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.
I tried the preview (Score:2, Interesting)
But really found the integration with webservices annoying. Switched back to Debian and I'm happy with that.
Re: (Score:3)
You mean you don't like getting a popup window every time you visit a website? What's wrong with you!
Re: (Score:3)
Obviously I do, since I've been running Quantal for months. It's easily the most irritating thing I've seen in Ubuntu, and at this point that's really saying something.
lamest name ever (Score:2, Informative)
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.
Re:lamest name ever (Score:4, Interesting)
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?
Full disc encryption available during install
You win some points here. Good! You can finally do this without using the debian-installer alternative.
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.
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: (Score:2)
I used to run Kubuntu, until some runaway process kept bringing my quad processor to its knees on occasion. So for over a year I've been running XFCE on top of Kubuntu. Why haven't I switched to Xubuntu? Because I don't want to do a fresh install. Upgrading has been pretty great so far.
I may eventually go back to KDE, but for now XFCE is fitting the bill.
I will, however, learn this time around and not upgrade right away. Last time I upgraded the day after it came out, and it took about 18 hours to down
Re: (Score:2)
I never understood the appeal of Xubuntu. What's wrong with debian testing and the xfce-desktop task?
Nothing. I've been using Ubuntu since 2006, and when I balked after two months 11.04, someone suggested Xubuntu. I tried it and found it acceptable.
Re:lamest name ever (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re: (Score:3)
What TFS should have mentioned is the upgrade from TeXlive 2009 to TeXlive 2012. Ridiculous that an OS with a 6 month release cycle gets new versions so seldom (except Firefox and LibreOffice).
Well, the whole idea was to get something out there that 'just works', for Joe User, not necessarily the '4 meters in front of the bleeding edge' stuff that old-time Linux users are somewhat used to. The original watchword was, stable and usable. Some apps just aren't ready for primetime even with a multiyear development cycle.
They've obviously gone past the 'for everyman' routine lately with Unity. Personally, I use LXDE. It just works.
Re: (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?
Haters will hate (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Re:lamest name ever (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
I agree with parent. It's like they threw away a perfectly good user interface and needed to replace with something new, because, hey, surely the user wants something new. If they had done a better job at letting old farts like me switch back to the classic interface that would still be okay. But the fact of the matter is, that sucks too.
My gnome classic environment is full of surprises. Windows that arbitrarily move to either top or bottom, a clock that is always in a format that I don't want, complete dis
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I know, what a missed opportunity for Queasy Quail.
Still time to rename their next release to Roaring Ringwraith, though.
The problem with their naming scheme is... (Score:3)
> Still time to rename their next release to Roaring Ringwraith, though.
Yeah, but, what is the name of the release *AFTER* "Zippy Zebra"? Does Ubuntu shut down after that?
Re: (Score:3)
No, it makes PERFECT sense!
The official switch to Unity is perfectly quantal!
(Note, I hate Unity with the burning intensity of a class 2 hypernova.)
Re: (Score:3)
What's wrong with Unity (in 12.04, not the braindead initial versions)?
Re: (Score:3)
Makes silly presumptions about the features of graphics hardware, gobbles resources like an amphetamine junkie, adds unnecessary steps to get to a fucking console prompt, and is generally now what I am looking for in a UI.
Re: (Score:2)
(I have no idea why the android input method system, with a hardware keyboard, continually makes a w, where a t should be, when used with words like NOT.)
(That should have read "Not what I am looking for" above. Not, 'now')
Re: (Score:2)
(I have no idea why the android input method system, with a hardware keyboard, continually makes a w, where a t should be, when used with words like NOT.)
(That should have read "Not what I am looking for" above. Not, 'now')
Turn off your word prediction. It is predicting that you want to type NOW rather than NOT, because NOW is the more common word.
Re: (Score:2)
what unnecessary steps are there to get to a console?
Super > T-E-R-M > in terminal.
It may be less characters to get terminal selected, but force of habit means I'll never know. How many steps does it take in your DE of choice?
Bearing in mind that if you are going to say "put it on the desktop, one click" then you can always pin the shortcut to the dock for one click that is never hidden.
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: (Score:2)
come on guys (Score:5, Informative)
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: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
The reason I say 12.04 is that it's a good, LTS release.
11.04 was sort of in the middle of their ongoing experimentation with Unity.
At some point it was really difficult to have a work process with multiple desktops. Not so anymore. Alt+Tab in 12.04 only shows you the windows on your current virtual desktop.
Also, there are indicators to show you if you have one, two, or more windows of a given program open.
Multi-monitor works great.
If you're a typical power user or developer, 12.04 will work well for you (b
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Quetzals do look rather cool though. Like someone put a beak on a christmas decoration.
Re: (Score:3)
Quokka [wikipedia.org]. Easier to pronounce and they make handy footballs.
Re: (Score:2)
Blame Adam. He was the one that named all the animals, right?
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
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.
I don't even know why anyone bothers with cutesy code names. All it does is exist as useless thing to remember, a way to alienate users ("Quantal what? Lenny who?"), and is more ambiguous than just a version number, even an inflated one like Firefox (what are we, at version 256.0.1?)
Maybe it's just supposed to be a fun way to pretend the work is more important than it is. Well, guess what, it's important anyway, no need to fluff it up.
(yes, I'm no fun at parties, either)
Re: (Score:2)
I can't wait for the release of Firefox 256, which will become Firefox zero on Windows because it stores the program version number in a single byte.
Re: (Score:3)
It can have 256 different numbers, but one of them is zero.
You can work out the max by assuming all the bits were positive. 1+2+4+8+16+32+64+128 = 255
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
What are they going to do after Zaftig Zebra? Aangsty Aardvard?
Re:lamest name ever (Score:5, Funny)
Zapping Zebra (Score:3, Funny)
I am waiting for the Zapping Zebra
Re:Zapping Zebra (Score:5, Funny)
Not that patient. I'll settle for Wanking Walrus.
Re: (Score:3)
Not that patient. I'll settle for Wanking Walrus.
So you won't be content with Vaseline'ed Viper?
Re: (Score:2)
The last letter in the Swedish alphabet is Å, so I'm waiting for Ubuntu "Å Å"
which can be stretched to mean "on stream" (OK, it's quite a stretch), and is pronounced roughly "oh, oh" in a sort-of orgasmic way.
Re:Zapping Zebra (Score:5, Funny)
No, ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZÅÄÖ.
I'm waiting for Ölande Ödlan. "Beer guzzling lizard"
Re:Zapping Zebra (Score:4, Funny)
I'm hoping for "Zany Zoidberg".
LOL (Score:5, Funny)
From the announcement:
The timing is such that users can experiment before deciding if they want to invest in Windows 8 or go with an alternative and bypass that confusing new user interface Microsoft will be shipping.
(emphasis mine)
Re: (Score:3)
(So want to call it "Raging Ringworm"...)
Re: (Score:2)
rename it Raving Rottweiler and I might give it a try.
That would be good...considering Rottweiler's brains get crushed by their skull as they grow older...thus making them go crazy.
Re: (Score:2)
Lots of people understand perfectly well how the new interface works but still prefer the old interface because for what they do, it is better.
I'll probably switch to Windows 8 for the performance improvements and buy a better window manager (or whatever it's called in the Windows world).
Can't wait for Shitting Sasquatch (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm even more eager for Trolling Tuna, which will usher in the year of Linux on the desktop.
In Soviet Russia, tuna trolls you!
The real question . . . (Score:2)
Since Canonical is following (or leads) Mozilla in releasing on a quick schedule, does this also mean Canonical will be pulling this release tomorrow due to a security flaw?
Re: (Score:2)
I know this is meant as a joke but in case it's also a criticism of rapid release cycles as more insecure, I'll just point that slow release cycles often left vulnerabilities in the open for long periods of time. Who needs a zero day when the flaws are open and unpatched?
Re: (Score:2)
Well except in Canonical's case the updates are major changes and not necessarily fixes. Even if it included fixes relative to the previous release, it is possible to introduce more vulnerabilities to the system with all the new additions.
I'd much rather my OS version be long lived with security updates than having it cutting edge every 6 months. This is why Ubuntu has a 'LTS' version.
Timing is everything (Score:2)
BTW, I'm running Peppermint 3.
Dang, all these updates (Score:3)
done with ubuntu (Score:2)
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]
Obligatory xkcd? (Score:2, Insightful)
http://xkcd.com/927/
Re: (Score:2)
Your misconceptions of the reality of Gnome aside, t
! stable (Score:3)
Honestly, I tried Ubuntu countless times, recommended it to a bunch of people, used it on some computers for a while, but they should really concentrate in getting the bugs worked out. Unfortunately, I am afraid, I will not use Ubuntu anywhere myself anymore. Don't take it wrong, I like the fact they want to put the linux desktop where it should be, but each release breaks more often that the former one, and I really don't understand why. As sad as I am to say that, each Ubuntu release looks more and more broken, in fact it even reminds me of Windows.
I will stick with Debian on my desktops/laptops, I am currently using testing/wheezy, which is way more stable than any current Ubuntu, even the LTS releases...
And yes, I know I will be flamed to give my opinion and I am repeating myself, but Ubuntu should really work out bugs instead of pushing eye candy.
Re:! stable (Score:5, Informative)
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: (Score:2)
The only reason I won't upgrade for the forseeable future is the advertising spam in the Dashboard.
Phillip.
One switch in the privacy settings and the "advertisements" are gone.
Gallium (not the element) is making a huge improvement in the display on my oldish main computer. I'm really liking QQ.
-Gareth
Re: (Score:2)
One switch in the privacy settings and the "advertisements" are gone.
That really isn't fine though. On something like that it has to be opt-in. Moves like that are basically guaranteeing my days with ubunt are over - any organisation that attempts to capitalize on people's ignorance or laziness to make money really doesn't have much of a moral core.
Adware/Spyware (Score:5, Informative)
To get rid of the annoying adware/spyware in Unity.
$ sudo apt-get remove unity-scope-musicstores unity-lens-shopping
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.
And people pick on Apple's big cats... (Score:2)
Quantal Quetzal
...
Wasn't that the villain Daring Do fought, or something?
Ubuntu is NSFW (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Getting better every release (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe I'm a wide-eyed optimist, but I see a lot of potential in Ubuntu to bring desktop Linux to a whole new level.
Perhaps, but perhaps not a higher level...
The OS is becoming no better in this respect. Having the OS enabled to automatically search for, basically, everything assumes and encourages a retarded, undiscipl
Please consider Mint (Score:4, Interesting)
No Unity 2D? (Score:2)
This tweaked my interest with the mention of no more Unity 2D? I used to have an old version of Ubuntu on my desktop (10.04) then after several upgrades to 12.04 that eventually screwed up the kernel along with startup/shutdown issues I had to switch to Unity 2D for some sanity. Replacing it now with some kind of software rasterizer seems to me like such a kludge fix in my mind designed to piss off pepole even more and force them to switch to an alternative even quicker.
At any rate I've been using Linux Min
What?! (Score:4, Funny)
Moved on to Mint (Score:3)
I was testing out and as soon as I saw ads popping up, I moved to Mint (after a brief and very painful visit to Fedora).
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.
Thanks, but no thanks... (Score:4, Interesting)
Thanks, but no thanks.. More than happy to stick with 12.04LTS till after 14.04LTS is released.. Been on that schedule since going from 6.06 to 8.04.. I usually wait till at least the .1 update on each LTS before I migrate to it, as I have better things to do then upgrade every damn six months... When Canonical announced that Unity was going to be the default WM in 12.04, and after I tried it out for a couple of weeks and damned near tore my hair out by the roots, I began looking for a replacement for my soon-to-be-EX-favorite distro.. Fortuantly I found Cinnamon, and with it installed on Ubuntu 12.04, it makes Ubuntu usable again, and its again my favorite distro.. Sure hope the Unity fiasco is a one-time burst of insanity and not a precursor of more insanity at Canonical/Ubuntu...
Re:if they keep using unity.. (Score:5, Funny)
I vote for Stubborn Sturgeon.
You know, since they seem to be so insistent on all this UI "revolution" nonsense.
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.
Re:if they keep using unity.. (Score:4, Interesting)
I recently to a spin on the PPC linux road, after aquiring a free, used PPC platform from a friend.
Dropped on Ubuntu PPC. Completely unusuable with the Unity UI, because it gobbled down resources like an amphetmine junky. I am talking, unusably slow here. Like click the mouse and wait 10 seconds slow.
Boot to a root console, nuke unity, and install gnome 2. Oh, what a releif it was!
I'm sorry, but I am of the opinion that software should be be written to take as little horsepower way from user applications as is inherently possible, while retaining reliability and quality.
Unity seems to operate under the premise of "resources are abundant ad cheap, and I can squander them like mad all I want and get away with it. It's revolutionary!"
Re: (Score:3)
Try MintPPC http://www.mintppc.org/ [mintppc.org] - it works well even on the old G350 iMacs. It's essentially Mint Debian with LXDE.
Re: (Score:3)
It was more an idle curiosity thing. And yes, ancient crapple hardware.
But you know, linux is presumably more friendly with antiques than other OSes... so, why does OSX 10.4 run waaaaaaaay better than ubuntu?
Re: (Score:2)
But you know, linux is presumably more friendly with antiques than other OSes... so, why does OSX 10.4 run waaaaaaaay better than ubuntu?
Because, hilariously, the Ubuntu interface has more fancy gimmickry in it. Also, the OSX driver for whatever video was in there was probably better than the OSS driver is.
Re:if they keep using unity.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Nice, I actually like Unity when I first used it. I like my GNOME2 interface alot, but I was willing to give it a try and, I liked it...or at least things about it.
That said, I also had issues with it, that made it somewhat useless for me (I often have 2 firefox sessions going with different profiles, it had no mechanism to deal with that, as the dock icon for firefox could only track one of them, and I couldn't have 2 that each tracked a seperate one... there were other issues, but I don't recall now what
Re: (Score:2)
My GF is a happy Unity user as well (it helps that she went straight to 12.04, bypassing the buggy releases). It still doesn't work for me, but it's mainly because of the dock. It really messes up my workflow. I dislike it on the left, especially when using 4:3 monitors. The auto-hide functionality is terrible, it manages to make it both too easy to activate by mistake (like, say, when you want to hit "back" on Firefox) and too hard to activate on purpose (you sort of have to hit the area a bit too hard wit
Re: (Score:2)
The auto-hide functionality is terrible, it manages to make it both too easy to activate by mistake (like, say, when you want to hit "back" on Firefox) and too hard to activate on purpose
Fact. Why are they so dead-set against config options? Just make me scroll or click or dig some other way to get to them so they don't confuse the mundanes.
Re: (Score:3)
Yes, it's actually quite good for netbooks. My desktop monitor can rotate to work in "document mode", though, which is incredibly handy but would make the vertical dock incredibly funny.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
It was always available, you just had to download the "alternative" install disk that would run the text-based debian-installer.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
what do real nerds run? i was running fedora but it didnt support my logitech keyboard properly.
i reinstalled ubuntu for their software center, which reminds me of coolgames.
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.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm running Mint 13 with MATE. I'm happier with that than with any other recent OS release, on any platform.
Be aware though, my nerd quotient may not qualify as "real", depending on your prejudices. YMMV, etc.
Re: (Score:3)
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.
The only other option is start publicizing the old (critical) bugs that the devs conveniently keep ignoring.
How about starting by listing the bugs?
* Obviously there are exceptions: FreeNAS has done a fantastic job with there 8.2 Use
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: (Score:3)
That is indeed true -- the differences is that companies (tend) to go out of business if they don't value their product, i.e. fix bugs.
Maybe the point is open is just as bad as closed but open has one small advantage: transparency.
In the end, that is what will eventually win out.
That, and sharing of software / algorithms.
Re: (Score:3)
That is indeed true -- the differences is that companies (tend) to go out of business if they don't value their product, i.e. fix bugs.
Meh, there's plenty of proprietary software out there that is buggy but they stay in business because they deliver what most of the users want most of the time. Open source has a tendency to throw out the old and in with the new despite nobody actually asking for it, because it's supposedly in some way better - often supported by use cases written by their proponents that cherry pick the advantages and ignore the drawbacks. It's like saying DVORAK is superior to QWERTY, so let's just drop QWERTY support. Yo
Re: (Score:3)
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 an old one, though. I think there was a benchmark a while back that showed that Firefox (14? 15?) was actually the most efficient browser for certain usage scenarios (namely a very large number of tabs open simultaneously). Mind you, it's still by no means lightweight but its memory usage does stabilize after a while and Chrome wouldn't be much better for extremely heavy use.
And yes, I do easily reach 100-200 simultaneously open tabs.
Re: (Score:3)
Everyone knows how big of an abortion Unity is, and aside from that it seems that Shuttlebuntu continually tries to find new and exciting ways to piss of what's left of their userbase. It's all about the pretty, and not about functionality, unless it's to do with gathering userdata and showing ads.
Actually, many of us that actually like to get work done like Unity. I'm sorry if you're too stuck in your ways.. I like hitting my super key, starting to type "fire" and then hit enter to have it load firefox. To me, it much faster than taking my hand off my keyboard, using the mouse to go to some point on the screen, and click through menu's. (that is sooo windows 95!!) I also like that it only took a few times to realize when I type Calc I prefer Calculator instead of OpenOffice Calc.
I also like the s