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Shuttleworth Announces Karmic Koala

An anonymous reader writes to mention that Mark Shuttleworth has announced the next release in the horribly alliterative Ubuntu family, "Karmic Koala." The new version hopes to include a newer, shinier, faster startup, better small screen support, a spruced-up desktop look (no more brown), and many minor tweaks and updates. "A newborn Koala spends about six months in the family before it heads off into the wild alone. Sounds about perfect for an Ubuntu release plan! I'm looking forward to seeing many of you in Barcelona, and before that, at a Jaunty release party. Till then, cheers."

64 of 305 comments (clear)

  1. Cool by pak9rabid · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've always been fascinated how the Debian (and derivatives) releases have functioned. Each branch is like a chamber in a revolver; as it reaches 'stable', it aligns itself with the barrel ready to be fired off to the masses.

    1. Re:Cool by contra_mundi · · Score: 5, Funny

      This needs a car analogy for us non-gun folk.

    2. Re:Cool by corsec67 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I've always been fascinated how the Debian (and derivatives) releases have functioned. Each branch is like a car in a merge ramp; as it reaches 'stable', it speeds up and aligns itself with the other cars on the road ready to be released on the information superhighway.

      --
      If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
    3. Re:Cool by von_rick · · Score: 4, Funny

      This needs a sticks and stone analogy for us stone age folks ;-)

      --

      Face your daemons!

    4. Re:Cool by V!NCENT · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ubuntu is like a massive rock; as it reaches 'stable' it starts rolling down the hill and as the giant rock becomes fasty-fasty it will go BOOOM breaky the barrier made of sticks.

      --
      Here be signatures
    5. Re:Cool by Propaganda13 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm lost with the guns, cars, and stones. Could someone make a software analogy?

    6. Re:Cool by PitaBred · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's like a Windows beta, except it eventually starts working right.

    7. Re:Cool by dmbasso · · Score: 4, Funny

      Also another exception: if it screws you somehow, it's not on intent.

      --
      `echo $[0x853204FA81]|tr 0-9 ionbsdeaml`@gmail.com
    8. Re:Cool by MadMidnightBomber · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Debian unstable is like a Windows RTM, except it's more stable.

      PS. Don't mod this funny like you did last time, it's fucking true.

      --
      "It doesn't cost enough, and it makes too much sense."
    9. Re:Cool by minvaren · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Everything is different, but the same... things are more moderner than before... bigger, and yet smaller... it's computers... San Dimas High School football rules!

      --
      Big! Strong! Wow! Tada-O!
    10. Re:Cool by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 3, Funny

      I don't use Windows. Could someone phrase this for a Debian user?

    11. Re:Cool by HansieC · · Score: 2, Funny

      You just had your release. I'm afraid you'll have to wait another 15 years for the next one.

  2. Re:Another one! by VeNoM0619 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Better yet, they passed up the chance of a snappy name like Karmic Khameleon Imagine the new colors they could bring to their new desktop scheme...

    --
    Disclaimer: I am not god.
    We may not be created equal
    But we can be treated equal.
  3. Re:Another one! by TheCycoONE · · Score: 2, Funny

    I hear that Koala's on the other hand are much less over-marketed

  4. Really, is it that bad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Am I the only one who likes the brown color scheme?

    I find that it's easy on the eyes without being outright drab, but maybe that's just me.

    1. Re:Really, is it that bad? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Am I the only one who likes the brown color scheme?

      Yes.

      I find that it's easy on the eyes without being outright drab, but maybe that's just me.

      Look up drab in the dictionary, and you'll find a screenshot of an Ubuntu desktop running the Human theme. ;)

      Seriously, I love Ubuntu. My license plate says "UBUNTU". (Really). But the brown color scheme sucks. The only brown color scheme I've ever liked at all is the one from the original and GTK2 versions of the 'Gorilla' theme from Ximian Gnome. The one from the Ubuntu Human theme is putrid.

      One of the first things I do when I install a new Ubuntu system is to change the default theme to 'Clearlooks', which is the same GTK2 engine, but has a nice blue eggshell color scheme, vaguely reminiscent of Windows XP, but not as blatant as the eXPerience theme.

    2. Re:Really, is it that bad? by DrLang21 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I quite enjoy the brown color scheme. It looks clean and professional while being easy on the eyes.

      --
      I see the glass as full with a FoS of 2.
    3. Re:Really, is it that bad? by Aphoxema · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I've got sick on blue from Windows and OS X, Ubuntu's theme was liberating when I first set eyes on in and until the Darkroom theme came along I never really felt the need to change it.

      --
      "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
    4. Re:Really, is it that bad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      No you are not Even my mother always ask me who draw the beautyfull wallpaper on my ubuntu 8.10 box.

    5. Re:Really, is it that bad? by argux · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I often wonder why is it that everybody hates the brown color scheme. Actually that's one of the things that makes me feel right at home when I have just installed an Ubuntu system. That and the drums. It kinda makes you forget that you're looking at a Gnome desktop. Of course, then you get to use it and immediately start searching for a replacement desktop. But those first five minutes are really nice.

      Actually I would have preferred it if Kubuntu had picked up a similar color scheme, or at least to have an option for a Human theme.

      Now that they're going to replace it, I hope it remains an option for those of us who love it.

  5. And just like a koala by wiredog · · Score: 5, Funny

    It only looks cute and cuddly. Actually try to cuddle a koala and it'll bite you, claw you, and shit on you.

    Or so I've heard...

    1. Re:And just like a koala by ianare · · Score: 5, Funny

      So a bit like some children then ?

    2. Re:And just like a koala by Hillgiant · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So a bit like some children then ?

      Some? You are obviously not a parent.

      --
      -
  6. Damn by Alarindris · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was hoping for King Krimson.

    1. Re:Damn by rbanffy · · Score: 5, Funny

      Krusty Krab

    2. Re:Damn by Amazing+Quantum+Man · · Score: 2, Funny

      But then Plankton would keep trying to pirate it!

      --
      Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
    3. Re:Damn by Daimanta · · Score: 2, Funny

      Plundering Plankton?

      --
      Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
  7. Re:Cat got you karma-whoring-80-column ass? by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I actually thought this was a joke when I first read it. Especially with the cloud computing bullshit.

  8. Re:Another one! by von_rick · · Score: 5, Funny

    The ratings were pretty high for Kinky Klingons, but seems like they were cast aside for being less exotic.

    I have a tendency to make things up

    --

    Face your daemons!

  9. Re:Another one! by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I just wonder if the next will be Leaping Lizard.

    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  10. Front page news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...they're finally getting a new theme?

    Seriously, of all the things to mention in the summary, you focus on the not-brown?

    There's a page long rant about cloud computing, about the eucalyptus project, and why the release is named koala. And you mention that, like every release, there's talk of it possibly not being brown?

    1. Re:Front page news by linhares · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...they're finally getting a new theme? Seriously, of all the things to mention in the summary, you focus on the not-brown? There's a page long rant about cloud computing, about the eucalyptus project, and why the release is named koala. And you mention that, like every release, there's talk of it possibly not being brown?

      You must be new to ubuntu.

  11. Re:Another one! by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 5, Funny

    They tried, but it had a bad effect on reliability. The system would come and go, would come and go-oo-oo...

  12. Re:Another one! by iced_773 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    kola...isn't that a KDE program? Then again, shouldn't this whole release be KDE-only? I mean, it's all K's...

  13. The problem with eucalyptus ... by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... is that it scatters its seeds by explosion, into the remains of a forest fire (which it promotes via its extremely flammable sap and the tinder pile of leaves and shed bark it creates around itself - apparently "in the hope of" getting the fire started B-) ). A row of eucalyptus trees during a fire can become the equivalent of a walking artillery barrage targeting a fuel dump.

    So I certainly wouldn't want to compute on a eucalyptus cluster - even if it is a "cloud" floating far away (like over the Berkeley Hills - high enough to be visible from I5 north of Sacramento). I'd worry about it taking out the data center and my data with it and "distributing" it up to the tropopause and onward with the prevailing wind.

    As for my laptop, no WAY I'll install any eucalyptus package on that. It's got enough problem with those lithium batteries with the energy density of a hand grenade without adding something more with the energy density of napalm.

    = = = =

    And I thought Ubuntu had an unfortunate choice of names. Good grief!

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    1. Re:The problem with eucalyptus ... by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes I had the thought that we should be using eucalyptus oil as biofuel. There certainly is a lot of the stuff around.

    2. Re:The problem with eucalyptus ... by Anthony_Cargile · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...apparently "in the hope of" getting the fire started B-) ).

      My friend, I believe you may have just unveiled the best solution to a known problem that I have ever seen.

  14. It will definitely include... by Epsillon · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...DropBear as the default SSH. Should have been called "Killer Koala."

    --
    Resistance is futile. Reactance buggers it up.
  15. Re:Another one! by Thelasko · · Score: 5, Funny

    The system would come and go, would come and go-oo-oo...

    On behalf of the entire Slashdot community, I thank you for getting one of the worst songs ever written stuck in everyone's head.

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
  16. Re:Another one! by Hognoxious · · Score: 2, Interesting

    We are honoured to witness the birth of the "verbal rickroll".

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  17. Re:Another one! by PitaBred · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If it's so bad, why do you know it so well?

  18. Meanwhile Linux Continues To Be A Trainwreck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's 2009. Over twenty years since the original Macintosh was released. Twenty years since the fundamentals of UI element spacing, text rendering, text kerning, verticle and horizontal text alignment, colour usage...

    And the latest Ubuntu, the 'gold standard' for Linux desktops, is a complete mess:

    * Text kerning problems all over the place

    * Alignment problems in almost every single text field or label

    * Almost random colour choice for UI elements

    * UI elements having no consistent alignment or spacing

    * UI elements that look like they come from some amateur 1990s Mac/Windows clone

    Honestly, the toy apps I throw together in Interface Builder look like polished commercial grade software compared to almost everything I see in Linux. I can only assume that there is no standard Linux UI building tool equal to Interface Builder.

    Microsoft is on the ropes with Vista and frantically rushing Win7 out the door. Cheap netbooks are doing major damage to the OS profit margins.

    And Linux continues to be a UI train wreck. Silly names. Stupid package management with insane dependencies. Redundant and competing desktops. License wars. Mass duplication of common apps with each version sucking in their own unique ways and no single app every getting to the point of being a drop in replacement for commercial Mac/Windows versions.

    Even something as trivial as the damn Solitaire app looks like a complete piece of shit.

    Boggle.

    1. Re:Meanwhile Linux Continues To Be A Trainwreck by MediaStreams · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The text alignment and kerning problems are something I really can't understand. Every time I do my yearly 'let's give Linux a try again' it is depressing to see the same horrible font choices, text that is never properly aligned in text boxes, and kerning problems.

      It's like trying to put out a newspaper or magazine that doesn't have any real professional page layout people working on it. It is so jarring to read that it really doesn't matter what the actual content is.

    2. Re:Meanwhile Linux Continues To Be A Trainwreck by dotancohen · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Please, file bugs with specific examples. You are probably right: the people of that particular profession are not on the dev team and the devs that are working on Ubuntu probably don't even _know_ what they are doing wrong. Better yet, file it at Redhat or Novell, where the cashflow to hire the right people exists (Canonical won't do it).

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
    3. Re:Meanwhile Linux Continues To Be A Trainwreck by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This is mostly nonsense.

      Some of these issues are real some of the time, but nearly all of your post just sounds like you're complaining that things aren't exactly the same as what you're used to.

      The latest Ubuntu works beautifully for anyone who actually wants to get stuff done rather than complaining that the "open file" dialog doesn't automatically grow when you change your font size preference or whatever.

      --
      -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
    4. Re:Meanwhile Linux Continues To Be A Trainwreck by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I like Ubuntu better than Windows

      Then stop spreading the same boring anti-Linux nonsense.

      but for God's sake do we need 15 apps that do all the same thing?

      Not your call, not my call, not anyone's call. Programmers are free to work on what they're interested in doing. Distributions tend to pick sane defaults, and there's no need to complain about having other options.

      Can we please get rid of the nag message if you try to login as root?

      Who cares? If you're really an expert and know better, turn the message off.

      Linux has no chance on the desktop until the basic UI gets professionally done.

      You'll keep complaining about it until... get this... you choose to stop.

      --
      -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
    5. Re:Meanwhile Linux Continues To Be A Trainwreck by Radhruin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I've noticed a lot (A LOT) of problems along these lines, and it really gets to me (I suspect that the metrics for a lot of the fonts that are distributed with Ubuntu are completely off)... but how do I categorize and report the bug in such a way that it's useful? Take a screencap of a website that uses a specific font that looks terrible? Is that a bug in Firefox, Cairo, the font itself, Ubuntu, or what?

    6. Re:Meanwhile Linux Continues To Be A Trainwreck by dotancohen · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you file it in Launchpad, then the devs will assign it to the proper component. Definitely include a screenshot. Is the problem only in websites? Link to the bug here and I'll triage it (I use Kubuntu, though, but I can install an Ubuntu virtual machine).

      The Ubuntu bug tracker is great for iffy bugs because the competency level of Ubuntu users is assumed to be rather low. However, sometimes (and I hope that this won't be the case with this bug) the devs cry "opinion" and don't work on the bug. But the whole fonts thing is well enough known that they may appreciate the input from someone who does know a bit on the subject.

      Thanks!

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
    7. Re:Meanwhile Linux Continues To Be A Trainwreck by viridari · · Score: 3, Informative

      Bugs filed with Ubuntu are routinely ignored. There is a huge drive for forward movement, new features, but almost no emphasis on cleaning up the myriad bugs. Why should I waste my time reporting bugs if Canonical isn't putting resources into resolving them?

    8. Re:Meanwhile Linux Continues To Be A Trainwreck by dotancohen · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That's why I mentioned Novell and Redhat as two places to file bugs will they will be solved, and not ignored. If you can cite specific examples, I will happily help get the bugs filed at the right places.

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  19. Re:Another one! by iamhigh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Awww crap. Kubuntu Karmic Koala. That won't be good for business.

    Can't believe the /. trolls haven't picked up on that one yet.

    --
    No comprende? Let me type that a little slower for you...
  20. Re:Another one! by pushing-robot · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ah, that explains the "no more brown" bit.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  21. Re:Another one! by jaavaaguru · · Score: 2, Funny

    Koala's whats?

  22. "the horribly alliterative Ubuntu family" by John+Hasler · · Score: 4, Funny

    Shouldn't that read "the appallingly alliterative Ubuntu family"?

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  23. Re:Cat got you karma-whoring-80-column ass? by sgage · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think you meant kloud komputing.

  24. Re:Killing Kangaroo by PybusJ · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The real name is 9.10. Slashdot is the most depressing when a new Ubuntu release is being announced. It's all about the color brown and names, like in fucking kindergarten.

    Ubuntu do rather ask for it by making their codenames so prominent (a habit inherited from Debian) and by talking so much about the colour themselves (Mark even mentioned it again in the announcement).

    Personally, I'm rather excited to see Eucalyptus given this level of support by a major distro; it's a project I've been interested by recently and full support in Ubuntu would be great for setting up internal 'clouds'.

    I also rather like the brown theme. I don't really like the cool-blue tones of most desktop environments and appreciate the warmth of Ubuntu themes. Not that it makes a huge amount of difference anyway, the whole of my monitor is covered with terminal windows and web pages.

  25. What's wrong with brown? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Seriously. I left the default desktop background for a month or so after I did a fresh install of 8.10. At least half a dozen people in my office said something to the effect of 'That's a cool background!'.

    Sure the coffee-stained leather looking thing gets a bit old after a while but it is definitely not any worse than rolling green hills with blue skies and multicolored windows!

  26. Re:Another one! by aurispector · · Score: 2, Insightful

    When they get to "P" it damn well better be "Platypus".

    --
    I have mod points. The reign of terror begins now.
  27. Multiple display support!? by Facegarden · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So... when will I be able to use multiple displays without having two separate X sessions? You can't drag things between sessions so that approach is useless, and I don't want one virtual display where everything full screen is kicked between the two either. I want two screens. Is that so hard? It's part of the reason i rarely use ubuntu at home!
    -taylor

    --
    Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
  28. Re:U!untu by sammyF70 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You should consider changing the pack of twats you hang around with, or just be happy they actually use it, and educate them gently.
    Or you might want to hang around with Apple evangelists and get frustrated by their belief that Apple invented The Mouse, or with MS evangelists who think Ballmer was the first one to practice chair-throwing as an alternative form of stress relief.

    The ones I can't stand are those linux users who look down at Ubuntu because it is actually easy to use and offers the advantages of a linux based OS to the technically challenged masses, on the ground that they were "Here First". Just because you used to code by punching holes in paper cards doesn't make you any wiser. It just means you're old.

    --
    "DRM is like the Ford Pinto: it's a smooth ride, right up the point at which it explodes and ruins your day."-C.Doctorow
  29. Re:Another one! by retchdog · · Score: 2, Funny

    By then, the tin roof may have ... rusted!

    --
    "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
  30. Re:Another one! by Valdrax · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's okay. I just need something set way back in the middle of a field. Just a funky old shack.

    --
    If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
  31. Re:U!untu by onefriedrice · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Actually, I think the only Linux users who are irked by Ubuntu's popularity are probably younger people who think they're 133t by using something more difficult. Those of us who are "old" (is 23 old?) are more likely to be uninterested in Ubuntu only because we already know our own distros and the workings of a Unix system in general. Most of us oldies are too chill to waste time talking down Ubuntu. Look to your own peers for irrational Ubuntu-bashing.

    --
    This author takes full ownership and responsibility for the unpopular opinions outlined above.
  32. WTF? by theolein · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...Stupid package management with insane dependencies. ...

    And you say this as a Mac user, using an OS that doesn't even have a unified package management system (And no, .pkg files don't count, since they aren't unified and there's no built-in update of uninstall mechanism)?

    Your post should have been marked troll, flamebait or Macfanboi, and I say that as a Mac user myself who owns three Macs.