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Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal Out Now; Raring Ringtail In the Works

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.

318 comments

  1. I tried the preview by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    But really found the integration with webservices annoying. Switched back to Debian and I'm happy with that.

    1. Re:I tried the preview by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      Ubuntu is for clueless n00bs.

    2. Re:I tried the preview by MrEricSir · · Score: 2

      But really found the integration with webservices annoying.

      You mean you don't like getting a popup window every time you visit a website? What's wrong with you!

      --
      There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    3. Re:I tried the preview by Knuckles · · Score: 1, Informative

      But really found the integration with webservices annoying.

      You mean you don't like getting a popup window every time you visit a website? What's wrong with you!

      Obviously you didn't even see the feature in action, it does not behave that way AT ALL

      --
      "When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
    4. Re:I tried the preview by MrEricSir · · Score: 2

      Obviously you didn't even see the feature in action, it does not behave that way AT ALL

      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.

      --
      There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    5. Re:I tried the preview by vuelto · · Score: 0


      1 r3qu1r3 3^1d3nc3 0f y3r n0n n00b st@tus b3f0r3 1 w1ll @cc3pt th1s st@t3m3nt

    6. Re:I tried the preview by Knuckles · · Score: 2

      This is what it looks like when you go to a site that supports it: http://i.imgur.com/8lz1V.png
      You know, like the "want to save the password?" bubbles Firefox has had forever. Is that what you call a popup window? And why don't you say "no" and be done with it? It does not appear "every time you visit a web site" either.

      --
      "When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
    7. Re:I tried the preview by MrEricSir · · Score: 1

      Call it a "bubble" if you want, it's still a popup box. I didn't ask for it, I didn't expect it, and I shouldn't have to click the "go away" button every time I visit a website.

      Now I do realize I can remove the extension that enables this, but that's just one more "tweak" I have to do every time I install Ubuntu.

      Ubuntu used to be a lot more pleasant out of the box. Lately they seem to have lost sight of that.

      --
      There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    8. Re:I tried the preview by Knuckles · · Score: 1

      You called it a "popup window", which it is not. Anyway it's not different to the password bubble, you didn't ask for that either. And you don't have to 'click the "go away" button every time I visit a website', there are like 20 supported sites, which I doubt you use all of, and you click it once and only once for each. Stop exaggerating.

      --
      "When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
  2. lamest name ever by X0563511 · · 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.

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    1. Re:lamest name ever by X0563511 · · Score: 3, 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.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    2. Re:lamest name ever by gfxguy · · Score: 4, 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.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
    3. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The runner up name was "Queazy Quail."

    4. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I know, what a missed opportunity for Queasy Quail.
      Still time to rename their next release to Roaring Ringwraith, though.

    5. Re:lamest name ever by wierd_w · · Score: 2

      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.)

    6. Re:lamest name ever by Ksevio · · Score: 1

      I thought having animal names was suppose to make a version number somewhat easier to remember. Using animals like "Quetzal" which I can barely pronounce doesn't do anything other than make me think of it as that "Q" release.

    7. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I never understood the appeal of Xubuntu. What's wrong with debian testing and the xfce-desktop task?

    8. Re:lamest name ever by Aguazul2 · · Score: 1

      In addition, Quetzal is pronounced "ketsal", so doesn't even go with Quantal. But anyway, what does it matter, another will be along in six months.

    9. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · 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)

    10. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Likewise, what is wrong with Xubuntu? If both just work for many people, there isn't any drive to switch.

    11. Re:lamest name ever by gfxguy · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
    12. Re:lamest name ever by SuperMooCow · · 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.

    13. Re:lamest name ever by Compaqt · · Score: 2

      What's wrong with Unity (in 12.04, not the braindead initial versions)?

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    14. Re:lamest name ever by wierd_w · · Score: 2

      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.

    15. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >I abandoned plain Ubuntu in favor of XUbuntu last year after giving 11.04 a try for a couple of months.

      I did this as well, then I read about how Xubuntu doesn't necessarily have a performance advantage.

      Then I tried Ubuntu and replaced fscking Unity with LXDE... I noticed no real performance difference on the same hardware. Disclaimer: I am not playing with a minimum RAM machine.

      I hate Unity as much or more as anybody else. Weird how I switched back to vanilla Ubuntu after playing with its variants.

      capcha: teller

    16. Re:lamest name ever by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      (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')

    17. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      What are they going to do after Zaftig Zebra? Aangsty Aardvard?

    18. Re:lamest name ever by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, 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.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    19. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      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).

    20. Re:lamest name ever by happymellon · · 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.

    21. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I think the huge improvement in Unity happened for 12.04.... maybe try that first and you won't have to worry about those three things.... not to mention it's the LTS and it's supported with updates for 5 years

    22. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm holding out until Wascally Wabbit is released.

    23. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or pin to the dock in one of the first 10 posistions and super+numeral ; one two-key combination press.

    24. Re:lamest name ever by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      Can you find a better animal beginning with Q? It was that, or quail.

      Quetzals do look rather cool though. Like someone put a beak on a christmas decoration.

    25. Re:lamest name ever by N0Man74 · · Score: 1

      Blame Adam. He was the one that named all the animals, right?

    26. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · 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?

    27. Re:lamest name ever by Mister+Liberty · · 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.

    28. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Entitled much?

      When he seems to be a fair representative of people that use ubuntu (and judging by the mods), not at all. When a large percentage of your users think that your new features are junk, you are doing something wrong. And you should happy to have heard someones opinion here, rather people simply moving away to distros that they think are better.

    29. Re:lamest name ever by camperdave · · Score: 1

      (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.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    30. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Debian testing breaks important functionality too often (esp. on laptops, think wifi/bluetooth etc). Xubuntu is stable.

    31. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      oops... meant 1 byte can still...

    32. Re:lamest name ever by ais523 · · Score: 1

      The actual reason is so that specific versions of Ubuntu are easy to search for; it's using much the same principle as the googlewhack. Completely invented words would be better for that, but words that are merely rarely used work well enough in combination with the rest of the search term. You can search for version numbers, but it's often confused by other numbers that happen randomly on the page.

      --
      (1)DOCOMEFROM!2~.2'~#1WHILE:1<-"'?.1$.2'~'"':1/.1$.2'~#0"$#65535'"$"'"'&.1$.2'~'#0$#65535'"$#0'~#32767$#1"
    33. Re:lamest name ever by wierd_w · · Score: 4, 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.

    34. Re:lamest name ever by gosand · · Score: 1

      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 download all the updates. That just makes me nervous. I would like to find a faster approach this time around.

      --

      My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

    35. Re:lamest name ever by denvergeek · · Score: 1

      I thought CTRL-ALT-T was a shortcut for a terminal in Ubuntu

    36. Re:lamest name ever by Vegemeister · · Score: 1

      Now try to open a second one.

    37. Re:lamest name ever by Beat+The+Odds · · Score: 2

      I'm holding out until Wascally Wabbit is released.

      I'm holding out until Wascally Wabbit is weweased.

    38. Re:lamest name ever by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Not only is that silly sounding, but it doesn't even follow along the kind of names they have been using.

      What, "[adjective] [animal]"? Seems to fit just fine.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    39. Re:lamest name ever by grim4593 · · Score: 1

      2^8 = 256. 0-254.

    40. Re:lamest name ever by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      keyboard/mouse context switches are time consuming.. GUIs should do what needs doing with the minimum of clicks, leaving the keyboard stuff to the keyboard. They should offer hotkeys as well. Having to type stuff out in some stupid search box is a crutch for a shitty ui design.

    41. Re:lamest name ever by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      they'll call it firefox XP

    42. Re:lamest name ever by Dahan · · Score: 1

      If "it" refers to Firefox, it doesn't seem like there'd be anything preventing Mozilla from increasing the storage for the version number to 2 bytes (or larger) when version 256 comes along.

      If "it" refers to Windows, then that's incorrect: Windows version numbers are 64-bits, split into four 16-bit pieces. Just check the version number of just about any EXE or DLL that comes with Windows and you'll see segments >=256 (not the major segment, but only because nobody's gotten to version 256.x of anything yet--there's no technical issue preventing it though). E.g., My Windows 7 installation has kernel32.dll version 6.1.7601.17932.

    43. Re:lamest name ever by tbird81 · · Score: 1

      Noah might have made some name changes when he got a pair of each onto his rather large boat before the flood.

    44. Re:lamest name ever by tbird81 · · Score: 2

      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

    45. Re:lamest name ever by tbird81 · · Score: 1

      At this rate they better make it a QUAD integer.

    46. Re:lamest name ever by godel_56 · · Score: 1

      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.

      Also, Quetzal should be pronounced as starting with a K, but there probably not too many animals starting with Q to choose from.

    47. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Having used gnome-do on linux and launchy on windows for the last few years I strongly disagree with that. Not that I like Unity, but the old school start menu is hardly the pinnacle of great ui.

    48. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But a keyboard shortcut for opening a terminal should be ok, you are not gonna use the mouse to draw the commands there, are you?

    49. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Quagga FTW.
      Does no one play Rogue anymore?

    50. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ctrl-Alt-T will get you a terminal in Unity. Doesn't get much better than that.

      I'll grant you the bit about being resource-hungry.

    51. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ctrl-Alt-T will get you a terminal from Unity. Pretty convenient.

      I use Ubuntu 8hrs a day at work, and don't need to touch the console. Plus, unlike those sinners Apple and MS, the source is there if you want to change something. Maybe your not-a-12-year-old's worldview is a little narrow?

    52. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or it is 6 keypresses, the Super key, four letters and Enter. I can usually press 6 keys faster than I can make 3 mouse clicks. But if you like the console so much you could assign the hotkey of your choice to open it, personally I install Guake for terminal needs.

    53. Re:lamest name ever by collet · · Score: 2

      People who dislike something are much more vocal about it than who do like it or don't care.

      HURR DURR 25 PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET SAID THEY DIDN'T LIKE IT THAT MEANS MOST OF IT'S MILLIONS OF USERS HATE IT DERP

    54. Re:lamest name ever by collet · · Score: 1

      adds unnecessary steps to get to a fucking console prompt

      Ctrl + Alt + T ???????

    55. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's probably the problem... he didn't get a pair of each... what we have now are crossbreeds!!!

      That's how we ended up with the platypus... and the bats...!!! Some duck cross with a dog... some finch with a rat...

      Since he only manage to get so many of them animals (not all) and they started to get horny... and that is what you end up with...

    56. Re:lamest name ever by TranquilVoid · · Score: 2

      Quokka. Easier to pronounce and they make handy footballs.

    57. Re:lamest name ever by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      They should totally use this as the name. It's actually more normal sounding than some of the names of late.

    58. Re:lamest name ever by formfeed · · Score: 1

      Most of them are campy but not ridiculous. Quantal? Really?

      I am more disappointed about Raring Ringtail when they could have gone with Randy Racoon

    59. Re:lamest name ever by Compaqt · · Score: 1

      I use the console constantly, but only for development and server config. I wouldn't want and don't need to to use the console for normal desktop use.

      Anyway, they have not hidden the terminal away from you any more than they've hidden the movie player, PDF viewer, or any other program not on the left-side launchbar.

      You say use the terminal constantly. Well, isn't it already open? I open it once upon reboot (every few weeks).

      Even still, because it's one of my most launched programs, I have it pinned to the launch bar.

      >Some distros use a hotkey combo to start a console session anywhere.

      Here's where I can tell you have not even seriously used Ubuntu or Unity. The Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut works to open a terminal (not only for Ubuntu 12.04, but also for most others I've seen).

      >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.

      Do you also run root all the time?

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    60. Re:lamest name ever by Compaqt · · Score: 1

      >keyboard/mouse context switches are time consuming..

      While that's true, it doesn't have to be a context switch if you don't want it to be.

      Don't click on the Dash icon. Just hit Super.

      This is basically the equivalent of Launchy, Gnome Do, and friends. I used to have those set on Super+Space.

      For the times you need a hierarchical menu, install Cardapio and pin it to the launcher, as I have.

      >They should offer hotkeys as well.
      I think this means you're talking about Unity without having used it. There are also hotkeys for your pinned items in the launcher.

      Finally, if you don't like selecting stuff with the mouse, you might like the HUD. Think of it as a command line for your GUI menus, with completion.

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    61. Re:lamest name ever by Compaqt · · Score: 1

      Please just install Ubuntu 12.04. If you're a developer or power user, you'll like it. I can tell you've not used it (seriously) because of your comment, which seems to be referencing development versions of Unity before the LTS.

      Assuming Terminal is already open:
      a) Do Ctrl+Alt+T. Another terminal opens.
      b) Hit Super and type "ter". Hit Enter. Another terminal opens.

      Or, if you've pinned it to the launcher like I have, right-click and "New Terminal".

      Or, even cooler, Ctrl+click the icon (in launcher or Dash) and you get a new instance.

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    62. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Welease Woger!

    63. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Still time to rename their next release to Roaring Ringwraith, though.

      Ravaged Rectum

    64. Re:lamest name ever by jamstar7 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, to be fair, back with Win98, OEMs were bundling all kinda shit in the way of online services like AOL, MSN, etc, when they shipped a new computer out. They got a 'kickback' from the service for each license they shipped, which helped lower the cost of the computer. This is just more of the same, with an eye to put a buck or 3 in Canonical's pocket without too much fanfare or hassle.

      --
      Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
    65. Re:lamest name ever by jamstar7 · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
    66. Re:lamest name ever by jamstar7 · · Score: 1

      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.

      sudo apt-get install xbuntu-desktop

      I became a fan of LXDE myself, but I still have the Gnome & KDE libraries/most of the apps installed as well. In this era of 2TB hard drives, what's a couple megs of disc space on a desktop machine?

      --
      Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
    67. Re:lamest name ever by happymellon · · Score: 1

      keyboard/mouse context switches are time consuming.. GUIs should do what needs doing with the minimum of clicks, leaving the keyboard stuff to the keyboard.

      You mean like pinning it to the dock? One click launch? Middle click opens new instance, if right-click > new window is one too many clicks for you?

      They should offer hotkeys as well. Having to type stuff out in some stupid search box is a crutch for a shitty ui design.

      Now you're taking the piss. Press and hold the super key, not only does it show that I can launch dock items from the keyboard, but by long pressing super it even has a help system????

    68. Re:lamest name ever by happymellon · · Score: 1

      What's odd is I never said click on launcher. I think epy invented a step.

      One thing, you missed long press super for help, which compared to any other system is vastly better. I remember accidentally removing my Gnome 2 panels, oh how much fun did I have trying to figure out how to create a new one.

    69. Re:lamest name ever by happymellon · · Score: 1

      Sorry slash dot swallowed my [ enter ], it should read:

      Super > T-E-R-M [ enter ] > in terminal.

      No mouse clicks.

    70. Re:lamest name ever by happymellon · · Score: 1

      Assuming Terminal is already open:
      a) Do Ctrl+Alt+T. Another terminal opens.
      b) Hit Super and type "ter". Hit Enter. Another terminal opens.

      c) Middle click to launch a new instance.

    71. Re:lamest name ever by happymellon · · Score: 2

      Super isn't a click. Slashdot also swallowed my enter, and someone else pointed out you can also get a terminal with just T-E-R. So:

      Super (Usually has a Windows logo on it) > T-E-R [enter] > in terminal

      That is normally known as 5 key presses, and no mouse, much faster than using some crappy mouse movements + 3 clicks.

      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 behind mouse clicks like XFCE and Gnome 2 makes no sense.

      Though to be honest, I don't use the terminal these days half as much as I used to have to with Gnome 2. But I think that is probably a limitation of the 90's style UI that forces you to use a console, rather than a UI that provides shortcuts to the activities that you want to perform, and that for the past few years Ubuntu comes with mostly sane configurations so I don't need to edit text files to get it to do anything.

      Even my home server has a web UI, to make it quicker to change the options that I want to. Why would I use a text file that leave room for human errors such as typos. Typos in a config file can be painful.

    72. Re:lamest name ever by carnivore302 · · Score: 2

      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 disappearance of the taskbar after switching workspaces, windows that aren't reachable at all if I switch from monitor to laptop screen, just to name a few.

      I'm all for innovation, but let people chose.

      --
      Please login to access my lawn
    73. Re:lamest name ever by carnivore302 · · Score: 1

      no, still sucks

      --
      Please login to access my lawn
    74. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The phrase "generally now" is more common than "generally not"?

    75. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      whats wrong with mint uses the ubuntu core but without unity and the shit that ruins ubuntu

    76. Re:lamest name ever by Jesus_666 · · Score: 1

      Why not install Guake or Yakuake and tell your DE to autostart it? For me, the console is mapped to F1. I don't see why I should need more than one key press to get to the terminal.

      Admittedly, I don't know whether Unity can autostart applications and how it deals with apps that don't use traditional windows like Quake-style terminals.

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
    77. Re:lamest name ever by Captain+Hook · · Score: 1

      AFAIK, it's not looking at phrases only individual words.

      --
      These comments are my personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other voices in my head.
    78. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not Raging Ringworm?

    79. Re:lamest name ever by shellbeach · · Score: 1

      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.

      It sounds like you haven't used Unity in a long time. Unity's currently using ~30 Mb of RAM (and essentially no processor time) on my 4Gb laptop as I write this, so I'm not sure how that equates to resource hogging. And as for getting to a terminal, either pin it to the dock or set a hotkey combo with compiz, or both. And if you pin the app in the first ten spots in the dock, then Super+[spot number] will immediately work as a hotkey combo. What's really nice about this last option is that if you've already got a terminal open, it'll switch to the open window rather than opening a new one. I'd really be interested in knowing how any WM or DE could launch a terminal faster than this ...

      I spend on average half my working day coding, am constantly in a terminal or a text editor, and Unity works great for me in this context. Ultimately what I want from a WM/DE is something that lets me work as fast and efficiently as possible and doesn't get in my way, and Unity does this (for my disorganised mind, at least) with aplomb.

      Different strokes for different folks, of course ... but I don't find anything about Unity that warrants the amount of /. haters. If nothing else, at least Ubuntu's given us a third viable DE option, and surely more choice is a good thing, not a bad thing.

    80. Re:lamest name ever by eric_herm · · Score: 1

      At least, Debian is a mature and sustainable distribution, while I am not sure Ubuntu will survive if suddenly, the parent company decide to go the wrong way ( for whatever people consider it to be wrong, and whatever reason like needing cash ) and if the community start to desert it ( like some people think it happens ).

    81. Re:lamest name ever by rastos1 · · Score: 1

      Glad to see I'm not alone in my sentiments towards the "social" apps".
      If only they had a 'KILL' button for 'em.

      What about starting an online community for that ... ?

    82. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's how we ended up with the platypus...

      Sings: "He's a semi-aquatic egg-laying mammal of action..."

    83. Re:lamest name ever by eric_herm · · Score: 2

      Pretty ironic when you think this equally apply to people switching from windows to linux :)

    84. Re:lamest name ever by TheGoodNamesWereGone · · Score: 1

      I am not sure Ubuntu will survive if suddenly, the parent company decide to go the wrong way

      You mean like Unity and the mass-migration to other distros like Mint and openSUSE?

    85. Re:lamest name ever by tzanger · · Score: 1

      Please just install Ubuntu 12.04. If you're a developer or power user, you'll like it.

      Ubuntu in 12.04? No thanks. The last Ubuntu I took seriously was 11.04, and if I recall I started using Ubuntu in the 7.x or 8.x release cycle. I still have a couple of those 11.04 systems going. The rest have gone to Debian+XFCE. It seems with every new release of Ubuntu takes their desktop one step closer to a Fischer-Price toy, and I just got sick of it.

      Yes, I can install Xubuntu (I was actually running Kubuntu for a number of releases until I finally gave up on KDE doing something serious about being a stable and well-connected desktop, and I've been a KDE fan since the early 3.x releases). Yes, I can tweak the shit out of everything and reclaim some sanity. Instead, I just install Debian and put up with some of its idiosyncrasies. At least I have a system that is constantly making me want to throw the keyboard through the screen.

      I moved from Slackware (0.9something to 12) to Ubuntu, and now to Debian. Ubuntu was great; it was really, really great. I don't feel that way anymore. They seem to be chasing buzz and trying to out-slick everyone instead of focusing on a usable and useful desktop experience.

    86. Re:lamest name ever by Compaqt · · Score: 2

      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 (better than Gnome2).

      Just because the icons look good does not mean it crashes.

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    87. Re:lamest name ever by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      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.

      Maybe I'm just more 1337 than you, but I find that the best way to avoid facebook (for example) is by not clicking on any button called facebook, nor typing "facebook.com" into a browser.

      If the latest version of Ubuntu made logging onto facebook compulsory, you might have a point.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    88. Re:lamest name ever by RaceProUK · · Score: 1

      Then add the correct repos to your Software Centre thing (can't remember the exact name).

      --
      No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
    89. Re:lamest name ever by Sepodati · · Score: 1

      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.

      lol... I never understood this metric. Do you spend ALL DAY opening and closing terminal programs continously so that this extra half-a-second or so adds up to significant time at the end of the day?

      If "# of clicks" is your ultimate metric in life, then you pin the damn thing to the launcher and voila! only one click! Right-click -> New Window if you need another in only 2 clicks!

    90. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1. I don't have Windows so I can't test what you are saying.
      2. Woosh

    91. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is a click, and 4 key presses, followed by another click.

      You can do it all with the keyboard. That button between Ctrl and Alt (at least on US keyboards) actually has a use.

      Some distros use a hotkey combo to start a console session anywhere.

      You mean the way Unity has it mapped to Ctrl+Alt+T? You are right, it is quite useful.

    92. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      keyboard/mouse context switches are time consuming.. GUIs should do what needs doing with the minimum of clicks, leaving the keyboard stuff to the keyboard. They should offer hotkeys as well. Having to type stuff out in some stupid search box is a crutch for a shitty ui design.

      That's why I use the Super (or Meta or Windows) key to activate Dash. Then use the arrow keys to select the program I want to activate. Done totally with the keyboard.

      Also, Unity maps Ctrl-Alt-T to open a terminal by default.

    93. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I think you'll find that if you hold down the Super key and look at the nicely-organized built-in cheat sheet, there's a way to get a terminal open in a single keystroke. Hint: Add the terminal to the launcher.

    94. Re:lamest name ever by airdweller · · Score: 2

      How about Ctrl-Alt-T?

    95. Re:lamest name ever by shellbeach · · Score: 1

      Middle-clicking the icon also works, FWIW. But seriously, doesn't everyone use tabs with their terminals these days? What's with the multiple-separate-terminal-windows thing??

    96. Re:lamest name ever by Compaqt · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's what I do (tabs in terminal) for most shell tasks.

      It's only that the guy asked about opening another terminal window.

      (I also do that if I have to work with a group of servers I don't normally work with.)

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    97. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, Windows VERSIONINFO binary resources store each of the major, minor, revision, and build numbers in 16-bits. You'll have to wait for Firefox 65536, which I expect will be out sometime in late 2015 if Dotzler isn't forcibly exiled to some uncharted island before then...

      However, InstallShield installations based on InstallScript do have a limitation that would have trouble with Firefox 256. The relevant InstallScript functions dealing with the standard Uninstall registry sub-keys allow one byte each for major and minor plus one word for build number, so that it all fits in 32 bits, and is nicely inconsistent with VERSIONINFO. This is just one of a plethora of tiny annoyances in dealing with InstallShield. Working with it is like being pecked to death by ducks. AFAIK, Mozilla doesn't use InstallShield, so it should be irrelevant for them.

      - T

    98. Re:lamest name ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blame Adam. He was the one that named all the animals, right?

      Twain isn't real clear on this point. He shows two points of view, and often they conflict. Neither he nor Eve allowed multisyllabic maundering maddening adjectives. Imagine a Precise Pangolin, if you want; but be ready to imagine a frontal lobotomy, as well. It's quite enough to drive one into embracing a fedora. J. Wagner, a.k.a. Non-Upgrading Narwhal.

    99. Re:lamest name ever by tadas · · Score: 1

      I'm waiting for "Wascally Wabbit" myself.

      --
      This page accidentally left blank
    100. Re:lamest name ever by gfxguy · · Score: 1

      I've heard that, and 12.10 also, so I tried 12.10 on my old laptop (my desktop is my real work environment, and I'm not ready to start testing new distributions on it), and... well... apparently you need a lot of horsepower for Ubuntu 12.10 and Unity. As someone above suggested, switched immediately to Debian, and discovered that Debian is petty much all I wanted, anyway, but while I don't like the unified UI on big screens, I was hoping it would work well on the laptop.

      My first reaction, of course, was not to just give up, but turn effects and OpenGL stuff off... but then I lost the sidebar and top launcher/menu bar entirely and couldn't get it back. I don't have time for that. I know most linux users are apparently geniuses that don't mind when things don't work and spend hours figuring it out, but I'm an old man and don't have the patience anymore. I switched to Ubuntu years ago because it was the first distribution I found "just worked." Until it didn't.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
  3. Zapping Zebra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I am waiting for the Zapping Zebra

    1. Re:Zapping Zebra by lennier1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Not that patient. I'll settle for Wanking Walrus.

    2. Re:Zapping Zebra by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
    3. Re:Zapping Zebra by SuperMooCow · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm hoping for "Zany Zoidberg".

    4. Re:Zapping Zebra by phaedryx · · Score: 1

      I'm hoping for xenophobic xenops *crosses fingers*

    5. Re:Zapping Zebra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only 3 years ! Let's hope they'll actually do it. That would be the best and longest private joke on Linus ever.

    6. Re:Zapping Zebra by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 2

      Not that patient. I'll settle for Wanking Walrus.

      So you won't be content with Vaseline'ed Viper?

    7. Re:Zapping Zebra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZÅÄÖ.

      I'm waiting for Ölande Ödlan. "Beer guzzling lizard"

    8. Re:Zapping Zebra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Humping halibut was out. Simpson's did it.

    9. Re:Zapping Zebra by VortexCortex · · Score: 1

      So you won't be content with Vaseline'ed Viper?

      Nope, that comes after - Unisex Uruk-Hai Ubuntu Unity, At which point I'd prefer an Unlimited Ulcerated Uvula than Ultimately Using Ubuntu fUrther.

    10. Re:Zapping Zebra by jamstar7 · · Score: 1

      I'm waiting for Ölande Ödlan. "Beer guzzling lizard"

      The Dallas Linux User Group????

      --
      Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
    11. Re:Zapping Zebra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ångströmmic Årdvark.

    12. Re:Zapping Zebra by airdweller · · Score: 1

      "...pronounced roughly "oh, oh" in a sort-of orgasmic way."

      we can always rely on the Swedish to spice up Li... anything...

      PS. Well, them and the Germans...

    13. Re:Zapping Zebra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why not Zoidberg?

    14. Re:Zapping Zebra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Waiting for Slutty Sara.

      Wait, what are we talking about?

  4. LOL by Alwin+Henseler · · 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)

    1. Re:LOL by Eponymous+Coward · · Score: 1

      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).

    2. Re:LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Or maybe someone else replied? What are you smoking?

    3. Re:LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      How do we know you didn't write that AC post? How do we know you didn't write this one? You're point wasn't interesting either, and adding a post like this doesn't make it more interesting. Unless you added this post to illustrate that.

    4. Re:LOL by interval1066 · · Score: 2

      Windows 8 (was 'Metro'), or "Raring Ringtail"... tap tap tap...

      (So want to call it "Raging Ringworm"...)

      --
      Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
    5. Re:LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      rename it Raving Rottweiler and I might give it a try.

    6. Re:LOL by TemporalBeing · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)
    7. Re:LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Clark0r (925569) here.
      Posting as AC because I get angry easily, and am off my antipsychotics.

    8. Re:LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Actually our team used Win 8 for several months since we had to test if our software worked okay on it.

      We understood how it worked just fine but that didn't make it any less crappy.

      Trying to shoehorn a tablet interface onto a desktop is a very bad idea, as the Unity people have discovered in Ubuntu. It's akin to trying to get Hasheem Thabeet into a KR200.

      While these mega-companies can't support multiple environments for fundamentally different machine types is beyond me. It's proof that the bean-counters run everything.

    9. Re:LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hashish.

  5. Can't wait for Shitting Sasquatch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm even more eager for Trolling Tuna, which will usher in the year of Linux on the desktop.

    1. Re:Can't wait for Shitting Sasquatch by ironjaw33 · · Score: 1

      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!

  6. The real question . . . by smooth+wombat · · Score: 1

    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?

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
    1. Re:The real question . . . by Isaac+Remuant · · Score: 1

      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?

      --
      "Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world. " - Asimov.
    2. Re:The real question . . . by Bill_the_Engineer · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
  7. Timing is everything by MonsterTrimble · · Score: 1

    So after I get my new laptop this weekend I'll throw on 12.04, wait for the massive wave of updates to abate and then upgrade. I can handle that!

    BTW, I'm running Peppermint 3.

    --
    I call it 'The Aristocrats'
    1. Re:Timing is everything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ubuntu releases service packs that roll up all the updates into your install cd. Download 12.04.1 and you won't have to update so much.

  8. if they keep using unity.. by wierd_w · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    If the keep using that shittastic unity UI as the default window manager, can I officially nominate "sluggish Sloth" as the next iteration name?

    1. Re:if they keep using unity.. by X0563511 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I vote for Stubborn Sturgeon.

      You know, since they seem to be so insistent on all this UI "revolution" nonsense.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    2. Re:if they keep using unity.. by claytongulick · · 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.

      --
      Drinking habits can be dangerous. You can choke on the cloth and the nuns will wonder where their clothes are.
    3. Re:if they keep using unity.. by wierd_w · · Score: 3, 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!"

    4. Re:if they keep using unity.. by TheCarp · · Score: 1

      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 they were)

      Anyway, I recently, in anticipation of this, installed Debian on my new desktop...with the full intention of using stable, which lasted 3 days before I upgraded to wheezy to get working sound on the new hardware.

      Now I am using GNOME3....and while its very very similar to the Unity I used a year or so ago, but, seems to work a lot better.

      The main thing I really miss now is encrypted home dirs via encfs and pam automount out of the box. I have been looking into how to convert the Debian box, but, haven't done it yet.

      So have you (or anyone) tried gnome3 instead of unity on Ubuntu? Maybe I will switch back for now?

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    5. Re:if they keep using unity.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      A PPC platofrm? You mean the one Apple threw in the garbage and who's latest operating system can't run because that would be ridiculous?

      Man, I'm with you! This is the proof I've been waiting for! Mountain Lion 10.8 is shit! Clearly 10.3 and below were better. Apple has lost their ways...

    6. Re:if they keep using unity.. by wierd_w · · Score: 2

      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?

    7. Re:if they keep using unity.. by ifiwereasculptor · · Score: 1

      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 with your mouse). It's a shame, because I really like the dash. You can search a lot of different things, it integrates with package managers so you see not only you have, but what you can download, lenses are useful and being able to search a given program's menu items is great. Still, I can't bring myself to use that dreaded dock, so I'm using KDE.

    8. Re:if they keep using unity.. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re:if they keep using unity.. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    10. Re:if they keep using unity.. by alexru · · Score: 2

      "Productivity" for 13 years old and for productivity for adults are different. Unity works as long you are 13 and the only thing you need is facebook.

    11. Re:if they keep using unity.. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 4, Insightful

      OSX does have one big advantage. It's written for a very limited range of hardware, which allows for far more extensive testing and optimisation. It's also high-volume enough to get the full support of the hardware manufacturers. If PCs only came in fifteen different models, you can be sure linux would run just as perfectly on them all.

    12. Re:if they keep using unity.. by uncle+slacky · · Score: 2

      Try MintPPC http://www.mintppc.org/ - it works well even on the old G350 iMacs. It's essentially Mint Debian with LXDE.

      --
      Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it.
    13. Re:if they keep using unity.. by kj_kabaje · · Score: 1

      No. Ubuntu is now so slow and resource hungry that skipping a letter just won't be possible.

    14. Re:if they keep using unity.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      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?

      Because OSX 10.4 is itself an antique. It's ~7.5 years old and heavily optimized for the target architecture. For a more fair but still meaningless comparison: http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/hoary/

    15. Re:if they keep using unity.. by jawtheshark · · Score: 2
      Shiming in because my mom is a long time Ubuntu LTS user and I was really worried the paradigm shift would confuse her. When I upgraded her installation, I expected a few support calls. In reality, I got none and my view on Unity changed due to that.

      For the record, I use it too now and while I did need some adaption time, it's just fine for daily usage. The versions prior to 12.04 were horrible though.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    16. Re:if they keep using unity.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So they know something about usability for the inexperienced, uneducated crowd.

      If that's you, you wouldn't be using Linux in the first place?

    17. Re:if they keep using unity.. by rasmusbr · · Score: 1

      There is actually a sensitivity setting under Appearance --> Behavior, but the highest sensitivity isn't as sensitive as it could be and the algorithm they use seems a bit flaky and inconsistent in general.

      The thing about Canonical is that they seem to have some understanding and sense of direction when it comes to details. I'm pleased to see that they've made the workspace switcher button movable in 12.10. That means that you could put it high enough up on the launcher that it doesn't hide. They've also made it so that you zoom down to a workspace by single clicking instead of double clicking. These two changes mean that workspace switching with the mouse could be done reflexively, which means that users could learn to do it as part of their workflow. I'm also very pleased to see close window buttons on the windows in the window spread. I only wish the windows in the spread would stay where they are and not rearrange when you close one of them, because that makes it difficult to close many windows at a time (and it's kind of chafing on the eyes too).

      Maybe they'll work on the launcher auto hide functionality for 13.04. It seems like an important thing if you use it. I feel I can afford to dedicate 32 pixels on the side of my 16:9 display to having my apps visible at a glance.

    18. Re:if they keep using unity.. by ifiwereasculptor · · Score: 2

      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.

    19. Re:if they keep using unity.. by thrillseeker · · Score: 2

      I'm a couple score past 13 and use and learned to like the bomb, err, Unity just fine (admittedly didn't at first). I use it on decent hardware (latest 15" Samsung 9 with upgraded memory and SSD) and it's smooth and productive.

    20. Re:if they keep using unity.. by Gothmolly · · Score: 1

      Your 13 year old was not "productive" with anything - he was just looking for your porn stash.

      --
      I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
    21. Re:if they keep using unity.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ability to use it was never an issue. I just don't like the fugly button column with shortcuts for applications I never intended to use. It is also somewhat sluggish. I tried to use Ubuntu-supplied Gnome2 and Mate -- both are buggy. So far Cinnamon seems to work for me.

    22. Re:if they keep using unity.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice shilling !

      Now fuck off and take that Unity shit with you, you retard.

    23. Re:if they keep using unity.. by unapersson · · Score: 1

      I've used GNOME3 on Ubuntu for a few releases now, you just need install the gnome-shell package, and I much prefer it to Unity.

      I did hit a user switching issue with 12.10, but that has been resolved by swapping lightdm to gdm, and it might just have been something with my setup. I haven't tried the new Ubuntu GNOME version yet.

    24. Re:if they keep using unity.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But you know, linux is presumably more friendly with antiques than other OSes

      As you should well know, *Light-weight* versions/DEs of Linux, specifically intended for older/less-powerful hardware, *are* more friendly with 'antiques' than other OSes. The latest versions of Ubuntu are not intended for 'Antiques'.

    25. Re:if they keep using unity.. by eric_herm · · Score: 1

      Pretty much the average ubuntu user. See how they integrate research on amazon by default. That's a interesting experiment, but I am doubtful people will want to buy on every research, and the more category you display, the less precise your result is ( since there is more result ), but the less result you display, the less people will buy something giving you money, so there is a obvious issue there ).

      In the mean time, most people who want to contribute something to free software go to more hardcaore distribution such as debian, arch, or use alternative such as fedora, opensuse, etc. Ubuntu is seen as a gateway to free software, the one you try but that people only keep because they do not have the skill to use something else.

      So we cannot blame Canonical from understanding this fact, and aiming at the current users of the distribution. In fact, they are doing what they said in the bug number 1, trying to move the monopoly of Microsoft, and for that, you have to cater to users not interested by the technical details, or by contributing back ( contributing with work, not small amount of money, because this would just be like buying with all the difference you may have ).

    26. Re:if they keep using unity.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, you would be suprised if you knew how many different hardware combinations mac os x run ons.

    27. Re:if they keep using unity.. by Caetel · · Score: 1

      OSX 10.4 is an antique - it's coming up to 8 years old. In any case, Ubuntu probably isn't the best distro for older hardware and the PowerPC version is only community release, not 'official' Ubuntu.

    28. Re:if they keep using unity.. by TheCarp · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the input. Actually, after I commented, last night I solved my last show-stopper with wheezy...encrypted home directories. Turns out I mistakenly thought that Ubuntu used encfs and I was looking to set that up.... I never realised that the ecryptfs package existed.... turns out to have been quite easy.

      So it looks like, for now anyway, I will be back on Mother Debian for a while.

       

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    29. Re:if they keep using unity.. by gonzo_ks · · Score: 1

      I had almost the exact same thing happen. The family workstation that the kids use for homework went 'T-U' via HD failure. Replaced HD and threw down 12.04. Just released it back to the kids with user accounts setup, everything brought up to date...that was it. They started using it (12, 9 and 9) and had ZERO problems with it. May as well have been using it for years. The only real comment was the lack of MS Orifice...err, Office. So, they are all now running Thinkpads of their own, each with 12.04 loaded and have zero issues. To each his or her own I guess.

  9. Full disc encryption during install? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously? Debian had that since ... sarge.

    1. Re:Full disc encryption during install? by X0563511 · · Score: 2

      It was always available, you just had to download the "alternative" install disk that would run the text-based debian-installer.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  10. Dang, all these updates by fuego451 · · Score: 2

    If you switch to Debian you hardly ever have to update. Well, I did have to update libexif this a.m. but, just saying.... ;) Honestly, I kind of miss the old days of having to edit and recompile the kernel just to get sound, printing and, if things were going really well, a network connection. After 15 years, Debian is still a happy part of my life and will be to the end.

    1. Re:Dang, all these updates by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

      Depends. Stable, Testing or Unstable.

      I'm running Unstable on my server and run update & upgrade once a week. On my laptop I'm running testing and do the same. The number of updates are about equivalent.

    2. Re:Dang, all these updates by fuego451 · · Score: 1

      Actually the Debian update thing (compared to Ubuntu) was meant to be a joke, lame though it was. I've run Stable from the beginning as getting certain things to work was quite enough of a job without having to worrying about buggy applications.

  11. Tis what we get when web desginers make a distro.. by ilikenwf · · Score: 1, Insightful

    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. I'm sure he probably said something to the effect of "Oh, cloud this cloud that....let's integrate social networks so we can spy on our users and target our ads even better to those who install our OS."

    Ubuntu is taking the approach of Microsoft - all pretty crap, little functionality, selling out their users, and so much abstraction that it forces the users to be perpetually ignorant of how their computer actually works. You need SOME basic understanding with Linux, otherwise you'll end up in package dependency hell.

    Instead of just following tutorial after tutorial from their wiki and OMGBuntu, why not take a break and learn more about Linux first, so you can set yourself up with a distro that works well and doesn't feel like something that's being funded by governments of the world to try and spy on the people who use linux...like Debian, Archlinux, or really anything that's not run by someone like Shuttleworth.

  12. done with ubuntu by CosaNostra+Pizza+Inc · · Score: 1

    I downloaded and installed Cinnamon 1.6 DE for Ubuntu 12.04 a few weeks ago. I'm hooked on it. I've been reading up on Mint and it seems very appealing. That'll be my next desktop distro. I guess the next version is due out in a month.

  13. Linux needs a standard shell API by MrEricSir · · Score: 4, 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.

    --
    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    1. Re:Linux needs a standard shell API by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's an article discussing how the differences are currently very great:

      https://debarshiray.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/goa-why-it-is-the-way-it-is/

    2. Re:Linux needs a standard shell API by 101percent · · Score: 1

      Would you rather go with the GNOME foundation, a democraticly organized organization with multiple corporate and non-profit sponsers who welcome contributions or Canonical, who developed Launchpad for a year in private and who's solution to potential long-term issues is to blog about it then release some code and who's policy and procedure is a verbatim copy of Debian's policy just for the sake of having a referal document, and isn't even followed. At all.

    3. Re:Linux needs a standard shell API by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would you rather go with the GNOME foundation, a democraticly organized organization with multiple corporate and non-profit sponsers who welcome contributions or Canonical, who developed Launchpad for a year in private and who's solution to potential long-term issues is to blog about it then release some code and who's policy and procedure is a verbatim copy of Debian's policy just for the sake of having a referal document, and isn't even followed. At all.

      Really? I mean....REALLY?

    4. Re:Linux needs a standard shell API by MrEricSir · · Score: 1

      Would you rather go with the GNOME foundation, a democraticly organized organization with multiple corporate and non-profit sponsers who welcome contributions or Canonical, who developed Launchpad for a year in private and who's solution to potential long-term issues is to blog about it then release some code and who's policy and procedure is a verbatim copy of Debian's policy just for the sake of having a referal document, and isn't even followed. At all.

      Your misconceptions of the reality of Gnome aside, there's room for both (or any) model here. You don't have to agree with everyone's philosophy to agree on a standard.

      --
      There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    5. Re:Linux needs a standard shell API by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's called POSIX.

      BTW, the POSIX-compatible shells suck. Bourne Again forever!

    6. Re:Linux needs a standard shell API by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's a HUGE DIFFERENCE between an "academic" distribution and a "commercial" one. Like Open/FreeBSD vs Linux, the BSD's are purely academic in their approach and thus have had little success in the market but Linux doesn't strictly adhere to the 'old Unix' items and often reinvents them but it is largely a commercial system built by many different large corporations. Comparing Debian to Ubuntu is the same thing but within Linux. Debian is more of an 'academic' base that many commercial products can be formed from like Ubuntu. We techie people may not like the commercialization but the things that Canonical are doing with Unity are the only things that normal users want, that is a cool looking lot of bells and whistles. Look at Mac OS over at Apple, the thing evolved from an ugly "Aqua" base to the now current slick morphing uber-desktop. Canonical is trying to create that "magic" with Unity, and it will take at least 4-5 more years before it really begins to be a commercial level product. Expect Ubuntu 14.04 LTS to the be the MAJOR breakthrough OS that will finally allow Linux to dominate desktop...Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is the equivalent of Mac OS 10.5, it's just emerged from a very long "beta" phase with 10.04-11.10...

    7. Re:Linux needs a standard shell API by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Given that two people responded by citing the same XKCD comic, I think we can justly declare that we have codified a "correct response to a standard" standard.

      I know, I know. The meta-irony astounds even me.

  14. ! stable by Nikademus · · Score: 2

    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.

    --
    I gave up with the idea of an useful sig...
    1. Re:! stable by horza · · Score: 4, 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.

    2. Re:! stable by gslj · · Score: 1

      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

    3. Re:! stable by MLCT · · Score: 1

      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.

    4. Re:! stable by tbird81 · · Score: 0

      I've been using Windows 7 for quite a while now, and it has never crashed. I don't have any nagging AV software, and I've disabled the slow-old virus vector Java. I use AdBlock so don't see any Flash ads.

      I've used Ubuntu in the past, and it was slow, craggy and ugly. Trying this version out on VirtualBox is abysmal.

      Start LibreOffice - first time "Crash Report". Want to arrange the icons on that ubiquitous screen waster on the left? You can't.
      Here we go, another crash: "Sorry Ubuntu 12.10 has experienced an internal error. If you notice further problems, try restarting the computer."

      Hey, where's my toolbar? I see, it's only there when you hover over it. Click on sound to adjust the volume. RhythmBox pops up. What's that envelope icon? I don't want to be automatically in a chat room when I start my computer. It's bad enough that gmail does it.

      Ubuntu tries too hard to be like Mac. Which, contrary to hipster belief, is not particularly user friendly. Except Ubuntu's slow, laggy and feels unresponsive.

      Ubuntu sucks shit, and that why no-one likes it.

    5. Re:! stable by Compaqt · · Score: 1

      >Want to arrange the icons on that ubiquitous screen waster on the left? You can't.

      Wait, what are you talking about? You just click on them, hold, and move to where you want the icon.

      >Trying this version out on VirtualBox is abysmal.

      Maybe that's the problem. It works well on real hardware. On a VM, I think it goes to a fallback mode.

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    6. Re:! stable by tpstigers · · Score: 1

      Holy crap. Are you still using Windows 98?

    7. Re:! stable by Nikademus · · Score: 1

      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.

      I would suggest you to try Debian for a few months and than switch back to Ubuntu, you will understand what I mean.
      Of course ubuntu is not as bad as windows, but each release brings it closer unfortunately. But I have to admit I haven't really used windows for more than 10 years now.

      --
      I gave up with the idea of an useful sig...
    8. Re:! stable by horza · · Score: 1

      Except all that is wrong. I've never had LibreOffice crash ever. I find it pretty zippy, unlike the first Unity release. The toolbar no longer auto-hides by default. You can drag and drop the icons on the toolbar to rearrange them. It doesn't automatically put you in a chat room, the envelope is just for notifications (email, rss, skype, etc). When you click to adjust the volume a widget to adjust the volume pops up, along with a rythmbox pause/play widget (but not rythmbox itself as you imply).

      In fact I don't believe you really tried using it.

      Phillip.

    9. Re:! stable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      These "blablabla would you like to send error report" widows in ubuntu just shocked me instantly reminding of Widows. And yes, I have had my 12.10 crashing completely just by playing a video online. I shrieked and screamed and got scared and ran away with no hope for the future. Out of the box system that just works is dead and gone since all this unity stuff.

  15. When the latest kernel's in KUbuntu? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject-line: I'll download it then!

    * KDE fan here...

    (I like it...)

    APK

    P.S.=> The main part I'd be after is having the "latest/greatest" core-kernel "baked-in" right away...

    ... apk

  16. Obligatory by Cristofori42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why haven't we created a single, standard shell API?

    Not disagreeing with you, but... http://xkcd.com/927/

    --
    "Is that dad? Either that or Batman's really let himself go."
  17. Obligatory xkcd? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    http://xkcd.com/927/

  18. Adware/Spyware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    To get rid of the annoying adware/spyware in Unity.

    $ sudo apt-get remove unity-scope-musicstores unity-lens-shopping

    1. Re:Adware/Spyware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      E: Unable to locate package unity-lens-shopping

    2. Re:Adware/Spyware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did they rename it to circumvent all those online recommendations to remove it? Anyway, Amazon isn't the only website that eavesdrops on your local searches. It's time to get rid of Ubuntu, it can't be trusted anymore.

    3. Re:Adware/Spyware by Knuckles · · Score: 1

      E: Unable to locate package unity-lens-shopping

      Executed right now with up-to-date repos:
      aptitude search unity-lens-shopping
      i unity-lens-shopping - Shopping lens for unity

      Dunno what you are doing wrong

      --
      "When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
    4. Re:Adware/Spyware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah remove the musictores package and wind up removing important stuff like bluez. Good game! :-|

    5. Re:Adware/Spyware by davidshewitt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My solution is:

      $ wget http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/6.0.6/amd64/iso-cd/debian-6.0.6-amd64-netinst.iso

      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.

    6. Re:Adware/Spyware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      'Cept it doesn't work out of the box with my touchscreen (at least not properly), or with my sound, or with my wireless (though I at least know why the last one). After fucking around trying to get the wireless to work (apparently I can't follow instructions) I gave up. If I couldn't even get wireless to work, then I guessed the other stuff was also going to be too hard.

      Ubuntu 12.04 just worked for all those three things. Hibernation didn't/doesn't (I will fix it eventually) and did with Debian, but that's the only major downside with Ubuntu. (Well, Unity is not so great, but Gnome 3 isn't so bad, so that's what I'm using.)

  19. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

  20. I don't like Unity I use MATE or Windows XP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Irrational allegiance to decrepit interfaces is what I hear from curmudgeons all over. Meanwhile 10 years have gone by and OSX leads the pack, Windows 8 threw everything Linux has copied so far in the garbage, Gnome 3 made things so bad that Unity, a fork, is actually pretty good all things considered. I use Unity every day and have no complaints.

  21. And people pick on Apple's big cats... by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 1

    Quantal Quetzal

    ...

    Wasn't that the villain Daring Do fought, or something?

  22. Ubuntu is NSFW by rmstar · · Score: 4, 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/

    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

    I think the devs and the people responsible are underestimating the degree to which this is a major fuckup.

    1. Re:Ubuntu is NSFW by ilikenwf · · Score: 1

      This has made my day. Thank you.

    2. Re:Ubuntu is NSFW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't you mean "Ubuntu is NSFW again"? I seem to recall a kerfluffle regarding desktop backgrounds a while back.

    3. Re:Ubuntu is NSFW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What?? Come on! I need to analyze my titanic assets!

      -- warren buffet

    4. Re:Ubuntu is NSFW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *not* filtering results is not a major fuckup, but absolutely the right thing to do (even if the motivation behind it might not be as heroic and honest as i would wish for).

    5. Re:Ubuntu is NSFW by mrvan · · Score: 1

      I really don't understand why you would even want shopping results in your "start menu" (as in, the menu a user sees when he/she starts interacting with the DE in the canonical way). There are times where I go shopping, and then I go to a shop. In 99.9% of my computer interactions, I want to run some kind of program, not spend money.

      I could imagine a service where Canonical acts as an intermediary between me and the shop. For this service I would expect local sellers (not just amazon - I can just go to amazon.com) and some form of vetting or guarantee from Canonical. This could be an application or if needed a 'tab' or something on the main launcher - but certainly not in the normal search results, for all kinds of reasons: undesired content, privacy, and unpredictability: one gets used to certain keystrokes leading to a program, and since shopping results are dynamic, the same "super, t, e, r, m, [enter]" can suddenly become a purchase of Terminator rather than opening the terminal.

      The way it's implemented now it's just a money grab by Canonical, where they are selling my private data and giving me ads I don't want.

      (Happy *buntu user, but switched to xmonad a while ago so no lens for me)

    6. Re:Ubuntu is NSFW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, and about that holiday in Scunthorpe you were gonna look up at lunch break...

    7. Re:Ubuntu is NSFW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      'kerfluffle' - I like that word!

    8. Re:Ubuntu is NSFW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No it is not. The nerds can say "let's analyze the assets" - together!

  23. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by ifiwereasculptor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Real nerds run whatever the hell they feel works best for them and don't bother with trends.

  24. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

    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 User Guide!

  25. Getting better every release by jones_supa · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Getting better every release by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      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...

      ...especially with Unity. The whole point of a GUI is so the user can know less about the underpinnings. Unity requires you to know more and do more work to be really functional. Seriously, the Dock is brain-dead. Having to text-search for applications (and know the "right" keywords) is brain-dead.

      The OS is becoming no better in this respect. Having the OS enabled to automatically search for, basically, everything assumes and encourages a retarded, undisciplined user (Windows 7 ... shares this stupidity) - I know where I put my fucking data files and how to search the Net. Assuming the user wants to be "connected" to and their desktop integrated with all the latest ridiculous, unproductive social-media sites and/or shopping sites is retarded. Seriously, is shopping, tweeting, checking Facebook (if you say Facebooking, I will kill you), or whatever, all people do on their *desktop* PC? [ And, no, /. doesn't count, it's more of a hobby. :-) ]

      Perhaps sheep spend all day grazing, but I have other things to do...

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    2. Re:Getting better every release by Compaqt · · Score: 1

      If you already know where your files are, search isn't for you, right? Problem solved.

      Next problem: You don't like Facebook. Neither do I. Nevertheless, billions of people do. Just don't use it, like I don't.

      Social networking can be a part of business marketing, though, so it's useful for those people. If you make your company's product and have no responsibility to spread the word about it, just ignore the social features.

      For a hierarchical menu, install Cardapio.

      --
      I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    3. Re:Getting better every release by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Valve is working on Steam for Linux and it's doing it specifically for Ubuntu. Why?

      Because do a simple test: go and use the latest Mac OS X then go back to using Unity and any other desktop manager you like. You'll quickly see that Unity is the only one that can even be grouped in the same space as Mac OS. Apple Mac OS X is the ultimate expression of the Unix-like desktop. Unity has a few more years to go. But when Apple retires Mac OS X and finally merges it with iOS their desktop will no longer be their core business, tablets and mobile will be and it'll be neglected. Windows is currently in the process of imploding on itself. In the end only Ubuntu with Unity will be left as a reasonable competitor in the desktop space and by that time it'll be much farther ahead than Mac OS is now.

    4. Re:Getting better every release by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...especially with Unity. The whole point of a GUI is so the user can know less about the underpinnings. Unity requires you to know more and do more work to be really functional. Seriously, the Dock is brain-dead. Having to text-search for applications (and know the "right" keywords) is brain-dead.

      The OS is becoming no better in this respect. Having the OS enabled to automatically search for, basically, everything assumes and encourages a retarded, undisciplined user (Windows 7 ... shares this stupidity) - I know where I put my fucking data files and how to search the Net. Assuming the user wants to be "connected" to and their desktop integrated with all the latest ridiculous, unproductive social-media sites and/or shopping sites is retarded. Seriously, is shopping, tweeting, checking Facebook (if you say Facebooking, I will kill you), or whatever, all people do on their *desktop* PC? [ And, no, /. doesn't count, it's more of a hobby. :-) ]

      Fuzzy searching reduces the need to search for exact wordings. It honestly works quite well, and the HUD workds even better than Dash does honestly.

  26. Please consider Mint by interval1066 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Mint Maya with XFCE is out, and simply useable. 'nuff said.

    --
    Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
    1. Re:Please consider Mint by spxero · · Score: 1

      This, 100%.

      When Ubuntu went to Unity is when I went to Mint full time. When Mint went to Gnome 3 is when I went to Mint XFCE full time.

      Why is it so hard to understand that the desktop environment is probably about as good as it will get? I probably sound like a stick in the mud, but the biggest annoyance in UI the past few years has been putting the ribbon on everything and tabs on top, at the top. The last one is the single reason I don't use Chrome on a daily basis and the former is the reason that I do any and all .doc and .xls work in OpenOffice.org.

      The only interface enhancement that has blown my mind in the past ten years is the way my Apple laptop handles multi-touch in the trackpad. One finger for cursor, two for moving 360* in pages/apps, and three for dragging. There aren't any accidental swipes down or across the page like I have on my Win7 laptop and it's poor implementation of touch-sensitive areas.

      For the desktop, I've found Mint XFCE to be a speedy, awesome, no-unneccessary-frills alternative. It's awesome.

    2. Re:Please consider Mint by captainpanic · · Score: 1

      Exactly.

      This desire to create more space on my screen by removing my taskbar or menus is ridiculous, and only driven by some hardcore laptop users.
      I sit behind a 24" screen, and I really don't care whether there are taskbars and menus around my screen. In fact, I find it very practical that they are there - visible.

      My main issue with Unity is that it slowed down my computer (which isn't the newest anymore). Too much fancy stuff, too much tweaking until it worked (and therefore too much chance to break it).

      I also switched to Mint.

  27. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by shakezula · · Score: 1

    I am a nerd and I like Debian stable.

    --
    I know what you're thinking. Did I forward 65,535 packets or 65,536 packets?
  28. Ubuntu 12.04 contains unity-scope-musicstores by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    unity-scope-musicstores exists under Ubuntu 12.04, unity-lens-shopping not found.

  29. Ångström Ångström by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Only on the Commodore 64 was Å the last letter of the Swedish alphabet, due to the PETSCII values assigned in the nordic ROMs.
    The last letter of the Swedish alphabet is Ö, and "Å Å" is pronounced "Ångström Ångström".

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85ngstr%C3%B6m

  30. No Unity 2D? by xQuarkDS9x · · 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 Mint 13 KDE tweaked on my desktop and love it and have Kubuntu 12.04 on my girlfriends laptop and currently using Xubuntu 12.04 on this old clunker of a laptop (Dell Inspiron 1300) from 2006. Point is I love KDE and its stable on Mint (apparantly even more stable then Kubuntu) and heck even XFCE is a lot more usuable on an old laptop.

    Old habits die hard when you're like me and 34 yrs old and using computers since the early 80's... Unity just offends me. :P

    --
    You must master your joystick like a fisherman masters bait! - Gimpy
  31. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by iceaxe · · Score: 1

    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.

    --
    WALSTIB!
  32. Nice! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank you Canonical, and thank you community ^^

    Just felt I had to say something nice inbetween the "I've been using X-distro and it's much better", "Unity sucks because I want my desktop to be like XP", "OMG Canonical is nomming my search-results to make a bit of dough!" and the likes.

    Seriously, STFU, put up with it or fork it and do it better. It's stale. No, Debian and other ridiculously stable distros are not gonna take over the world because they always look like they're 5 years behind. They look like your aunt in a mint-green cardigan throwing gang-signs and going "oooooooooowwww" at a rap battle when someone gets served. No, the vast majority of people are not gonna roll their own, or compile their progs from source, even if it nets them a good performance improvement.

    I think people understand this, but they are butthurt that the world don't choose the same as them. Well I've got one sentence for ya: WELCOME TO THE FUCKING WORLD.

  33. What?! by Luthair · · Score: 3, Funny

    I already had Randy Racoon shirts printed!

  34. Moved on to Mint by charnov · · Score: 2

    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).

    --
    [RIAA] says its concern is artists. That's true, in just the sense that a cattle rancher is concerned about its cattle.
    1. Re:Moved on to Mint by Cloud+K · · Score: 1

      Tempting but the thing is Mint is based on Ubuntu. If you don't want to support Canonical (which I'm starting to wonder myself - they're starting to drift towards Facebook and Apple styles of evilness, pushing at boundaries, seeing what they can get away with) then running something that relies on them probably isn't the best idea. Better off with something Debian based, or Arch, or such like.

  35. Q-R-S-T-Unity Upchuck - it's coming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After a few more letters, it's time for Unity Upchuck.

  36. Worried about privacy, data, and more... by RanceJustice · · 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.

    1. Re:Worried about privacy, data, and more... by Cloud+K · · Score: 1

      Agreed.

      Interestingly I'm faced with the same dilemma as when I got into Apple stuff - while Canonical, much like Apple, are getting more and more evil... their OS is by far the most polished. Everything just looks and acts fantastic, from the fonts to the window borders to the dash to the "app store", it's just beautifully done. Other distros are clunky by comparison. So there's always this question of "how much of your freedom and privacy are you willing to give up for all this polish?". Very tricky indeed.

    2. Re:Worried about privacy, data, and more... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      no operating system (or truly, any program) should build in covert, opt-out only targeted adware/spyware/affiliate, especially without informing the user

      Good thing Ubuntu doesn't do that. The search results are right in your face, and therefore obvious.

      It is despicable that 12.10 has been launched with these blights upon it

      "These" blights? You only talked about one blight. You're full of it.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Worried about privacy, data, and more... by RanceJustice · · Score: 1

      Search results being present in and of themselves is insufficient. The affiliate ID is embedded without providing the user reasonable and direct notification to that end. That is the crux of the issue. Users, especially new or non-technically proficient ones, have had difficulty for years discerning "sponsored" links and other advertising, marketing, or data-gathering elements (see: Windows-border pop-up ad saying "Something is wrong with your PC! Click here to find out what and fix it") from legitimate search data, even when they've actively been searching in a browser. Now they have to deal with it as part of a default desktop search, planted there as an official part of the operating system? No user, newbie or guru, should have to worry that of all things a Linux desktop environment's built-in search is spitting out results that financially benefit someone else, especially without a notification to the effect.

      With regards to your second point, I can only suggest to work on your reading comprehension. I've talked about several other issues, such as the security and usability dangers that can result from failing to sufficiently distinguish between interactions and data stored on the local machine versus remote sites; blurred considerably with the new "WebApps" installed by default as well as the desktop search searching the Internet by default. In addition, I spoke of implications for privacy as a result of the covert Amazon ID embedding and how this casts new doubts on Canonical's handling of information, which does not bode well when 12.10 includes more options than ever to pass one's 3rd party data through Ubuntu with its new OnlineServices.

    4. Re:Worried about privacy, data, and more... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Linux needs a firewall that prevents *all* applications connecting to the internet until the user has been prompted and has explicitly allowed them. Yes that includes basic functionality such as apt, DNS, ftp etc. etc. When a program first asks for netowkr/internet access the user should be prompted whether they want to allow the program and be given the option to say "remember my answer".

      Windows has several such firewall applications and I won't use a desktop computer without one.

      This move by Canonical, coupled with the lack of such an interactive firewall, has killed desktop Linux for me. Spyware bundled with a distro. Great.

      I value my privacy.

    5. Re:Worried about privacy, data, and more... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I've talked about several other issues, such as the security and usability dangers that can result from failing to sufficiently distinguish between interactions and data stored on the local machine versus remote sites;

      This is not a Ubuntu problem.

      blurred considerably with the new "WebApps" installed by default

      Every current OS has some sort of online integration. "Installed" means "has a shortcut to".

      In addition, I spoke of implications for privacy as a result of the covert Amazon ID embedding

      Yes, that was the one blight you were discussing, Amazon. Check your dictionary. You related everything else to it, check your post.

      which does not bode well when 12.10 includes more options than ever to pass one's 3rd party data through Ubuntu with its new OnlineServices

      You mean, when 12.10 includes one additional thing which passes 3rd party data through Ubuntu? Oh, OK.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  37. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OP here, and this is exactly the point! Ubuntu IS a trend that is not the best tool for any given nerdy Linux task.

  38. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by Mister+Liberty · · Score: 1

    Real nerds made their own Sun Type 5 keyboard (with real keybeep yeah!) interface,
    from the print design in Eagle to the print manufacture to the programming of the
    controller chip to the working gadget, and have it hooked up to a Linux Mint box.

  39. Re:Tis what we get when web desginers make a distr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They are not doing anything like Microsoft. (Microsoft for Win8/Server2012 has vastly improved the backend and the CLI).

    Ubuntu doesn't do any low level work at all. (Or actually fixing anything properly even for LTS releases - That is why none of the people making commercial software won't let you use anything other than Redhat / Suse).

    You can make powershell 3.0 behave like bash with just a single pretty simple module (And keep all the powershell completions working).

    There is negative things with MS also (Modern UI - The fact that you cannot use the modern UI IE with a different desktop browser).
    (For a while I could use Modern UI IE and Desktop Firefox but it was broken by the Firefox 16 update).

    For my Internet Banking Modern UI IE was fairly decent.
    Don't quite understand this choice (As it just means I won't use IE at all but a locked down browser does have some advantages).

  40. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by TemporalBeing · · Score: 4, 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.

    --
    Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)
  41. Ftape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And still no ftape. Guess I'll just continue to use Red Hat 9.

  42. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by rampagea1 · · Score: 1

    I may be much more experimental on my own but I acknowledge that a trend is farther reaching than the confines of nerd-dom so I personally use Ubuntu with hopes that it will be a useful shared experience with my less nerdy friends, family, wife...

  43. SLOW!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Any 3D desktop is sluggish on my laptop. With an Nvidia video card (a sucky one). Killed metacity, executed xfwm4 (left everything else alone, so I'm still running Unity and everything). Result: hello speed. That's compared to Unity 2D (which still does compositing and can't convince it not to). Unity 3D is unusable.

    Same story with my Intel video card on another laptop, although that one is a bit faster than the Nvidia, which is quite impressive for a Pentium M and i965 :)

    So they dropped the 2D session? I'll make my own once more.

  44. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

    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.

  45. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All the hardcore single Linux people I know are running Arch.

    I don't have time for that crap, though, so I just run Debian stable and upgrade every two years. So what if I'm not running the latest version of every package. Who cares?

  46. SCO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ubuntu reminds me of SCO UNIX in that it's worse every time I hear something more, and I can't wait for the day when I'll stop hearing about it.

  47. Thanks, but no thanks... by LVSlushdat · · Score: 3, 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...

    --
    THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
    1. Re:Thanks, but no thanks... by monzie · · Score: 1

      Try XFCE - since you are used to Gnome2 -youl will be right at home with XFCE. You can even install the 'clearlooks' theme and make it look exactly like Gnome2. I do the same.

  48. Is it that time of year already? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, I gave 12.04 LTS (Plonkin' Pangolin) and Unity a good run and I don't really like it at all. Webapps and Online Services might be a Good Thing if you run your life from your phone/tablet but I don't, so its not much of a selling point. Seems that I've drifted away from their demographic. Ho Hum!

    So I'm going to try Mint instead.

    However, as I'm getting used to Raspbian on my Raspberry Pi, I may well go over to Debian.

    Choices, choices!!!

  49. Haters will hate by js_sebastian · · Score: 3, 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.

    1. Re:Haters will hate by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      I use gmail. Hell, I have been using it since it was invitation-only! I also will admit that I have a twitter account, and a facebook account.

      That said, I also have a web browser, and an IMAP client. I'd rather those "applications" stay as they are. I have no need or want for those to be anything other than remote services, as they have always been.

      I suppose you have some points about Dash Preview, but I'm not the type of user to need these kinds of things. When I want something, I know what it is and where I put it, and I need very little beyond a filename search. I'm perfectly willing to admin I'm not a normal user in this respect.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    2. Re:Haters will hate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Freudian slip? I meant "admit" and not "admin" in that last sentence :P

      AC so as to avoid karma whoring/hating.

    3. Re:Haters will hate by eric_herm · · Score: 1

      It will not behave like desktop application, this is just a browser windows. The day it will work when being offline ( like, when you are at a conferne ce with bad wifi, in a foreign country, or just far away from town, in a train, etc ), and not upgrade without me noticing, then this would behave like a desktop application.

      ( and even if gmail can be run offline for chromeos, that would still be a proprietary application ( since the frontend andthe backend are not free ), and that's IMHO a reason to avoid, even if i know this doesn't matter to everybody ).

  50. come on guys by Anonymous Coward · · 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?

    1. Re:come on guys by thrillseeker · · Score: 2

      Please try keep coherent facts out of emotional diatribes.

  51. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I like the Debian concept very much, but I do not like that the Debian toolchain is configured with absolutely no hardening. If you run a webserver from the Debian repository and a zero day attack is launched against it, the attack will be 100% successful, because no hardening mechanisms like stack smashing protection, position independent executables etc. is configured. If you use a web browser from your Debian installation and visits a webpage that contains an exploit against the browser, or any other component used by the browser, then your machine will 100% be owned. I know that the libtiff4 library has been vulnerable to an exploit for months, so if your Debian browser hit a malformed tiff image that contains the exploit, then nothing will stop it from executing. The Ubuntu toolchain has been configured with a lot of hardening so it is much harder to successful exploit security holes in packages on Ubuntu. The hardening may be the reason why Ubuntu seems to be less stable than Debian, because it can interfere with the software.

    Now to the good news. The problem with the Debian toolchain should be solved with the next stable release (Wheezy), packages will then be compiled with hardening mechanisms. Then I can finally deploy Debian everywhere.

  52. Mate, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just try Mint 13 with MATE, you won't be disappointed.

  53. Re:Tis what we get when web desginers make a distr by QuantumRiff · · Score: 2

    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 side tabs, which are much more functional than along the bottom like the old gnome, especially since everything is widescreen now, and vertical space is precious.

    You are welcome to use crunchbang (to be fair, I like Crunchbang too), Lubuntu, Xubuntu, KUbuntu, Fedora, Slackware, etc.. if you prefer.. but making a giant generalization about how EVERYONE KNOWS its bad is just plain wrong. For those that have taken the time to learn it, it can actually improve your workflow.

    --

    What are we going to do tonight Brain?
  54. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by TemporalBeing · · Score: 1

    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.

    Agreed. With Open you have the ability to get your bugs fixed in spite of the company going out of business. Of course, if you don't fix enough relevant bugs, then you will lose your customers (users) too, or someone will fork it and fix them for you.

    --
    Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)
  55. Slashdot has hit rock bottom by Knuckles · · Score: 1

    Usually I don't complain about /. because it and its users are still rather amazing overall. But every time there is an Ubuntu story you people are just being idiots mostly, and this particular story is the worst. It's like my grandpa complaining about progress in general whenever something remotely new happens. Nerds came up with progress in computing, and now you want it to stop in 2005? Well not going to happen. The genie is out of the bottle, you released it and forced everyone to deal with it whether they like it or not. Only fair that you have to as well. If you don't like Ubuntu, don't use it and stop whining. Sheesh.

    --
    "When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
  56. Better and better and better! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Better and better and better! Just love this OS. Set for conquering the world!

  57. Is this the one that has Amazon spy services? by RocketRabbit · · Score: 0

    I really haven't had enough integration between ad networks and my operating systems so far. I think it's a very courageous, forward thinking move that Shuttleworth has made from his fortress on the Isle of Man.

    Without forward-looking and thinking individuals like him, who are looking out for us poor cattle, how could we possibly enjoy Free software? After all, somebody has to make a shit ton of money off the backs of volunteers, and Shuttleworth has bravely stepped into the breech to shoulder this heavy burden.

    All Hail Shuttleworth, and All Hail His New UI Which Will Save Us All From Being Confused By This Linux Thing! HUZZAH!-

  58. Re:Tis what we get when web desginers make a distr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Our userbase is growing, seems like we might be doing something right?

  59. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 1

    Real nerds run whatever the hell they feel works best for them and don't bother with trends.

    I tried that, but carrying a purse... had consequences.

  60. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by collet · · Score: 1

    I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 with Gnome 3 classic. I'm happier with thWHEEEE COMPIZ CUBE! WHOOOOOSH! FWOSH! SWHOOM! WHEEEEEEE! scale SCALE scale SCALE spin spin spin spin...

  61. Can't wait for ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... "Mad Mark", "Shyster Shuttleworth" and the best one yet, "Unusable Unity".

  62. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by Kjella · · Score: 2

    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. You know what? I don't care, I got 25 years of muscle memory of QWERTY and it works more than good enough, if you start fucking with that you're only introducing pain. Maybe I'm just an old fart but my Win7 desktop (and before that KDE desktop) looks very similar to the Win95 desktop I had 17 years ago. And I like it that way.

    It's great that you introduce new things, but for the most part there's no reason to remove things that work but far too often it's the victim of rewrite mania where you only implement the new way and the old way well you shouldn't be using that anyway so get with the program. Despite all the wailing over Microsoft's ribbon many open source apps decide to throw me a curve ball like that too and while in theory you can get around it there's usually a lot of pain involved in not using the mainline version that's actively developed and supported or switching distros that all tend to have their own quirks. It's something of a 90/10 rule, at least 90% of the time I just want something that works well in a way I know, the last 10% I can experiment with - but preferably not feel experimented on. I don't want to be a forced guinea pig for your (probably bad) idea.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  63. Venemous Virus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I want my OS to be ahead of the pack and be a pre-loaded with venom

  64. That brings back memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, man, I had a case of Raring Ringtail back in '74... It burned like you wouldn't believe.

    Of course, nowadays there's a pill you can take the clear that right up.

  65. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by jamstar7 · · Score: 1

    12.04 here with LXDE/Openbox and KDE/Gnome installed for the apps. It just works.

    --
    Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
  66. obligatory Simpsons paraphrase by rubycodez · · Score: 1

    look kids! unprocessed LinuxMint innards!

  67. Kernel 3.5.4 by Sesostris+III · · Score: 1

    What I have mild concerns about is the use of the 3.5 branch of the Linux Kernel. This branch is already flagged as 'EOL', so I can't see any updates past 3.5.7. I'm not aware of any Ubuntu version upgrading a major kernel branch between releases (although I may be wrong). Is this an issue?

    --
    You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough. - Blake
    1. Re:Kernel 3.5.4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is this an issue?

      It's not a *security* issue - all security fixes are backported.

      It's only an issue if you need new features or new hardware support which are not in 3.5 but are in later releases.

  68. Is every 6 months really necessary? by Brad1138 · · Score: 1

    With every release, part of me wants to stick with what I have. It is all set up and customized to my liking. The other part wants the new features available in the latest version. But since upgrades still commonly don't work well, I have to to start all over with a fresh install.

    I would be happier with every 12-18 months or maybe even 2 years. Maybe I should try Mint Debian...

    --
    If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
    1. Re:Is every 6 months really necessary? by mrvan · · Score: 1

      strange. I usually upgrade at least one of my desktops immediately on a new release, and have never encountered any problems. The computer I'm typing on is 12.04, which is incrementally do-release-upgraded from 10.04 or around then. Never had any upgrade problems on laptop, desktop, or server.

    2. Re:Is every 6 months really necessary? by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      With every release, part of me wants to stick with what I have. It is all set up and customized to my liking. The other part wants the new features available in the latest version. But since upgrades still commonly don't work well, I have to to start all over with a fresh install.

      I would be happier with every 12-18 months or maybe even 2 years. Maybe I should try Mint Debian...

      What would the slower release cycle solve? You can control it yourself anyway by using only the LTS releases, for example. Seems that what would help you most would be to Ubuntu make the upgrade process work more smoothly. I agree with your concern...

    3. Re:Is every 6 months really necessary? by asdf7890 · · Score: 1

      That is why the LTS releases exist.

      Until a short while ago my netbook ran 10.04 and could have done a while longer (but I replaced the spinning metal will an SSD and reinstalled rather than transferring the system to the new drive so upgrading at that point made sense). It might be slightly different on a main PC/laptop that you do more on than my netbook's workload, but I didn't find 10.04 to be too out-of-date for anything much (Firefrox, but there was an easy PPA for faster updates to that, and IIRC installing Chrom{e|ium} was a manual job too) so there was no need to go for 10.10, 11.04 or 11.10as 10.04 was still supported for security updates and critical bugs. I doubt I'll upgrade gain until after 14.04 is out.

  69. p[envswitch working by Anomalyst · · Score: 1

    last I saw on the mailing list, you had to compile from the git head to get functional code. What ver is in the repo?

    --
    There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
  70. The problem with their naming scheme is... by knorthern+knight · · Score: 2

    > 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?

    --

    I'm not repeating myself
    I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
    1. Re:The problem with their naming scheme is... by eric_herm · · Score: 1

      Maybe they will run out of money ( given the fact they are more and more agresive on monetizing their users, this could happen in 4 or 5 years ). Maybe they will just go back to the letter A.

    2. Re:The problem with their naming scheme is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Antagonistic Aardvark

  71. Re:Haters will hate - fanboys and shills will spam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Hatred has nothing to do with it and your misuse of the term is dishonest. It's actually called personal preference.

    because honestly it is a better client than the desktop alternatives (thunderbird/evolution/kmail)

    Honestly, gmain is a worse email client because it is polluted with a lot of advertising which significantly devalues the overall experience. Not to mention all the data mining they're not paying full value for. And the fact that, just like every other advertising venue ever devised, the advertising will keep increasing until the net value to the consumer of the venue+advertising is just marginally above zero.

    No nonsense about "targetted advertising". That's one of the advertising industries big lies. "Targetting" just means that two ad's in a thousand are relevant rather than one ad in a thousand. The practical difference from the point of view of the target is nil.

  72. Re:Tis what we get when web desginers make a distr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are a dickhead. Ans a shill.

  73. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by Jesus_666 · · Score: 2

    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.

    --
    USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  74. The shell itself should be standard by Burz · · Score: 1

    Otherwise, efficient technical support is impossible. Techs must have confidence guiding people through all aspects of the GUI.

  75. -Usefullness -Apple'esq +Cloud = Emperor's Clothes by BrendaEM · · Score: 1

    I am tried of Unity, which all but killed Ubuntu.
    I am tired of hearing Unity as described as "controversial." Nuclear war is controversial; Unity is just bad.
    I grow weary of being told that removing useful features, such as a dual-pane mode in Nautilus file manager makes it somehow cleaner.
    I am tired of form over function. Gnome 3 looks great, but the command bar should be persistent, and not hot cornered.
    I am tired of being told I should spend money storage that I should have locally. I use big files, and unless someone fronts me a T1, I am not going to be doing my graphic stuff and video editing in the cloud.
    I am tired of people joining open source projects, just to build interface into them, or monkey-wrench them.

    rant{
    With Apple gaining market share, threatening the open hardware market it feeds from,
    With Android not having the capability to use heavy-hitter applications,
    With Nvidia's /current/ Tegras being 1/10 as fast as a desktop chip,
    With AMD doing badly,
    With Intel laughing in their sleep and selling 10 month-old processors for only $10 less,
    With the near demise and total whoring of Ubuntu,
    With Mint still not being strong enough,
    With Nvidia crippling the GTX kepler gpu's just when GPU computing just when it was catching on,
    With marketing people totally overrunning the computer industry, telling everyone what we need,
    We need change.
    }

    I still don't see the pure Gnome version of Ubuntu yet. If they don't do it well, perhaps Ubuntu should die off, and all Linux desktop users should all switch to Mint.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
  76. Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal Out Now by dgharmon · · Score: 1

    I'll stick with Lubuntu, less is more ...

    --
    AccountKiller
  77. Re:100 new features, 10000 new bugs, 100000 old bu by eric_herm · · Score: 1

    On the other hand, RHEL provided hardening since a long time :
    http://www.awe.com/mark/blog/200701041544.html

    That's also a policy in Fedora ( https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Guidelines#PIE ). I guess for Debian, the issue was just to have someone do the job, and that likely mean "make sure this work on all platform", which can slowdown a bit. But as you say in the end, this was deployed.

  78. Re:Haters will hate - fanboys and shills will spam by tehcyder · · Score: 1

    No nonsense about "targetted advertising". That's one of the advertising industries big lies. "Targetting" just means that two ad's in a thousand are relevant rather than one ad in a thousand. The practical difference from the point of view of the target is nil.

    I hate the idea of targeted advertising. When I'm on the family laptop at home I don't want my gmail account displaying loads of invitations to visit further anal blonde cheerleader webcam chatrooms, and trying to explain to the wife where they got that idea from.

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  79. I still prefer FreeBSD by axl917 · · Score: 1

    /tumbleweeds

  80. Donations by randallman · · Score: 1

    I just donated $20 and am downloading. I really like how you can choose where you want your money to go.

    They've taken two approaches to raising funds (donations + shopping integration), while keeping Ubuntu free in the ways most of us care about vs. RedHat, who took a more restrictive route using their trademarks. If you like Ubuntu and are OK with either of these methods of fundraising, I suggest you support them. If they have more funds to make improvements and don't lose their way (queue the Unity comments), Ubuntu could easily surpass Windows and OS X in utility and value for the average user (not just for nerds and grandmas).

    I'm not saying it needs to, but how cool would it be for a Free software OS to become the new "industry standard" as Windows has been for the last 15 or so years. I think it takes a leader/company with big resources and a solid plan to make it happen. We'd still have our options as to alternate window managers, etc, but we'd finally be free of working with the black box that is Windows.

  81. You're being harsh. by Jicehix · · Score: 2

    You all should bow to Canonical and thank them for Ubuntu : the fact that it exists gives you the ultimate satisfaction of not using it.

    --
    Jicehix
  82. Clarity and Simplicity Needed by unconfused1 · · Score: 1

    I really appreciate Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin, and have it running very well on a number of machines...actually most of the machines that my family uses on a daily basis. I think that Linux in Ubuntu has finally become a real contender as a consumer desktop OS. The setup is easy, hardware support is broad, the OS is very stable, and the bundled apps cover most average consumer use cases 'out of the box'.

    But Ubuntu has image issue that it seems people are unwilling to acknowledge. If it is their intention to be a widely used desktop OS, then they need to simplify and clarify some things about the distribution. The version numbers (the YY.MM 'version numbers') and names (adjective animal) for the distribution do not make sense to normal people. XX.04 is to denote what appears to be Ubuntu's 'stable' release seems nonsensical. The 'LTS' release that is every second XX.04 release is also confusing. Mix in the October (XX.10) more unstable release...and it is just a bowl of confusion for the average consumer.

    I think that Ubuntu needs to change this naming to have a simple name for only their 'LTS' releases, and just drop all the animal code-names...so Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin should simply have been Ubuntu 12. If it is the 'flagship', then it should have a simple and concise name.

    Then name the next releases 'developer previews' or 'betas' until the next 'flagship', 'long term support' type release. Perhaps this means they may need to change the nature of 'long term support' or add enhancements to their flagships interface more quickly. But businesses and most average consumers need a simple, stable, and functional OS...which seems to be where Ubuntu is going with LTS releases. Now they need to make it easier to understand the direction they are going with versions of their product. The Fedora Linux project learned this already, though they still hold on to even worse codenames than Ubuntu does (e.g. Beefy Miracle) and haven't made their 'desktop' easy for the average consumer.

    I'm not the average consumer, so it is nothing for me to change and tweak a handful of different things to make Ubuntu (or Fedora, or whatever) look and feel exactly as I would like, or add all the apps and features I want. But the average consumer doesn't want to have to change a bunch of settings, and then run some command lines manually, and then install a bunch of extra stuff just to use Ubuntu (or Linux in general). But average people shouldn't need to think about any of this, which is a huge reason why Mac OS X and (increasingly so) Windows are more often the choices of average consumers.

    I guess my point is that Ubuntu, and Linux in general, as well as other open-source applications, need to be named more clearly and simply...and easier to install and use....or even easier to choose in the first place....for the average consumer. I want more than just Ubuntu enthusiasts to choose and use Ubuntu, and Ubuntu needs to acknowledge that it isn't just about development, but also about the way the product is marketed and perceived.

    Obviously I'm not tackling the complexity or effort required to make some of these changes, which I acknowledge as being pretty huge ones. Just entertaining one
    possible course of action to address specific issues.

  83. Re:Haters will hate - fanboys and shills will spam by js_sebastian · · Score: 1

    Hatred has nothing to do with it and your misuse of the term is dishonest. It's actually called personal preference.

    Fair enough. That was a response to the "lamest name ever" thread topic.

    because honestly it is a better client than the desktop alternatives (thunderbird/evolution/kmail)

    Honestly, gmain is a worse email client because it is polluted with a lot of advertising which significantly devalues the overall experience.

    Keep forgetting about ads... ever heard of ad block pro?

    Not to mention all the data mining they're not paying full value for.

    That is a real and valid concern. But for everyone who has a gmail account, using the gmail web app or an imap client changes nothing in terms of privacy.

  84. multi monitior support?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    win 95 = 1
    ubuntu 12.10 = 0

    win 95 win.

  85. multi monitor support?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    win95=1
    ubuntu 12.10=0

    win95 win!