Ubuntu 10.10 Beta Released

RandyDownes sends word that Canonical has released the beta version of Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat). The release announcement boasts faster boot times, GNOME 2.31, and a speedier version of Evolution. In addition, "The Ubuntu Software Center has an updated look and feel, including the new 'Featured' and 'What's New' views for showcasing applications, and an improved package description view. You can now easily access your package installation history too." The release notes and download page are both available.

Comments

So where's the "close" button this time?

[Compaqt]

Bottom middle?

Re:So where's the "close" button this time?

[fbjon]

Choose a different theme.

Re:So where's the "close" button this time?

[Anonymous Coward]

What do you care? You have already posted before that you will never try Linux again and plan on sticking with Windows... Which is fine, but there is NO need for you to be asking that question.

Re:So where's the "close" button this time?

[ferd_farkle]

Last week, somebody handed me a paper to read, but the damned thing is upside-down. I'm still trying to figure it out.

Re:So where's the "close" button this time?

[TheLink]

Defaults are important if you are going to roll something out to thousands of desktops.

It has to be decent or half decent at least, so you don't get so many calls.
It has to be consistent too, so that you don't so many calls and so that when you get the calls you don't waste extra time trying to figure out where the fuck is the close button is.

That's why many large corporations aren't rolling out Windows 7 over night, and they even upgrade Windows 7 machines to XP when they buy them. Windows 7 changed many things for little gain (Vista doesn't even exist as far as many corps are concerned ;) ). The rest are doing it by attrition (only as new machines come in).

So the fact that "Desktop Linux" can't even get simple stuff like this right isn't going to help acceptance at all. Think long and hard about where you want to put your menus, close buttons, cancel and OK, and then STICK TO IT. Stop fucking around with it.

Unless of course you have a powerful reality distortion field like Steve Jobs.

p.s. Those stupid wobbly windows and zillions of themes aren't worth anything when it comes to productivity. Making it easy for users to change themes just makes it hard for Support to help them over the phone if they pick something really different.

Re:So where's the "close" button this time?

[Omestes]

Thinking that editing a gconf value or changing a desktop theme is as simple as turning a paper upside down to the average Joe PC user.

but we're talking Gnome, on Ubuntu, which is a flavor of Linux. None of these terms encapsulate "average Joe PC user". The expectations are a bit higher.

Outside of this, it is far easier to switch your buttons/theme on Gnome (or KDE, or XFCE, or whatever windows manager you like) then it is to switch them in Windows or OS X. In neither of these can you really muck with the GUI outside of using 3rd party tools.

If you use Ubuntu daily, and you complain about where the buttons are, then I have very little sympathy for you. Ubuntu is far more customizable than any of the mainstream OSs. You actually have a choice on where you want your buttons.

If you don't like it, and are too lazy to spend 10 second on Googling the simple solution, then download a different distro that puts the buttons where you want them on install.

Re:So where's the "close" button this time?

[IANAAC]

I'm not sure why you reference Microsoft in this discussion. The reason I think the buttons are supposed to go top right is because GEOS on the Commodore 64 has them (well, 'it') there.

Not everything in this universe is stolen and subsequently claimed to be invented by Microsoft, you know.

No, some things are also stolen, then "invented" by Apple too.

Seriously, when 10.04 came out with the buttons in the upper left, I thought it was misguided too. But for kicks, I decided to leave them that way to see if it was actually usable for me. Guess what? After a day or two, I liked it. I haven't changed them.

You know, I really think it just comes down to spatial memory. After having used 10.04 with the buttons in the upper left, whenever I go and use a windows machine, my eyes automatically go there looking for the buttons.

Re:10.10?

[Lawand]

This is a beta version. The final release is scheduled for October (10.10)

Re:Nobody cares?

[airfoobar]

It's Saturday evening... maybe linux users have lives? ;)

Re:Nobody cares?

[Compholio]

Either nobody cares, or it must be a slow Slashdot day, this has been posted for 25 minutes and no comments?

It's a beta release and we're all happy with the LTS release right now?

Re:I hope they fixed or tossed ureadahead

[Ethanol-fueled]

Yep. That's why I recommend 10.04 to my friends and run 9.10 myself.

Guinea pigs, you see. HeheheehHAHAHAHAHAH!

Re:10.10?

[timeOday]

Is there any particular advantage to having a new OS every half-year (versus Apple's two year cycle or Microsoft's 3-4 year cycle)?

Microsoft isn't on any cycle. They are lost in the woods.

If you're like me and don't like the risk of upgrading all the time, pick a LTS ("Long Term Support") release, and stick with it for the next 3 years. Lucky for you, it sounds like you installed 10.04 which is an LTS release.

Release early, release often.

[khasim]

Is there any particular advantage to having a new OS every half-year (versus Apple's two year cycle or Microsoft's 3-4 year cycle)?

It allows (in theory) for the faster development of the system. The new code goes through a short testing cycle and gets out into the public twice a year.

No matter how much effort you put into testing, it always seems like the majority of the bugs are only found once it is released.

A few thoughts

[TejWC]

I have been using Kubuntu 10.10 for the last 2 weeks. Some impressions:

• Still haven't fixed a number of dual screen bugs :(. Sad because Fedora 13 fixed them in their KDE.
• I didn't like how KDE 4.5 changed the buttons so I had to change the coloring system back to KDE 4.4 style
• Lots of updates; every day!
• Rekonq still crashes each time I go to google maps. Latest git commit crashes on startup so Kubuntu guys can't do much about it yet
• Qt 4.7 is awesome. It seems fairly stable despite not being released yet.
• R600 open source driver still has issues with KDE's window manager (in terms of performance). At least its a little faster. Also, they fixed all the issues it has with Blender3D!

Re:Flickery Display using S-Video under Intel i945

[Sponge Bath]

Use "i915.modeset=0"

Ubuntu! Bringing Linux to grandma's desktop today!

Re:Flickery Display using S-Video under Intel i945

[domatic]

It's no worse than doing a regedit import which I've had to do to fix presumably Grandma-ready Windows issues.

Re:I hope they fixed or tossed ureadahead

[De Lemming]

For those who don't know ureadahead, there's a good explanation by the developer on the Ubuntu forums.

Re:I hope they fixed or tossed ureadahead

[Cato]

Yes - give the removable disk's partition a name - if it's ext3, use something like "e2fslabel /dev/sdg1 DRIVENAME" where the DRIVENAME is the name you want to use. Then you should find that GNOME will auto-mount your drive under /media/DRIVENAME, and it will appear in the Nautilus file explorer as well.

For NTFS drives, use ntfslabel with same syntax, and for FAT32, use "mlabel drive:label" - you will of course need to replace the 'g' in sdg1 above with whatever your drive uses (dmesg | tail -22 just after connecting your drive should tell you).

See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RenameUSBDrive for a more complete HOWTO.