invariably have it open at some point. Being such an essential tool, obfuscating it makes no sense.
Some distros use a hotkey combo to start a console session anywhere.
Unity comits the same sin as apple and microsoft, by trying to coddle ignorance, and make the computer try to protect itself from the user through obfuscation and draconian controls.
I am not 12 years old. I don't need things hidden from me not my hands to be duct taped inside pairs of mittens.
Re:Adware/Spyware (Score:5, Insightful)
$ wget http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/6.0.6/amd64/iso-cd/debian-6.0.6-amd64-netinst.iso [debian.org]
Ubuntu has served me well in the past, but I find it's easier to install just what I want in Debian (and I know exactly what I'm getting) than trying to remove all of the extra stuff in Ubuntu these days.