Ubuntu 11.10
Posted: 16. Oct 2011, 16:22
Anyone tried this yet?
It unfortunately still has the issues common to all Debian-based distros (i.e. it's a pain to compile stuff on it). The lack of Synaptic in the default install only makes this more annoying, since the Software Center can't install -dev packages.
Still... The good:
- Unity 2D is included by default now. It's both faster and (IMO) prettier than the 3D version. I still have some conceptual problems with it, mind; it looks like it would play badly with a dual-screen setup, and I don't really see the point of having the bar on top. (Why not leave application menu bars alone, and integrate the system tray into the sidebar?) That said, it strikes me as a sane middle ground between Gnome 3/Unity 3D glitz overload and Gnome 3's crippled fallback mode.
- They fixed the Software Center! It no longer bogs my laptop down in endless CPU and I/O hoggery.
The bad:
- Unity's launcher window is better than it was, but it still needs too much clicking, and looks confusing for novices. IMO a user should only have to click once to show all installed applications, with further clicks narrowing the selection; that would be friendlier and more intuitive.
- Unity 3D is still very slow, and is still the default desktop. Beats me why they don't ditch this turkey.
And, of course, the ugly:
- The update-fest is already starting. Last night CUPS had to be updated, and there are more coming down the line...
- Parts of AppArmor's userspace utilities are missing from the default install, so I can't enable Firefox's AppArmor profile.
Overall, from what I've seen in Ubuntu's past, I consider this a pretty good release. Not enough to make me switch to Ubuntu as my main OS, but good enough to make me a little bit more optimistic about Linux's future on the desktop.
It unfortunately still has the issues common to all Debian-based distros (i.e. it's a pain to compile stuff on it). The lack of Synaptic in the default install only makes this more annoying, since the Software Center can't install -dev packages.
Still... The good:
- Unity 2D is included by default now. It's both faster and (IMO) prettier than the 3D version. I still have some conceptual problems with it, mind; it looks like it would play badly with a dual-screen setup, and I don't really see the point of having the bar on top. (Why not leave application menu bars alone, and integrate the system tray into the sidebar?) That said, it strikes me as a sane middle ground between Gnome 3/Unity 3D glitz overload and Gnome 3's crippled fallback mode.
- They fixed the Software Center! It no longer bogs my laptop down in endless CPU and I/O hoggery.
The bad:
- Unity's launcher window is better than it was, but it still needs too much clicking, and looks confusing for novices. IMO a user should only have to click once to show all installed applications, with further clicks narrowing the selection; that would be friendlier and more intuitive.
- Unity 3D is still very slow, and is still the default desktop. Beats me why they don't ditch this turkey.
And, of course, the ugly:
- The update-fest is already starting. Last night CUPS had to be updated, and there are more coming down the line...
- Parts of AppArmor's userspace utilities are missing from the default install, so I can't enable Firefox's AppArmor profile.
Overall, from what I've seen in Ubuntu's past, I consider this a pretty good release. Not enough to make me switch to Ubuntu as my main OS, but good enough to make me a little bit more optimistic about Linux's future on the desktop.