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Well, just check by yourself :
http://code.google.com/p/chromium/

chromium uses the same engine but it ain't the same browser; chrome is chromium plus some stuff to spy on you. on the other hand, you can run chromium so that you don't have to worry about being spied on by chrome. This is what I'm doing; I use the archived beta version from the dailies PPA on Ubuntu (first Karmic, now Lucid) and have so far found it to be generally more performant than Firefox. On the down side, plugin integration is not perfect, so for example mouse wheel events don't seem to go to flash apps. for windows there's srware iron.

And in the three years I've been tracking Ubuntu development and its related bugs, I have never seen a fix for an issue I was running into backported to a LTS version.

Just in case there are people who think you may be exagerating, here are some examples:

1) In early 2008, applet "Link Monitor" started using an icon willy-nilly, under the excuse of "usability". Various people complained about it and suggested workarounds, including a simple patch. It took more than 2 years for it to be classified as "fix released". You think it's in 10.4? No. Who wants to guess whether the fix will be in 10.10?

2) The new notification system that Ubuntu pioneered (libnotify) is very nice, save for a few serious usability problems. Such as the fact notifications can't be customized in any way (position, transparency) -- they're in your face whether you want them or not. It's very annoying when you're working on something the notifications block your view and you have to hover your mouse over them to make them go away. You weren't doing anything with the mouse anyway, right?

But that's small potatoes. The issue of timeouts is far more interesting: the notifications WILL NOT show for anything less than a few good seconds, WILL NOT allow that timeout to be any shorter and WILL FORCEFULY COMPOUND the timeouts for consecutive messages.

Again, a very simple fix and workaround has been proposed. So far it was met with utmost disregard, in spite of all the arguments and legitimate use cases. The official excuse is that "this is how it was designed", real world be damned.

And in the three years I've been tracking Ubuntu development and its related bugs, I have never seen a fix for an issue I was running into backported to a LTS version.

Just in case there are people who think you may be exagerating, here are some examples:

1) In early 2008, applet "Link Monitor" started using an icon willy-nilly, under the excuse of "usability". Various people complained about it and suggested workarounds, including a simple patch. It took more than 2 years for it to be classified as "fix released". You think it's in 10.4? No. Who wants to guess whether the fix will be in 10.10?

2) The new notification system that Ubuntu pioneered (libnotify) is very nice, save for a few serious usability problems. Such as the fact notifications can't be customized in any way (position, transparency) -- they're in your face whether you want them or not. It's very annoying when you're working on something the notifications block your view and you have to hover your mouse over them to make them go away. You weren't doing anything with the mouse anyway, right?

But that's small potatoes. The issue of timeouts is far more interesting: the notifications WILL NOT show for anything less than a few good seconds, WILL NOT allow that timeout to be any shorter and WILL FORCEFULY COMPOUND the timeouts for consecutive messages.

Again, a very simple fix and workaround has been proposed. So far it was met with utmost disregard, in spite of all the arguments and legitimate use cases. The official excuse is that "this is how it was designed", real world be damned.

They fixed some things too.
Most notably in my case, was the use of an external monitor at a different resolution than my netbook.
That was horribly broken in 9.04.

Good thing you're not using an ATI video card:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/537640

Actually I agree with this.. I was going to post asking what goodness exists even in 10.04.. Facebook this cloud that... Personally I don't CARE. What INTERNAL things are better?

The close buttons are on the left, and the wallpaper is purple. Oh, and it's useless for ATI notebooks:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/537640

Interestingly, 10.04 is the first release in a couple of years that has worked without a hitch for me. I installed it on a whim, hoping that it might include a driver with hardware-accelerated 3D for my RV730 video card. I was pleasantly surprised that not only does it include that driver, everything I have tried has actually _worked_, and the experience is a marked improvement over what I was running before.

The only issue I ran into is that GDM would not read my ~/.xsession, but it's not entirely clear if that is a bug or a design choice, and, regardless, there is a fix for it.

For the rest, it's stable, it's fast, it's beautiful, and it's even an LTS release. It's been a while since I've experienced that from Ubuntu, but they seem to have gotten everything I care about right this time.

Keeping in mind your experience, I am curious as to how people in general fare with this release. I share your observation that Ubuntu has been caring more about new features than quality, and I was hoping that they had found their way back to putting together top quality releases. I would really like to know what the trend is, qualitywise.

At least that can be fixed. My pet peeve is that they removed the button from Nautilus that let you switch between the breadcrumb and text views for the path. I doubt that most users knew about Ctrl+L until today (I certainly didn't), though even if you use that the path is automatically reset to '/', which is a pain if you only wanted to modify the original path.
The behaviour from 9.10 shouldn't have been touched, IMO. Moves like this make Ubuntu *harder* for new users to learn.

Launchpad link is here for anyone else who agrees me (or just wants to see if we can slashdot the site).

Even then, at least Nvidia is getting slightly easier on Ubuntu with their newer hardware - https://launchpad.net/~nvidia-vdpau/+archive/ppa allows you to install the Nvidia binaries and then have them update with the rest of the system.

Yes, it is Ubuntu/Deb only, and it would be better if it were hosted by Nvidia with proper regression testing. Or to just have an open driver to begin with that could be included in the main kernel. But you know what? It's a step (maybe a half a step) in the right direction...

Fixed five days ago.

FWIW, here's my experience with upgrading from karmic to lucid. I've been running lucid since April 10.

1. Sound had been almost completely broken for me in jaunty and karmic ( https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/504947 ). It's now working properly in lucid.
2. After upgrading to lucid, my system failed to boot properly a significant fraction of the time. Turns out this was a problem with kernel 2.6.32-19. The thing that I really wished I'd understood a couple of weeks ago was that in order to keep up to date with the latest version of the lucid beta, I needed to keep on doing apt-get dist-upgrades. It is not enough to do a single apt-get dist-upgrade, and then just do apt-get upgrades after that. Only after I did another dist-upgrade did I get kernel 2.6.32-21, which fixed the problem with booting.
3. There is a regression in printing. My Brother laser printer had been working fine in karmic. Now with lucid, on about 50% of boots, the printer is not recognized, and I have to reboot in order to print. (I haven't gotten around to filing a proper bug report on this one yet, or seeing if it's a known bug -- any other slashdotters having similar problems?)
4. Java applets broke -- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bug/561040

For anyone who is having serious problems with jaunty or karmic that have been fixed in lucid, it might actually be smart to go ahead and upgrade sooner rather than later. My impression is that the beta is at least as high in quality as the release versions of jaunty and karmic. Jaunty and karmic were simply horrible releases.

In the future, I'm thinking of being much more conservative, just staying with LTS releases. What I'd been doing in the past was upgrading the OS for the sake of getting new versions of certain apps (mainly inkscape). But the quality of the non-LTS releases seems to be so ridiculously bad that I don't think I'm going to do that anymore.

FWIW, here's my experience with upgrading from karmic to lucid. I've been running lucid since April 10.

1. Sound had been almost completely broken for me in jaunty and karmic ( https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/504947 ). It's now working properly in lucid.
2. After upgrading to lucid, my system failed to boot properly a significant fraction of the time. Turns out this was a problem with kernel 2.6.32-19. The thing that I really wished I'd understood a couple of weeks ago was that in order to keep up to date with the latest version of the lucid beta, I needed to keep on doing apt-get dist-upgrades. It is not enough to do a single apt-get dist-upgrade, and then just do apt-get upgrades after that. Only after I did another dist-upgrade did I get kernel 2.6.32-21, which fixed the problem with booting.
3. There is a regression in printing. My Brother laser printer had been working fine in karmic. Now with lucid, on about 50% of boots, the printer is not recognized, and I have to reboot in order to print. (I haven't gotten around to filing a proper bug report on this one yet, or seeing if it's a known bug -- any other slashdotters having similar problems?)
4. Java applets broke -- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bug/561040

For anyone who is having serious problems with jaunty or karmic that have been fixed in lucid, it might actually be smart to go ahead and upgrade sooner rather than later. My impression is that the beta is at least as high in quality as the release versions of jaunty and karmic. Jaunty and karmic were simply horrible releases.

In the future, I'm thinking of being much more conservative, just staying with LTS releases. What I'd been doing in the past was upgrading the OS for the sake of getting new versions of certain apps (mainly inkscape). But the quality of the non-LTS releases seems to be so ridiculously bad that I don't think I'm going to do that anymore.

The alternate install also fails to do Software RAID correctly.

While in installer, pre first boot: /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1
(combined to /dev/md0, as /boot) /dev/sda2 /dev/sdb2
(combined to /dev/md1 as LVM)

After first boot (well, not even, because /boot doesn't mount) /dev/md0 is not started /dev/md1 is comprised of /dev/sda and /dev/sdb

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/debian-installer/+bug/563343

This is the real issue IMO.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.22/+bug/131094

But it now looks like it may be some sane behavior (heat throttling), mixed with some bad drivers.

Still, if it is truly a kernel issue, I would think a company like canonical would fix it (I mean somebody ought to).

I definitely started experiencing it around when it opened on my desktop, my current laptop does it a little too, but it was early alphas I really noticed it, haven't done any big updates since.

In the early alpha I literally left the update overnight when the laptop became unresponsive (could not log in at a terminal, as it timed out before i could enter my password). The next morning still in the same situation (10 hours), disk LED blinking.

Heres my favourite showstopper wich wasnt fixed. It totally breaks Lucid for a lot of people with Intel Graphics. Again.

There are lots of "little regressions" in 10.04, for example this one that affects ATI-powered notebooks:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/537640

This is shaping up to be one buggy release!

This guy.

I have a pet regression in lucid: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/545443

"Lucid on Asus EEE PC 901 and 1000H fails to connect to any wireless network". Those (pretty common, I think) netbooks have the RaLink RT2860 wireless chipset.

Specifically this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/570765

We're fine with moving priority to the new objective as soon as you've completed the former. ;-) Ubuntu 10.04 presumably is not it just yet.

You do realize that bug has been fixed... and that it's not even released yet? https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/565981 /. posting that story was really NOT news.... pre-release software has bugs, generally bugs get fixed, then software gets released. FUD much?

Sure it is x.org and not the video driver? When you leave it on console-only, is it using the nomodeset switch for the kernel?

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1311112&page=8
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/474930

There are also some intel video related information here:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/904

No, that problem goes back to 6.06.

There's this entire class of Linux issues that result from a lack of defensive programming prioritizing user feedback and good error logging. When you've gone several years with these nagging screen saver issues that keep popping up, with two different work arounds involving fixing permissions on files that are in unexpected states, at some point user focused development would say "hey, how about we present the user with more information about what goes wrong in these cases" or "why don't we log more info about the common issues we've seen in the field when this occurs." Instead, Canonical's idea of being user focused is to add new whiz-bang features every release. News flash: you got all the main features people wanted as of Feisty. This is why your top ranked Brainstorm requests are for bug fixes and cleanup of existing features, not introduction of new ones.

Oops, there was a bug in my bug report. Yes, I find that's it's better to keep upgrading to "unstable" versions than to wait for backports to the hilariously titled "supported" versions. Unfortunately, the more people do that, the less incentive there is to backport.

And even that doesn't always work; I yet again can't unlock my screen after suspend in 9.10, a recurring problem which keeps coming back in various forms since at least 8.04 and which - hello Canonical - is a red flag issue for Joe User.

I know the difficulty of trying to persuade geeks to work on things that don't interest them, but doing so is Canonical's job. When users say "I can't unlock my screen after suspend", that's a drop-everything issue. How can they not get that?

This isn't the only video problem in the Lucid Lynx betas. Since upgrading, I've been having a problem where x.org sometimes fails to start up when I boot. Presumably this is a separate problem from the one described in TFA, since you wouldn't expect to see a memory leak's effects showing up at boot time.

Is it helped by adding

vmalloc=256M

to your kernel boot options?

This isn't the only video problem in the Lucid Lynx betas.

Here's another one: laptop users don't have video out to VGA:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/+source/linux/+bug/537640

It has missed the deadline for being fixed, apparently no Ubuntu users connect their laptops to external monitors.

Ubuntu has a history of not releasing backports for Firefox and Open Office, arguably two of the most used applications, to LTS versions. Firefox 2 Firefox 3.5 Open Office 3

Ubuntu has a history of not releasing backports for Firefox and Open Office, arguably two of the most used applications, to LTS versions. Firefox 2 Firefox 3.5 Open Office 3

Ubuntu has a history of not releasing backports for Firefox and Open Office, arguably two of the most used applications, to LTS versions. Firefox 2 Firefox 3.5 Open Office 3

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/461163

There are other reports for different hardware, and we even have a wiki page to help summarize the data. Feel free to help!

This isn't the only video problem in the Lucid Lynx betas. Since upgrading, I've been having a problem where x.org sometimes fails to start up when I boot. Presumably this is a separate problem from the one described in TFA, since you wouldn't expect to see a memory leak's effects showing up at boot time.

Jaunty and Karmic were really terrible releases, IMO. The good news for me is that sound, which broke when I upgraded to Jaunty, is now working for me again with Lucid. I'm hoping that Lucid gets nice and stable over the long lifetime it will have as an LTS release. In the past, I'd been upgrading ubuntu steadily rather than waiting for the next LTS, mainly because I wanted my apps upgraded. That was such a miserable experience that I'm planning not to do it anymore; I'll just stay with Lucid until the next LTS.

I like debian and ubuntu better than the other OSS systems I've used (Mandrake, Red Hat, FreeBSD), but this close tie-in between updating apps and updating the OS can really be a pain. The OS-level tweaking has never made my life any better. As a user, I couldn't care less about stuff like OSS versus ALSA. I would really love it if ubuntu would focus more on fixing bugs in the OS while keeping applications up to date, but not gratuitously breaking stuff in the OS just because they want to be on the cutting edge.

Another thing can be a drag about ubuntu is that they aren't very careful at all about keeping Gnome separate from the underlying OS. Anyone who uses a WM other than Gnome with ubuntu is going to run into lots of things that don't work properly, because the developers always seem to feel free to make changes without testing them on any other WM. For example, here is a bug in xsplash. It causes problems for people who aren't using Gnome. You know you're in trouble when you have functions whose names begin with "temporary_hack..." This one was not a bug in a beta, BTW, but a bug in a real release.

This isn't the only video problem in the Lucid Lynx betas. Since upgrading, I've been having a problem where x.org sometimes fails to start up when I boot. Presumably this is a separate problem from the one described in TFA, since you wouldn't expect to see a memory leak's effects showing up at boot time.

Jaunty and Karmic were really terrible releases, IMO. The good news for me is that sound, which broke when I upgraded to Jaunty, is now working for me again with Lucid. I'm hoping that Lucid gets nice and stable over the long lifetime it will have as an LTS release. In the past, I'd been upgrading ubuntu steadily rather than waiting for the next LTS, mainly because I wanted my apps upgraded. That was such a miserable experience that I'm planning not to do it anymore; I'll just stay with Lucid until the next LTS.

I like debian and ubuntu better than the other OSS systems I've used (Mandrake, Red Hat, FreeBSD), but this close tie-in between updating apps and updating the OS can really be a pain. The OS-level tweaking has never made my life any better. As a user, I couldn't care less about stuff like OSS versus ALSA. I would really love it if ubuntu would focus more on fixing bugs in the OS while keeping applications up to date, but not gratuitously breaking stuff in the OS just because they want to be on the cutting edge.

Another thing can be a drag about ubuntu is that they aren't very careful at all about keeping Gnome separate from the underlying OS. Anyone who uses a WM other than Gnome with ubuntu is going to run into lots of things that don't work properly, because the developers always seem to feel free to make changes without testing them on any other WM. For example, here is a bug in xsplash. It causes problems for people who aren't using Gnome. You know you're in trouble when you have functions whose names begin with "temporary_hack..." This one was not a bug in a beta, BTW, but a bug in a real release.

Funny, but unfair.

To get it up and running you just need to run the unified installer (also for Mac) and then point your browser to your chosen port. Administration is done with a simple and friendly GUI.

You don't need to install a LAMP stack and setup a database, so it's fast and pretty easy to get running; it's not the brutish beast you are depicting, so please don't spread FUD about a great piece of free software.

If this guy knows his way around a command-line, he might want to try installing it the "correct way" by using zc.buildout and PythonPaste, which is a bit more complicated but in no way mandatory.

99.999999% of Ubuntu users

Have you reviewed Bug #1?

Wine and Linux for the client machines should work well for your needs. Ive seen that most games work quite well under Linux+Wine. If Wine isnt enough, possibly CrossOver Games would be better.

Windows prior to Vista doesnt really offer capabilities that you are requesting, as far as I know. And Windows is still expensive...

But on the Linux side, there are a few tools that can do that.

For GNOME, there is GNOME Nanny. Though it seems restricted to time session management and web activities.

A more universal set of tools is available too:

• TimeKpr- Controls login and session times using PAM
• WebContentControl- Despite its name, it does more than control website access. It also includes scripts for controlling application access.
• A new *in-development* GUI called GChildCare is being made to succeed WebContentControl.

Im not sure if there are other tools out there that work. I think Mandriva Linux actually provides integrated support for parental controls similar to GNOME Nanny and TimeKpr. The scripts from WebContentControl would let you block which applications they can run, though that isnt that big of a problem on Linux if they dont have a compiler or root access.

KDE itself has a configurable Kiosk mode, which can help control KDE itself.

Wine and Linux for the client machines should work well for your needs. Ive seen that most games work quite well under Linux+Wine. If Wine isnt enough, possibly CrossOver Games would be better.

Windows prior to Vista doesnt really offer capabilities that you are requesting, as far as I know. And Windows is still expensive...

But on the Linux side, there are a few tools that can do that.

For GNOME, there is GNOME Nanny. Though it seems restricted to time session management and web activities.

A more universal set of tools is available too:

• TimeKpr- Controls login and session times using PAM
• WebContentControl- Despite its name, it does more than control website access. It also includes scripts for controlling application access.
• A new *in-development* GUI called GChildCare is being made to succeed WebContentControl.

Im not sure if there are other tools out there that work. I think Mandriva Linux actually provides integrated support for parental controls similar to GNOME Nanny and TimeKpr. The scripts from WebContentControl would let you block which applications they can run, though that isnt that big of a problem on Linux if they dont have a compiler or root access.

KDE itself has a configurable Kiosk mode, which can help control KDE itself.

Wine and Linux for the client machines should work well for your needs. Ive seen that most games work quite well under Linux+Wine. If Wine isnt enough, possibly CrossOver Games would be better.

Windows prior to Vista doesnt really offer capabilities that you are requesting, as far as I know. And Windows is still expensive...

But on the Linux side, there are a few tools that can do that.

For GNOME, there is GNOME Nanny. Though it seems restricted to time session management and web activities.

A more universal set of tools is available too:

• TimeKpr- Controls login and session times using PAM
• WebContentControl- Despite its name, it does more than control website access. It also includes scripts for controlling application access.
• A new *in-development* GUI called GChildCare is being made to succeed WebContentControl.

Im not sure if there are other tools out there that work. I think Mandriva Linux actually provides integrated support for parental controls similar to GNOME Nanny and TimeKpr. The scripts from WebContentControl would let you block which applications they can run, though that isnt that big of a problem on Linux if they dont have a compiler or root access.

KDE itself has a configurable Kiosk mode, which can help control KDE itself.

However if you're not currently using anything, then yes go with the free (as in beer) option.

We pay for KT, but the free (as in Open Source) nature allows for some nice things, like integration with Zimbra.

Do you mean the hands-free automatic scrolling? Works fine here, no freezes, karmic running a ppa build FF, 3.6.3. https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mozilla-daily/+archive/ppa

I wasn't really sure and still not sure if you were joking with this. cause that's literally what FF does, I'll scroll down a bit and then it just starts doing it on its own till it gets to the bottom of the page and then freezes and greys out...annoying. I'm not gonna try any beta versions as yet but we'll see what happnes when lucid is stable.

Do you mean the hands-free automatic scrolling? Works fine here, no freezes, karmic running a ppa build FF, 3.6.3. https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mozilla-daily/+archive/ppa

It's a fool's dream to really expect strangers to do your bidding perfectly and for free, isn't it?

As far as Ubuntu fanboism, I learned yesterday that Ubuntu One, which is a cloud-storage / music store / etc. initiative by Canonical, will keep the server component closed-source.

Here's bug 375272 comments.

For those not likely to RTFL, the comment highlights are:

• Developers arguing that this isn't a real bug since Canonical refuses to open-source the server.
• Users' rebuttal of this, pointing to Ubuntu bug 1 (the need for a FOSS alternative to the MSoft hegemony)
• Same UbuntuOne devs complaining this bug's noise is making it hard for them to track 'real' bugs,
• Mention of how this decision has Canonical diluting the Ubuntu trademark,
• the irony of Canonical trying to monetize by closed-sourcing the cloud server software.

Disclaimer: I'm generally classifiable as a Ubuntu/Debian fanboi (I really like Ubuntu). But I'm really just another twice-burned greybearded gadget geek, which makes me an ex-fanboi of everything else over the last 30 yrs.. I'm not surprised to see Ubuntu / Canonical has warts -- it was only a matter of time before Ubuntu did something that left me less-than-impressed.

C'est la vie -- I figure either I'm going to be annoyed or Shuttleworth is, and he's paying more for the project than I am.

Okay, first off, if you want to go full CLI, you can always install Ubuntu Server, which does not come with a GUI by default. It does come with Byobu, though, which just kicks ass; it isn't enabled by default, though. Second, the other options for desktop use are also "GUI-fied toy distros" - OpenSUSE, for example, is known for its excellent KDE support (definitely not a CLI), and Fedora Core comes with GNOME by default (if I remember correctly - I probably don't), just like Ubuntu.

So, why would someone use a GUI on Linux? Well, the same reason everyone else uses a GUI - for one-off tasks that you don't already know how to do, GUIs are far more intuitive than CLIs. It's a lot easier to look at an option screen with a bunch of radio buttons and check boxes that enumerate possible value combinations than it is to remember which flag combination does what, especially when working with a command that you're not particularly familiar with. Plus, GUIs can show a wealth of information on the screen simultaneously; unless you use something like Byobu or you really know what you're doing with Screen, showing the same level of information on a CLI can be a bit of a challenge. Of course, GUIs don't scale up particularly well, but, then again, CLIs don't scale down particularly well, either, so it all works out.

Don't use Windows, I use ubuntu 9.04

The most likely explanation for your troubles is the problem that recent Ubuntu releases have with IPv6 with some non-conformant (but very common) home routers. Here is the Launchpad bug for this.

If so, the reason why Firefox works fine for you in the meantime may be that you have network.dns.disableIPv6 option enabled in it (check in about:config).

I'm finally getting around to setting up a webserver/ftp box and was going to throw Ubuntu on it when I ran into the following bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/521387 Now apparently it's fixed in a higher kernel used in the lynx, while the kernel I have under 9.10 is 2.6.31-20. Is there a relatively pain free way to get this fix under 9.10? or should I just stick with the centOS I put on the box instead until lynx comes out?

Sound (ALSA) dropping out randomly and continually

Yup, I feel your pain. Right now ALSA is working with PulseAudio - after much monkeying around with sinks and mixers and modules (foot bone connected to the hip bone), which produced lots of variously ill advice in forums, turns out it was a bug in alsa-plugins, and it's fixed in the Lucid package. Now I can run FlightGear and hear my engine loop ;)

Gnome being hard-welded to the rest of the system

Is switching supposed to be straightforward? I've heard stories, but still it seems daunting.

Then there's the horrid mess that is upstart

Is it? From my user perspective, I wouldn't have noticed the change I hadn't read about it somewhere. I just read a bit about it, and this kinda gave me the willies:

Note that the job file format is not stable yet, so if you upgrade upstart later, you may need to fix existing files.

There's the usual Debian tendency to change absolutely everything they can, purely for the hell of it

Maybe the omelette+eggs saying applies to OS'es too. Are other distros this daring/merry?

even basic things like setting up an fstab for the most part doesn't work

WFM

I honestly felt that the overall design was seriously less transparent than Windows

If you mean GNOME, yes. s/regedt32/gconftool/g.

Are people really so superficial, that a nice shiny Gnome theme (for the first few minutes before the system dies, at least) is the only thing that is considered important?

Perhaps this is what the stereotypical home user can understand and appreciate. Remember what you heard in casual chats when Vista came out - all was about the new start menu, the Aero flippy thing, window chrome and maybe UAC; I remember trying to read some long articles detailing the new stuff beneath the shiny stuff but I couldn't really finish them.

I'm sure this applies to the casual Linux user too (someone who only opens a terminal to run specific commands). Let them be I say, and we who dwell in black screens will look at other news outlets for what's changed under the makeup.

Now, the spotlight on "social applications" is downright silly ;)

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/+source/fglrx-installer/+changelog (2:8.721-0ubuntu1) says a working package of flgrx for lucid was released on the 17th March. Also see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/fglrx-installer/+bug/494699 . Is this version not working for you?

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/+source/fglrx-installer/+changelog (2:8.721-0ubuntu1) says a working package of flgrx for lucid was released on the 17th March. Also see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/fglrx-installer/+bug/494699 . Is this version not working for you?

Not only that but Mark's Comments towards the end of this bug report posted in a previous slashdot story have really opened my eyes as to what a dick he really is when talking to his users.

There's lots of reasons to keep the close buttons on the right by default and yet Mark can't come up with one reason to move them, just a lot of nonsense about "his plans" which he doesn't want to share.

He is absolutely not being a dick. Just take a look at the rubbish people are throwing his way. Nothing he's said could be considered harsh to any but the most sensitive and fragile of souls out there and it's usually those fragile fools throwing the most mud.

The design team made a decision, and they've said they'll take on board any reasonable criticisms but most of what's going on is cry babies with their, "Listen to me, I want it this way, just because, and if you don't do what I say then I'll take my bat and ball and use another distro."

It's fine to take the view that you don't like where the buttons are and it's easily changed too. Just because someone wont do what you want just by crying and screaming at them via bug reports, etc. without being reasonable is hardly unusual. If I demand you to stop reading Slashdot just cause I want you to with no good reason and being a baby while I ask would rightly be met with a no. It's not the end of the world where the buttons are now and there's a way to put them where you want. How most of the posters can justify their positions on this in any way mystifies me.

There there, Mark Shuttleworth. You didn't have to post as AC in order to throw your temper-tantrum. We're all friends here. It's okay *soothing, cooing noises*.... You can pu

Not only that but Mark's Comments towards the end of this bug report posted in a previous slashdot story have really opened my eyes as to what a dick he really is when talking to his users.

There's lots of reasons to keep the close buttons on the right by default and yet Mark can't come up with one reason to move them, just a lot of nonsense about "his plans" which he doesn't want to share.

He is absolutely not being a dick. Just take a look at the rubbish people are throwing his way. Nothing he's said could be considered harsh to any but the most sensitive and fragile of souls out there and it's usually those fragile fools throwing the most mud.

The design team made a decision, and they've said they'll take on board any reasonable criticisms but most of what's going on is cry babies with their, "Listen to me, I want it this way, just because, and if you don't do what I say then I'll take my bat and ball and use another distro."

It's fine to take the view that you don't like where the buttons are and it's easily changed too. Just because someone wont do what you want just by crying and screaming at them via bug reports, etc. without being reasonable is hardly unusual. If I demand you to stop reading Slashdot just cause I want you to with no good reason and being a baby while I ask would rightly be met with a no. It's not the end of the world where the buttons are now and there's a way to put them where you want. How most of the posters can justify their positions on this in any way mystifies me.

They say it was a decision from the design team however, I suspect the decision to change the window controls has to do with the new mac guy that just joined canonical. The timing is just too convenient.

Either way it's a foot meet bullet situation. I very much suspect a lot of people to move distro over this. Yes, I know you can type in a command to fix this however the point of Ubuntu was that you could install it and go. You didn't have to dick around with it and this decision is going to force people to spend time configuring their system unless they add some option at install time.

It's like Snow Leopard changing the controls on the right. How they expected to do this without getting criticised heavily for it is absurd. Not only that but Mark's Comments towards the end of this bug report posted in a previous slashdot story have really opened my eyes as to what a dick he really is when talking to his users.

There's lots of reasons to keep the close buttons on the right by default and yet Mark can't come up with one reason to move them, just a lot of nonsense about "his plans" which he doesn't want to share.

[from his sig]
# cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama

cat: /dev/mem: Operation not permitted

Yes, I did log in as root, no I don't understand what the fuck is going on (I saw something similar once).

Even simpler (quote from the bug description):
To revert to old layout, enter in terminal:
$ gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string "menu:minimize,maximize,close"

--OR--

Use this PPA: https://launchpad.net/~stownsend42/+archive/light-themes
This option will also fix the graphical appearance of the buttons.