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Ubuntu Releases 13.04, Sticks To 6-Month Release Rhythm

Barence writes "Ubuntu has shelved the idea of moving to rolling releases, and will continue to release a new version every six months. Earlier this year, Ubuntu developers discussed the idea of moving to rolling releases, with new features added to the OS as and when they were ready. However, In an interview with PC Pro, Canonical CEO Jane Silber said the developers had taken a 'cold, hard look at our long-standing practices' and decided to stay with twice-yearly releases. It has, however, cut support on non-LTS releases from 18 to nine months." Today, the Ubuntu team have released the latest iteration of Ubuntu, 13.04 ("Raring Ringtail"), along with variants like Kubuntu 13.04.

177 comments

  1. Next release codename? by snarfies · · Score: 5, Informative

    Might I suggest "Simpering Spyware?"

    I for one dropped Ubuntu over that (and Unity)... yeah, I know its removable, not the point.

    1. Re:Next release codename? by HaZardman27 · · Score: 1

      Do you know if any of the popular Ubuntu derivatives like Mint are including the spyware junk, or is that exclusive to Ubuntu and Unity?

      --
      Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
    2. Re:Next release codename? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Kubuntu doesn't. As a bonus, it has KDE.

    3. Re:Next release codename? by Straker+Skunk · · Score: 5, Informative

      I think the spyware has been a radioactive enough issue that any derivatives are going to make a point of cutting it out.

      That said, I don't see the need. As much as I don't like what Ubuntu did with the shopping lens, I've long switched to Xubuntu anyway, which is more sanely managed. (The original reason was to get away from Unity, and their avoidance of subsequent Canonical brain damage cemented the deal.)

      Significantly, when you use [KX]ubuntu, you still benefit from all the release engineering work of Ubuntu proper, including security updates---a point on which I'm a little more wary of derivatives like Mint.

      --
      iSKUNK!
    4. Re:Next release codename? by kthreadd · · Score: 1

      Kubuntu basically just gives you something else as the default. It's the same distro.

    5. Re:Next release codename? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      People complain about the spyware in the lenses, but the lenses only work when you use Dash, so it's not all the time. You need to remove zeitgeist to eliminiate the pervasive spyware, also whoopsie to be safe.

    6. Re:Next release codename? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kubuntu basically just gives you something else as the default. It's the same distro.

      Care to go into detail? I've used Kubuntu regularly for years (currently using 12.10), and I've never seen any manner of distro-enforced spyware or a content store they're trying to push.

      Same with Xubuntu on workstations at work. Clean, simple, no Unity, no Ubuntu content store, no nothing like that.

    7. Re:Next release codename? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you install unity on Kubuntu you get the same crap as the normal Ubuntu.

    8. Re:Next release codename? by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      Enable the canonical repo (it's there but disabled in your sources list) and you are free to install it if you wish.

      --
      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...
    9. Re:Next release codename? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Enable the canonical repo (it's there but disabled in your sources list) and you are free to install it if you wish.

      Well, I'm ALSO free to bludgeon my skull into a pulpy mush with a baseball bat if I choose to go out of my way to a sporting goods store, purchase an aluminum bat, take it home, and build a machine to violently bash it into my head. That's a very long way from "giving you that as the default".

    10. Re:Next release codename? by HaZardman27 · · Score: 1

      I've been using Xubuntu as well, but if continuing to do so would mean having to find offending packages and purge them, I would rather just switch to a different distro.

      --
      Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
    11. Re:Next release codename? by LVSlushdat · · Score: 1

      THIS! Switched from Fedora to Ubuntu back in 2007, but with the steaming, stinky, slimy turd that is Unity, and now this spyware b.s., I've moved to MintDebian.. Just as easy to use, and NO Canonical/Shuttleworth to deal with... Ubuntu is DEAD TO ME... (ya I know... no one care..)

      --
      THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
  2. Yay! by kthreadd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's been very nice to follow Ubuntu. Few other distributions have been better at making Linux available for so many. Congratulation Ubuntu. Well done!

    1. Re:Yay! by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 1

      It *had* been nice to follow Ubuntu.

    2. Re:Yay! by kthreadd · · Score: 1

      I'm not saying that I especially like Ubuntu, but overall I like what they are doing. It has clearly been more successful than most others in getting Linux to people's desktop.

    3. Re:Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They made the right decision on this one. The rolling release strategy is interesting, but mainly for hobbyists. If they want their OS to be taken seriously in a production environment, they need official, thoroughly-tested, supported releases.

    4. Re:Yay! by MrBandersnatch · · Score: 3, Informative

      You mean like their https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LTS versions?

    5. Re:Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think rolling releases works much better than 6 months releases. And cutting LTS down to 9 months is just tragic in that regard.

    6. Re:Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, if they continue to provide official (LTS) releases while keeping the development branch on a rolling release, then it's not really a "rolling release distro" (like Arch). It would be a hybrid. A true rolling release distro doesn't provide official releases.

    7. Re:Yay! by r33per · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm not saying that I especially like Ubuntu, but overall I like what they are doing. It has clearly been more successful than most others in getting Linux to people's desktop.

      Maybe this is the year.

    8. Re:Yay! by Patch86 · · Score: 1

      Not that I disagree with you (because I don't)- but isn't Microsoft going with rolling releases on "Windows Blue"?

    9. Re:Yay! by Ignacio · · Score: 1

      Non-LTS. But it's still shorter than other distributions.

    10. Re:Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think rolling releases works much better than 6 months releases. And cutting LTS down to 9 months is just tragic in that regard.

      RTFS fail.

      It has, however, cut support on non-LTS releases from 18 to nine months.

    11. Re:Yay! by dargaud · · Score: 1
      Good, finally someone thanking them.

      It's amazing how much Linux tastes can vary. I like Kubuntu, I have another colleague who likes Unity Ubuntu. Another one goes for Mint, another some version of Linux I can't remember, some go for plain Fedora, etc...

      --
      Non-Linux Penguins ?
    12. Re:Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ubuntu has been a third rate distro since day one.

      It is not easier to manage than sane distros(read: not debian or debian-based and not Fedora).

      As of today the most well-rounded, fully-featured, stable yet reasonably up to date, easy to install and manage and polished distro is Opensuse 12.3 running KDE.

      Yast is the bomb.

    13. Re:Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Linux Desktop is already a reality for many users. And it just gets better and better.

    14. Re:Yay! by Guspaz · · Score: 1

      No. Microsoft is merely moving to scheduled releases (yearly), not rolling releases.

      Rolling releases basically means you never have ANY releases, individual components are updated on their own schedule, and any complete package of the OS you would ever put together is merely a snapshot of the current set of packages.

    15. Re:Yay! by socceroos · · Score: 2

      Well, Kylin is official now. So yes, Ubuntu is now facilitating getting Linux to the People's Desktop.

    16. Re:Yay! by Patch86 · · Score: 1

      Fair enough. I was basing this off of a conversation I had a week or two ago with a Microsoft Consultant (from the Office side of things). He was talking about how Office 365 is (according to him) moving to rolling releases rather than formal year-based releases, and that (he thought) Windows was moving in the same direction with Blue. But that wasn't his specialist subject, and nor was it a particularly in-depth conversation, so I wouldn't read too much into it as insider knowledge. I may have even misunderstood.

    17. Re:Yay! by Guspaz · · Score: 1

      Well, you could argue that going from "infrequent big releases once or twice a decade" to "frequent small releases every year" is moving in the direction of rolling releases, but I don't think it means that they're moving TO rolling releases. There are advantages and disadvantages to each approach (yearly or occasional), and I think Apple has had pretty good success doing frequent releases with OS X (9 releases since 2001). It's easier to convince people to upgrade in small chunks when it's (say) $20 for an upgrade once a year rather than $100 for an upgrade once every five. With Microsoft's current approach, they get really hurt by a failure like Vista. It means that Microsoft has no viable Windows release to sell between XP (2001) and 7 (2009). Apart from XP, that is. That's a big gap. All indications are that Windows 8 is a much bigger bomb than Vista was (8's sales are much lower than Vista the same number of days after release), so it makes sense that Microsoft wants to avoid this situation in the future by moving to frequent releases where a misstep doesn't cause nearly so much damage. They can also iterate a lot more effectively.

      Office365, on the other hand, that's a web app. I'm not sure if you can say a web app is a rolling release, because it's a single piece of software rather than a collection of software. Web apps definitely do tend to be in the same style, though, in that they tend to get small frequent updates.

  3. Using Mint by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm braced for impact.

  4. nope by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 1

    With the 12.* releases I saw loads go up to 10+ loads after I upgraded my laptop from 11.

    It was... *trumpets please* zeitgeist going nuts at random intervals.

    Sorry Ubuntu... no more. Ubuntu-based, yeah I'll still go for that, but for me the everyday version if the distro is history. I need an OS, not a advertisement engine.

  5. Re:let me be the first to say by ebrandsberg · · Score: 4, Informative

    then disable sending your queries to remote sources. Yes, it is enabled by default, but no, you don't have to use it. I disabled it as soon as I typed in "jockey" to find the additional drivers tool in 12.10, and got ads for underware. Yea. No.

  6. Seed the Torrents! by i.r.id10t · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Even if you don't use Ubuntu, seed the torrents for a few hours. It is one way we can all contribute to Open Source - no dev skills, documentation skills, etc. required!

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
    1. Re:Seed the Torrents! by Nyder · · Score: 4, Funny

      Even if you don't use Ubuntu, seed the torrents for a few hours. It is one way we can all contribute to Open Source - no dev skills, documentation skills, etc. required!

      So, you are telling me to waste my bandwidth, downloading something I don't want, just to help others out? Socialist.

      --
      Be seeing you...
    2. Re:Seed the Torrents! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seed even if we don't use Ubuntu? To seed the torrents, we first have to download it - and that means we have to have a negative contribution on the torrents before we can have a positive one! And for popular torrents, the speed issues are often the worst when the torrent first comes out, rather than later on. I'm not entirely sure that more people rushing to torrent it faster would have a net positive contribution, even if they seed it afterwards.

      Mostly, more seeders are needed for the kinds of torrents that *aren't* seeded a whole lot. Usually, it's some obscure pirated album/game/anime that hardly anyone knows about. Ubuntu is popular enough not to have this issue.

      My train of thought may be completely off, so please correct me if I'm the real idiot here.

    3. Re:Seed the Torrents! by gl4ss · · Score: 2

      ubuntu is too cheap of a for profit company developing behind closed doors to rent couple of seedboxes, while I can download debian from a hundred different 100mbit ftp's?

      anyways, just this week shuttelworth admitted that no matter if it's ready or not they will do the release! can't get on board with that.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    4. Re:Seed the Torrents! by Githaron · · Score: 1

      Even if you don't use Ubuntu, seed the torrents for a few hours. It is one way we can all contribute to Open Source - no dev skills, documentation skills, etc. required!

      So, you are telling me to waste my bandwidth, downloading something I don't want, just to help others out? Socialist.

      It would only be Socialism if the government forced you to do it. Otherwise, it is called charity.

    5. Re:Seed the Torrents! by kyrsjo · · Score: 1

      Let some guy/gal working at a university or similar, with a big fat pipe connected to the workstation, seed it. They are going to want it, and they might just leave it running overnight.

      And yes, i've been that guy. Downloading/uploading torrents on gigabit link is good geek fun (especially since IT is OK with it, as it's legal :) ). A bit like petrolheads who like to see fast cars I guess :)

    6. Re:Seed the Torrents! by antdude · · Score: 1

      Not for those with crappy Internet services like slowness, caps, etc. :(

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    7. Re:Seed the Torrents! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Last I looked, Ubuntu don't encourage torrenting the ISO, they have the option there because people want it, but they hide it away. If they don't want to encourage torrenting then why should they have seedboxes?

    8. Re:Seed the Torrents! by RicktheBrick · · Score: 1

      I am now trying to upgrade a computer. I was surprised by the speed of the download since for a lot of the time I was getting around 10 mbps. I am suppose to get 30 but 10 was a lot better than I ever got with past upgrades especially on the first day. I left the upgrade after it started to install. I came back about an hour later to find that it was stuck on a message that the only response was forward. So I clicked on the forward button. The progress bar indicated about 5% so I hope that it does not expect me to continue to watch it for an hour or two so that I can tell it to continue.

    9. Re:Seed the Torrents! by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      You are correct: the Ubuntu torrents (and Linux distro torrents in general) seem to get quite quickly saturated with seeders already.

    10. Re:Seed the Torrents! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, you may have to do this often. For grins I tried upgrading Backtrack's 10.04 to 12 since it's Ubuntu base was barking at me to upgrade. I stuck with it, and was forced to repeat the clicking at least 2 dozen times making the upgrade take at least an hour longer than it should have. Of course it "F'd" up the system so bad it was not usable. Backtrack's 10.4 KDE was broken to the point that it did not exist any longer after the upgrade was done. So back to a fresh and clean Backtrack 5 install.

      I was ever a fan of Ubuntu even in the early days. Now though? I despise them. F%&* Unity, f^#* dash, and f*#% rest of Canonical and their spyware!

    11. Re:Seed the Torrents! by hobarrera · · Score: 1

      Mostly, more seeders are needed for the kinds of torrents that *aren't* seeded a whole lot. Usually, it's some obscure pirated album/game/anime that hardly anyone knows about. Ubuntu is popular enough not to have this issue.

      Yeah, obscure stuff like Game of Thrones is the only stuff that needs seeding. That's why I reach a 10x ratio in only a few hours.

    12. Re:Seed the Torrents! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is *not* the definition of socialism.

  7. So when is it finished ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Software is engineering, so when will they solve the problem ? at what point do they say "finished" ?

    1. Re:So when is it finished ? by kthreadd · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Software is engineering, so when will they solve the problem ? at what point do they say "finished" ?

      It is finished once bug number one has been resolved.
      https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1

    2. Re:So when is it finished ? by H0p313ss · · Score: 1

      Software is engineering,

      Bullshit, it's alchemy. Half of the software engineers are meeting with their covens and trying to transmute lead into gold.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    3. Re:So when is it finished ? by Urkki · · Score: 2

      Software is engineering, so when will they solve the problem ? at what point do they say "finished" ?

      Building a city is engineering, so when will they solve the problem? At what point do they say "finished"?

      Well, never, obviously. The city will keep taxing and charging you so they can keep building. Private companies will keep billing you for renovating and maintaining existing buildings. They'll also try to sucker new people into it. It's all a big scam! First they invent this "entropy" thing, and on top of it they keep om gradually introducing new stuff, such as running water, electricity, "broadband" Internet access... Do you ever wonder why they don't just build houses that last forever without repairs and maintenance, with best infrastructure allowed by physical reality? Well, let me tell you, it's because they want to keep robbing you of your money, day by day, millenia by millenia!

  8. Re:let me be the first to say by auric_dude · · Score: 4, Informative
  9. Re:let me be the first to say by FudRucker · · Score: 5, Funny

    again, no thanks, there are too many other distros just as easy and just as good that does not need to have the spam/spyware removed, it is a good thing Richard Stallman is still alive or he would be turning over in his grave

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
  10. Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now. by magic+maverick+ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I for one don't like a lot of change. Esp. when I have to change every nine months, and accept whatever change comes up. I got 10.04 running really nicely on an old computer, and I was happy. Esp. when I read about Unity (and now that I've tried Unity, I have to say I'll stick with Gnome).

    And now 12.04 is almost setup perfectly (a few issues I'm working on, I'll get there), and I'm not aiming on changing for years.

    One reason is that once something is working, I know it is working. But, if I have to update, it's likely to break something. Whether I do a fresh install or not.

    Cheers.

    --
    HELP MY ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED BY AN ILLIBERAL ART STUDENT SET TO DESTROY THE INTERWEBZ!
  11. Rolling out bugs every 6 months. by bio_end_io_t · · Score: 2

    So far, the only review I've read about Ubuntu 13.04 said that promised features such as more customizable privacy settings and Smart Scopes didn't make it into the release because they were too buggy. It's just too amusing to have read that review the day after I read an article about how Ubuntu is ditching the rolling release model. Guess Ubuntu users will have to wait until October.

    Other amusing features in 13.04: a button that shows the desktop, and a workspace switcher (disabled by default) that lets you know which workspace you're currently using. Wow, Ubuntu. Unity is on pace to have all the desktop features that Gnome 2 and Xfce have had for years by 2016.

    --
    bio->bi_end_io(bio, error);
    1. Re:Rolling out bugs every 6 months. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Wow, Ubuntu. Unity is on pace to have all the desktop features that Gnome 2 and Xfce have had for years by 2016.

      Yeah but in Gnome, they didn't have integrated features to send your usage statistics and online presence to Amazon. Let's think about the bottom line here, guy!

    2. Re:Rolling out bugs every 6 months. by jatoo · · Score: 1

      Other amusing features in 13.04: a button that shows the desktop, and a workspace switcher (disabled by default) that lets you know which workspace you're currently using. Wow, Ubuntu. Unity is on pace to have all the desktop features that Gnome 2 and Xfce have had for years by 2016.

      Both those features you mentioned have been in Ubuntu forever (since at least 2007 when I started using it). You might be confused because they changed the behaviour of the workspace switcher in 13.04, disabling it by default.

    3. Re:Rolling out bugs every 6 months. by bio_end_io_t · · Score: 1

      The features have been in Ubuntu forever, true. I was referring specifically to Unity. Ubuntu 10.04 with Gnome2 was my distro for the longest time before Unity convinced me to go distro hopping. I still think 10.04 was their best so far.

      --
      bio->bi_end_io(bio, error);
  12. Re:let me be the first to say by synapse7 · · Score: 1

    So my kids machine has ubuntu.. how would one go about disabling this?

    ehh I think I also have a laptop with xubuntu.

  13. Re:LTS - 9 months by feld · · Score: 2

    NON-LTS releases. As in "releases that are not LTS are now limited to 9 months".

  14. Hmm .. This release... by AdmV0rl0n · · Score: 1

    Just has a bad feeling... starting with the name.

    Raring Ringtail is just too close to Raring Ring Piece... and for some reason has me thinking of a bad night on the curry. I really hope they use better names in future..

    --
    We`re all equal .. Just some of us are less equal than others.
    1. Re:Hmm .. This release... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too funny. I about spit up my coffee upon reading this. Reminds me of the scene from Trainspotting where Renton was desperately trying to find a free toilet...

    2. Re:Hmm .. This release... by twnth · · Score: 1

      Hm.... next release will be S words.

      Can I vote now for Suffering Succotash?

      I know a succotash isn't a critter, but c'mon! It's Sylvester!

  15. Highlights included in this release, for the lazy by LordNicholas · · Score: 4, Informative

    Biggest client updates:

    -UbuntuGnome (featuring Gnome 3.6 by default) is now an official flavor

    -Unity 7

    -LibreOffice 4

    -Improved support for CUPS

    -Software Updater simplified

    -Friends service replaces Gwibber

  16. Re:LTS - 9 months by kthreadd · · Score: 1

    13.04 is not an LTS.

  17. Re:LTS - 9 months by brainstem · · Score: 0

    Please re-read the top of this page. NON-LTS is 9 months. LTS support is the same as it's been.

  18. Better distro's out there by geek · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Just off the top of my head and in no particular order:

    openSUSE
    Sabayon
    Fedora 19 (when it comes out)
    Mint
    Manjaro

    All of the above will get you nearly the same hardware support and often a better desktop experience. Manjaro is an up and comer based on Arch, still has some bugs. Sabayon, based on Gentoo is actually pretty damn good now. The others have been great for a while. I honestly don't understand why people are so hung up on Ubuntu, it doesn't offer anything the other distros don't.

    1. Re:Better distro's out there by r33per · · Score: 2

      I honestly don't understand why people are so hung up on Ubuntu, it doesn't offer anything the other distros don't.

      Steam?

    2. Re:Better distro's out there by geek · · Score: 4, Informative

      Steam works on non-ubuntu distros. In fact it's even bundled with Manjaro

    3. Re:Better distro's out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      openSUSE and Mint I can see as viable Ubuntu alternatives right out of the gate. Fedora not unless you enable third-party repos, and then it still has a "trapped" feel to it. Sabayon is still too out there. Manjaro is too new and doesn't have the weight of a huge community, which is precisely the reason Ubuntu gets the love/hate it does: big community. Some will love it no matter what, while others will hate the changes to what they perceive as changing "their" OS. I can see both sides and agree with both sides. And I don't suffer from cognitive dissonance...
       

    4. Re:Better distro's out there by kernelpanicked · · Score: 1

      Works perfect on both OpenSUSE and Fedora. I'm assuming the same is true of Mint since it's Ubuntu based. I hear it's no big deal to get it running on Arch as well. It's not like Ubuntu has a lock on Steam or anything.

      --
      Ubuntu: If at first you don't succeed, blindly slap a sudo in front of it
    5. Re:Better distro's out there by geek · · Score: 1

      Manjaro is just Arch with a better installer. To that end, it has a pretty big community as it's fully compatible with the Arch repos and Aur. You should try the latest Sabayon. It's pretty damned mature now. openSUSE however is probably the best candidate.

    6. Re:Better distro's out there by Nemyst · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Perhaps because, if it weren't for Ubuntu, all those distros wouldn't have access to many things Ubuntu has done, like Steam or better drivers from hardware makers. Like it or not, Ubuntu's reach has caused many software developers to take note and port just a bit more to Linux. Just for that, even if you don't like their practices, you should at least acknowledge them and thank them.

      In many ways, I see Ubuntu and Mozilla in similar positions. Not the latest fad, but always there to provide a balance.

    7. Re:Better distro's out there by geek · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Red Hat's contribution far out weighs Ubuntu's. I also hardly think Steam came because of Ubuntu. Steam came because of Microsoft. Ubuntu just happened to be the flavor of the month. If not Ubuntu it would have been openSUSE or something else.

    8. Re:Better distro's out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The Arch wiki includes a long list of bugs related to Steam games and most of them are not present on Ubuntu. Valve tests on Ubuntu and they don't give a shit about bugs and library issues caused by running unsupported distributions.

    9. Re:Better distro's out there by geek · · Score: 1

      Then Valve is going to lose out on Linux because most people are moving away from Ubuntu, not toward it. Personally I couldn't give a shit less. I've never used steam and I grew up a long time ago, I don't play games anymore. All you kiddies that care though should write to Valve and explain they are making a mistake going with a distro that refuses to work properly with the rest of the community.

    10. Re:Better distro's out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm interested in what you mean by "trapped" feeling of Fedora. I've been using Fedora since FC5, and I've never felt trapped, though I may have been the frog in the heating water.

      Once I enable rpmfusion and steam repo, I really don't have any issues.

    11. Re:Better distro's out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      RedHat doesn't give a shit about consumer desktops and Fedora is barely worth mentioning. Fedora is so bad that even Linus and Alan Cox abandoned it...

    12. Re:Better distro's out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh, mint is the Ubuntu distro. It's a shell replacement, right?

      I'm not fond of Unity, but switch to XFCE or Gnome made me happy

    13. Re:Better distro's out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's funny, son. I guarantee I'm older than you, as are the majority of my friends, and we're all pretty avid gamers.

      Your choice of hobby has nothing to do with your age. Apparently you didn't grow up as much as you thought.

    14. Re:Better distro's out there by Isaac+Remuant · · Score: 2

      The others have been great for a while. I honestly don't understand why people are so hung up on Ubuntu, it doesn't offer anything the other distros don't.

      The same can be said about ANY other distro.

      Arch is awesome but I wouldn't recommend it to newcomers. I would recommend Mint or Ubuntu for them though. So far, Ubuntu is visually very pleasing and its default state is usually preferred by new people (over Mint).

      --
      "Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world. " - Asimov.
    15. Re:Better distro's out there by geek · · Score: 1, Funny

      Or you're a loser that's going through a mid life crisis. You guarantee you're older than me, and you prove it by calling me "son." Fascinating. I somehow doubt you actually have friends but int he event you do, good for you. You're an old man that plays video games. Want a cookie? I'll get back to my work and family life, thanks.

    16. Re:Better distro's out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You seem offended that someone would have different hobbies than you. This report from ESA (I didn't actually read it, found it through Wikipedia) claims that the average video gamer is 37 years old. Playing computer games is not just for the teens.

      I'll pass on the cookie, but thanks for the offer.

    17. Re:Better distro's out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Better is subjective, and it is not like most people here don't know these distributions...

    18. Re:Better distro's out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is the face of linux in the home.

      I look forward to Windows 20 : Still the King Edition

    19. Re:Better distro's out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      opensuse offers things that Ubuntu doesn't.

      Ubuntu is a subset of proper distro.

    20. Re:Better distro's out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ubuntu offered something that was lacking from Redhat.

      A free distro with LTS support.
      The LTS bringing stability to users & developers,
      and free to help adoption with no overheads.

    21. Re:Better distro's out there by Nemyst · · Score: 1

      Right, because having one distro with excellent contributions (RHL) means all other distro's contributions become irrelevant? Give me a break.

    22. Re:Better distro's out there by kermidge · · Score: 2

      Valve said some time back that they were _starting_ with Ubuntu because it was the largest desktop distro outside of mostly-biz-only distros and because Ubuntu committed to working with Valve in getting things working right, and that they would be adding other distros as they got to them. I think we could presume Debian-based distros early on.

      Kiddies? Truman was in the White House, hadn't been elected prez yet, when I was born. My life happens to have room for a few games, but to each his own.

  19. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Try UbuntuGnome...

    It's gnome without unity's spy hounds.

  20. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by geek · · Score: 1

    Honest question then. Why are you using Ubuntu? I can't think of a distro that changes more with the exception of Arch. Why not go with Cent or Scientific and have a more stable setup with fewer changes? Or better yet, go with FreeBSD or PC-BSD and have an even more stable setup. Even plain old Debian will do a better job of it.

  21. Re:let me be the first to say by meza · · Score: 5, Informative

    I did just did that, as a response to reading this thread.

    Open the Systems Settings (called gnome-control-center if you want to run it from a terminal)
    Click Privacy
    In the first tab "Search results" disable "Include online search results" and "Record Activity"

  22. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Splab · · Score: 1

    Why the heck are you complaining? It's the non LTS that is getting cut in half, if you don't want to upgrade to latest and greatest, stick with LTS and you will be fine for a long long time!

  23. Re:Highlights included in this release, for the la by geek · · Score: 1

    -Unity 7

    Is it just me or is Unity progressing in version numbers faster than Firefox? I'll wait til tomorrow for Unity 8.

  24. Re:Highlights included in this release, for the la by robmv · · Score: 1

    I used to use Gwibber on Fedora until the developers started to believe the hype of NoSQL databases and had the non great idea to use the CouchDB as the backend database, never tried it again when they switched the default to SQLite. Lets see if the "Friends service" is another monster or something light

  25. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by kernelpanicked · · Score: 1

    No kidding. Not to mention, that now that they've ironed out some of the bugs in the current Unity, the plan is to completely rewrite it in Qt/QML, and this release is only supported for 9 months. This is pretty much the most pointless release of Ubuntu to date.

    --
    Ubuntu: If at first you don't succeed, blindly slap a sudo in front of it
  26. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am pretty much in the same boat. I really like 12.04, it does what I want, it's really stable. I'll probably stick with it until 14.04 comes out next year. The LTS releases are what keeps me on Ubuntu. Let the beta testers play with 13.04.

  27. Loving the Haters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Look, say what you will about Unity and the spyware and tie-ins to advertising. I'll probably agree with most of what you say.

    But you all act like THAT'S ALL THAT UBUNTU IS.

    First of all, Canonical has built a stable, reliable platform with wide 3rd party software vendor support. This is something to be admired and respected.

    Second, ALL of the UI changes and tie-ins that people are complaining about are COMPLETELY OPTIONAL.

    It's as if these folks have never heard of the netboot minimal CD. You do realize you can choose to install whatever desktop GUI you want, right? And never even install Unity in the first place, right?

    OK OK bitch and moan about Mir - it was in my opinion a good decision to allow for easier access to OpenGL, which is being used more and more in end-user UIs. And besides - you don't have to use it.

    For Desktop users, I still recommend Mint, but let's not all bash on Ubuntu and pretend like it's some Apple-like walled garden that forces its corporate partners on you. If all you know how to do is download the standard ISO and install, then you get what you pay for (NOTHING). If you take the time to actually KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, you can avoid these things completely and wind up with a much more customized and personal system.

    Just my 2.

    1. Re:Loving the Haters by 0123456 · · Score: 1

      Second, ALL of the UI changes and tie-ins that people are complaining about are COMPLETELY OPTIONAL.

      Yeah, you can run XFCE instead.

      Buf if you're going to do that, why would you run Ubuntu, rather than a distro that comes with a sane UI in the first place?

    2. Re:Loving the Haters by Urkki · · Score: 1

      Indeed, why does anybody run Ubuntu, when they can run Xubuntu...

      But if you ask, why anything from Ubuntu family, then a good reason is, most of the non-distro-specific stuff comes with installer/installation instructions for Ubuntu. So, if you want that stuff to just work without hassle, an Ubuntu-family distro is safest choice.

      Only exception I know of is mono .NET stuff, for that OpenSUSE is a better choice, IIRC, unless things have changed recently.

  28. whitelists, not blacklists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think the spyware has been a radioactive enough issue that any derivatives are going to make a point of cutting it out.

    A good distribution will be based on good thinking. And the right way to approach the problem is to ask: what users are asking for spyware?

    The answer is: none.

    If the answer had been yes, then the next question would be: which of their use cases are addressed by the spyware?

    The answer would still be: none.

    Windows and Mac OS X are places where decisions to oppose the interests of users, are weighed based on how "radioactive" it is, where all strategies are variations on the theme: to exactly what level should our conflict with our users should be escalated? Tuning that level of conflict escalation, is what these companies do. It is why they exist. That is how Apple decides whether or not to release the iNextThing.

    That Ubuntu transition to there, starting from Debian (where strategies are optimized to maximize totally different values), is amazing.

    1. Re:whitelists, not blacklists by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      And the right way to approach the problem is to ask: what users are asking for spyware?

      The answer is: none.

      If the answer had been yes, then the next question would be: Dammit, Kosh, we're trying to get work done here!

      FTFY

  29. Re:let me be the first to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Really? "Ubunpoop"? That's seriously where you're going with that one?

    *sigh* Another immature, 12-year-old nail in the coffin of the real world ever taking the nerd world seriously.

  30. new feature: shortened support by sshir · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Good reason to skip this (13.04) version: It forces your hand on 13.10.
    I.e. you'll have to upgrade to 13.10 after that no matter what. And if, god forbid, you'll have a hardware compatibility problem in 13.10 - you'll be screwed.

    On another hand, if you're on on 12.10 now - you have the option to what till 14.04

    1. Re:new feature: shortened support by 3vi1 · · Score: 3, Informative

      No, you won't have to upgrade to 13.10 "no matter what". The recommended way to do upgrades is to always go to the next version (as that's what gets the majority of testing), but 13.04 makes no major changes (like replacing upstart) that would prevent it from directly upgrading to anything to which 12.04 or other recent versions could directly upgrade.

      You won't 'be screwed" if you have hardware compatibility problems in 13.10; you simply boot an older kernel (since that's where the hardware drivers are). I've done it with several previous alphas - but users are unlikely to discover major problems by the time it gets to a final release. I already have one system using the 13.10 (saucy) repos now (though they have no updates beyond what's in the raring repos). Expect me and the others that enjoy the bleeding edge to find/report the problems so that you don't have to.

      I'm not sure why any of this would be an issue anyway: When the OS keeps all your app settings in /home (which you should put on a separate partition), complete re-installs of newer/older versions take no more time than the upgrades.

    2. Re:new feature: shortened support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, i think you're thinking of windows.

    3. Re:new feature: shortened support by Kjella · · Score: 1

      No, you won't have to upgrade to 13.10 "no matter what". The recommended way to do upgrades is to always go to the next version (as that's what gets the majority of testing), but 13.04 makes no major changes (like replacing upstart) that would prevent it from directly upgrading to anything to which 12.04 or other recent versions could directly upgrade.

      The point was that with a nine month support window there won't be any other release than 13.10 released in that window. So it's either that or go unsupported.

      You won't 'be screwed" if you have hardware compatibility problems in 13.10; you simply boot an older kernel (since that's where the hardware drivers are). I've done it with several previous alphas - but users are unlikely to discover major problems by the time it gets to a final release

      I think if you interpret "hardware compatibility problems" to be anything below the application layer then there's plenty running in userspace that could cause things to not work. And yes, people do get bitten by them from time to time.

      I'm not sure why any of this would be an issue anyway: When the OS keeps all your app settings in /home (which you should put on a separate partition), complete re-installs of newer/older versions take no more time than the upgrades.

      And nothing ever goes wrong when upgrade scripts don't run and packages get a config file they don't expect. Many of the weirder issues I've experienced the suggested solution was to do a fresh install (copying just documents and data, not all of /home) and usually that works because that's what's been tested.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    4. Re:new feature: shortened support by jatoo · · Score: 1

      Stick to LTS releases if you like stability and dislike upgrading frequently. Use the latest release if you like playing around with the latest stuff.

    5. Re:new feature: shortened support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good point. I think 9 months of support is a mistake, because there is no way to "ride out" a bad release any more. I had to do that in the past, although recently I stay with LTS. The new features are nice, but I find very few that I could not live without.

  31. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then use the LTS release and stick with it, you don't have to follow the 6 months cycle!

    That's exactly what the LTS is for : Long Term Support, and the 12.04LTS is supported for 5 years (even on desktop).

  32. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not complaining. I'm stating the fact that I'm going to be sticking with the LTS, because it doesn't change. That's not a complaint. Honestly...

    Posting anonymously as there is no tick box to post without karma bonus. Wait, you won't see this if it's anonymous will you... Ah, fuck it.

  33. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by magic+maverick+ · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let me list the ways:
    1) Debian was too much work (Ubuntu, an African word meaning "I couldn't get Debian to work properly").
    2) I really like apt-get.
    3) Ubuntu works (mostly, after some fiddling).
    4) The LTS won't change much and so is going to be stable.
    5) Fuck RPM. Also, Emacs sucks, and so does your haircut.

    --
    HELP MY ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED BY AN ILLIBERAL ART STUDENT SET TO DESTROY THE INTERWEBZ!
  34. I like Unity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a nice blend of my favourite features of OS X and Windows.
    The only thing I might use otherwise is Elementary OS' DE, but the lack of a global menu bar kills it for me.

  35. Re:Highlights included in this release, for the la by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    -Improved support for CUPS

    so there's a Unity button to open the CD tray?

  36. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by geek · · Score: 4, Informative

    1) Debian was too much work (Ubuntu, an African word meaning "I couldn't get Debian to work properly").

    I've installed Debian. I really don't see how it's "more work" than Ubuntu. It's like three mouse clicks and some typing and you get a fully functional gnome desktop.

    2) I really like apt-get.

    Available on Debian. Not seeing your point. There are better package managers out there now too, like Pacman and RPM has leapfrogged deb in recent years in my opinion.

    3) Ubuntu works (mostly, after some fiddling).

    This totally negates your first point. Debian and others work after some fiddling too. You're just fucking lazy.

    4) The LTS won't change much and so is going to be stable.

    Ubuntu's LTS changes a thousand times more than Debian or even FreeBSD does.

    5) Fuck RPM. Also, Emacs sucks, and so does your haircut.

    Yeah, fuck delta updates and a sane package manager. Emacs does suck, yes. I shave my head, not sure if that is a haircut or a lack of hair altogether.

  37. Re:Highlights included in this release, for the la by Patch86 · · Score: 1

    Did you use any of the early versions? They needed to make a lot of fixes, and fast!

    Actually, I did just look this up- this is already the 5th version of Ubuntu to ship with Unity, so even progressing at just one version number at each release, this would still be up to 5. That makes me feel like time is moving too fast, and I want to get off.

  38. We hate success! by sgage · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let's just face it, here in Linux Land, if any distro achieves a measure of success, we just hate it! It is as night follows day.

    The majority of the hate-posts here betray a deep lack of knowledge of what's going on with Ubuntu. All they know is that it's cool to hate Ubuntu, good for your geek cred.

    This is nothing new with Ubuntu - it's been true since the dawn of Linux and distros. I'm not sure why it is, but it's appears to be some basic human social-driven flaw.

    Ubuntu has done a helluva lot for Linux, and people who don't understand that haven't been using Linux for very long. They claim to want Linux to "succeed", but as soon as it begins to, they pile on. Because it's not exactly what THEY want. It's pathetic, disgusting, and discouraging.

    1. Re:We hate success! by 0123456 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm not sure why this is modded 'insightful'.

      People used to love Ubuntu, because it was Linux that 'just worked'. It was only when Ubuntu pushed Unity and other such nonsense that we all started switching to saner distros and stopped recommending Ubuntu to our non-techie friends.

    2. Re:We hate success! by mordred99 · · Score: 4, Informative

      While I agree with several of your points, I think it is not a "We Hate Success" problem, but more of a "We hate what success has done to you!" problem. Yes many people are quick on and off the bandwagon, and those people were not to be considered true fans to begin with. Yes Ubuntu has done a lot, by giving us a standard platform, and originally giving us a good repository, and a good start for many forks (Mint, etc.) which can be created.

      The main issue was, their decision to push Unity. In the Linux community, if something comes as a drastic change, you fork the development and someone can pick up the abandoned fork (the GNOME 2.X developed interface) within their community. Ubuntu did not do that. They gave us a universally panned GUI, designed for cell phones and tablets, to be used on servers and desktops. Worse yet, they gave us no option but to make this major switch with them if we wanted the latest patches, etc. Bad move.

      So my point is that they grew so successful, they forgot their roots, and decided to make changes, regardless of what they were "supposed" to do based on the community they were in. The OS communities version of "Too Big to Fail." The Linux User Community got them where they were, and they abandoned them by making this one time, decision. This has caused the hatred for Ubuntu, not that they are successful.

    3. Re:We hate success! by RevSpaminator · · Score: 1

      Whatever. I wish they had gone to a rolling release, that way I wouldn't have to reinstall every 6 months to be up to date. Their upgrade process is flaky at best, and I've seen a lot of them since the days of Flatulent(breezy) Badger. I just switched to Arch because I want a rolling release and I want to be notified of major changes that break services I spent hours configuring. (Not having to dig into dev blogs and forums, but somewhere in an obvious place as part of a release or patch. Arch puts it on their front page.) The dislike of Unity wasn't a deal breaker (I can load a different GUI) but it certainly didn't help. This nonsense of hating success is silly. I love Android and you certainly can't question its success. Its just an ad hominem attack on people who voice their reasons for disliking Ubuntu. Geek creds be damned, if I don't like where a distro has gone I'll say so.

    4. Re:We hate success! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ubuntu is too popular to be cool.

      All the cool kids are using Mint these days. All the cool kids are too dumb to figure out how to set up their own desktop environment. They have to switch distributions to get away from Unity.

    5. Re:We hate success! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's just talking out of his ass, because he's probably only used Ubuntu.

    6. Re:We hate success! by emanuele_fanton · · Score: 1

      i'ts reccommending ubuntu or lubuntu saner distros or the same as ubuntu?

    7. Re:We hate success! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's just face it, you haven't googled hard enough for the reasons for ubuntu criticism.

    8. Re:We hate success! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hated Ubuntu long before it was cool to do so.

      It has ALWAYS been shit.

    9. Re:We hate success! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I like Unity, as do many other people. If you think Unity is "universally panned", you need to step away from the echo chamber some.

      I had a driver issue recently and had to revert to a non-compiz desktop for a while and man did they feel clunky. Gnome2? Hated it. XFCE? Quaint. A lot of the hate I see for Unity is knee-jerk by people who haven't really taken the time to use it in anger.

    10. Re:We hate success! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The irony of a lot of the current Ubuntu haters and their anti-Unity screed is they were likely introduced to Linux via Ubuntu.

      I recall never being a fan of Gnome or KDE, preferring the IceWM setup I was comfortable with. Until Ubuntu shipped a well-configured default that was integrated enough to not bother with the old setup I'd been dragging around for years.

      I came to Unity with an open mind and after using it for a year, I couldn't go back. Trying out the Gnome3 spin of Ubuntu, I can see that Unity is vindicated. Gnome3 is terrible.

    11. Re:We hate success! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Every single one of the criticisms of Unity in this entire discussion lack any details on what exactly makes it "nonsense" other than "I don't like change".

    12. Re:We hate success! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, of course we do.

      Because nobody can universally define, "Success," for Linux. In Linux-Land, one person/group/distro's Success is inveitably another's Epic Fail.

      There are great plenty Linux users for whom "Success" equals "No Longer Necessary To Update. This is Stable on This Hardware and will be until This Hardware dies at which time the distro will be there for me with a Stable version that works on That Hardware." For others "Success" equals "This now looks and behaves exactly like MacOS or Windows, complete and down to New Shiny and OS Bling-Bling every six months." For yet others "Success" equals "I can now do everything I need to on a PC *WITHOUT* having paid anybody one cent, nor anybody deriving one cent from exploiting information about me even in the aggregate." Each of those Success conditions is going to be Epic Fail for someone else.

      And, perhaps most universal Epic Fail is, "That Distro that {whatever} is Epic Fail is appearing to Succeed and thus becoming the Face of Linux! OMGSNARGLIES!!!!!"

      Finally, it is inevitable that as more people use Linux, there shalt be more people who do not know the issues (and do not WANT to know,) but are happy to be on a bandwagon... Which is still Success to some and Epic Fail to others.

    13. Re:We hate success! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's what I don't get about the "I don't hate Ubuntu for its success, just for Unity" crowd:

      Why is it so much easier to complain on forums and Slashdot than it is to type "sudo apt-get install (gnome|kde|lxde)-desktop", or the GUI equivalent?

      Ubuntu pushed Unity on us by providing support for other Ubuntu spins, building Unity using standard libraries, making it compatible with freedesktop standards, providing on/off switches for controversial additions, including *Tweak packages in the repositories, not switching you back to it on updates, etc.

      What else could they have done?

  39. Re:let me be the first to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Looks like electric cars are depriving u of cheap lithium.

  40. Re:Is anyone still using Ubuntu ? by Tool+Man · · Score: 2

    I was using Mint 13 for a good while, and loving it, but have now switched over to the newest Mint LMDE version. This is based on Debian's testing respository, not Ubuntu, so is more of a rolling update model. This puts me back to an improved version of what I had with my old stock-Debian desktop, having added some "just works" niceties from Mint.

  41. Re:Highlights included in this release, for the la by geek · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I think i've tested every version since the Ubuntu Netbook remix days. I've never settled on Unity as an actual day to day desktop though. It's just too foreign to me.

  42. Summary: "I'm an LTS user." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Summary: "I'm an LTS user."

    Good for you. Me too. But why say it so long-windedly?

  43. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ubuntu started as a Debian derivative.

    1. No comment, but I haven't had much trouble installing and configuring linux, though X back in the 90's on slackware was a bit troublesome.
    2. Debian created apt & apt-get.
    3. Debian works, actually the big reason I switched to Debian is because it works well and handles upgrades nicely.
    4. Debian stable is more stable, and supported for a longer time.
    5. That isn't a reason

  44. Re:Is anyone still using Ubuntu ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So you don't know that many people then.

  45. Re:LTS - 9 months by Isaac+Remuant · · Score: 1

    Furthermore, 12.04 is the first LTS to be supported for 5 years instead of the former 3 years.

    --
    "Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world. " - Asimov.
  46. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Isaac+Remuant · · Score: 1

    Debian can get in the way of easily installing some proprietary stuff and, also, because it focuses on stability, it might make you impatient if you're expecting packaging of new versions of software.

    --
    "Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world. " - Asimov.
  47. Re:Highlights included in this release, for the la by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Also includes broken Cinnamon packages by default

  48. Re:let me be the first to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, it is enabled by default

    That's the whole damn problem.

    People shouldn't have to search for various settings and tweak them in order to achieve a reasonable level of privacy.

    The GP calls it "spyware", and I think that's a reasonable word for it.

  49. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    You're just fucking lazy.

    I get basically the same desktop either way but Debian requires more fucking around and I have to add third party repositories to get decent video card drivers, codecs and font rendering. Debian also doesn't include decent app armor profiles and most packages aren't even compiled with stack protection and PIE.

    Get over it. There's a reason why Google and most tech companies go with Ubuntu over Debian.

  50. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How do you reconcile the fact that there is no Debian-style security team keeping multiverse/universe safe?

  51. Re:let me be the first to say by RevSpaminator · · Score: 1

    What do you know about fluoridation?

  52. plug for lubuntu by forpeterssake · · Score: 1

    Nice, I've been waiting for this version to drop so I can install the latest version of lubuntu on an older laptop. I really recommend trying lunbutu nowadays. LXDE has matured well, and it wins the "just works" seal of approval for me. I've had good experiences with migrating Windows users over to it as well, because it has maintained many of the Windows features (bar on the bottom, menu button where Start button is, close windows from the top right, etc.). It's ridiculous how fast a 5-year-old laptop can be with lubuntu instead of Vista.

    1. Re:plug for lubuntu by dargaud · · Score: 2

      I have a 13 year old laptop running Kubuntu fine. Sure, you don't get animated cubes or shit like that, but most videos play fine and the web is no slower.

      --
      Non-Linux Penguins ?
  53. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by magic+maverick+ · · Score: 1

    Regarding Debian vs Ubuntu.
    Ubuntu automatically worked with no issues with wifi, with my touchscreen, with my sound, and a couple of other things I can't just recall. The only thing that worked better on Debian on a fresh install was hibernate. So, fiddling for Debian = getting basic stuff to work. Fiddling for Ubuntu = installing and configuring Gnome to my liking (Unity worked with no issues, except I don't like it as much).

    So, yes I'm lazy. But when I don't have easy access* to a wired network, I'll take Ubuntu over Debian thanks.

    The apt-get comment was comparing Ubuntu to the RedHat derivations.

    The last number was a troll... I used to use Mandrake (dates me a little), so am used to RPM (sort of).

    * Easy access being: in a warm room where I don't have to worry about people tripping over the cord, or getting in my way, or trying to speak foreign languages to me.
    The same thing happened in 2007 with Debian vs Ubuntu. To access a wired network required a half-hour bike ride (in the snow as well), as at the place I was staying, I didn't have access to the network equipment. So, Ubuntu won out then as well.

    --
    HELP MY ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED BY AN ILLIBERAL ART STUDENT SET TO DESTROY THE INTERWEBZ!
  54. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    5) Also, Emacs sucks, and so does your haircut.

    You're a dick. Emacs did my haircut, and now it feels sad.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  55. Re:let me be the first to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    How about fuck no, and use another distro?

  56. Re:let me be the first to say by Dragonslicer · · Score: 2

    ...and got ads for underware.

    Is that yet another layer between software and hardware?

  57. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by antdude · · Score: 1

    Yeah, that's annoying. Another thing that sucks are the bugs, security holes, etc. Have to stay with the latest versions to get those. :(

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  58. Good... by forged · · Score: 2

    I was frightened that Wanking Walrus would never see the light. Now, I can confidently wait another 2.5 years for it. Mr. Torvalds probably made one of the longest running joke in Linux's history when he posted his original comment on July 2008 !

  59. Re:let me be the first to say by jones_supa · · Score: 1

    The GP calls it "spyware", and I think that's a reasonable word for it.

    Well, yeah. I'm personally fine if I can disable it post-install, but the fact is that Ubuntu is not completely free software (free as in freedom) until this feature is unambiguously enabled only per user request.

  60. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    live.debian.net, get the nonfree edition.

  61. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by dargaud · · Score: 1

    RPM has leapfrogged deb in recent years in my opinion.

    Err, must be very recent then. I use Fedora on many of my work systems for lib compatibility, but every update is a nightmare of .rpm dependencies. I've never seen that happen with .deb

    --
    Non-Linux Penguins ?
  62. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Tarlus · · Score: 1

    Yeah, it's fun to tinker with each new Ubuntu release using a live CD or VM, but a pain in the ass to need to upgrade the OS on a production computer every six months. Something inevitably gets altered, broken, removed or replaced. You can never fully get used to everything. Canonical likes to adopt new technologies before they're ready and then drop perfectly functional ones on a whim, and that's fine for people who like to have the latest and (arguably) greatest.

    So, I stuck Xubuntu 12.04 on my laptop, got it configured just the way I like it, and will happily not waste time with installation and configuration for another four years.

    --
    /* No Comment */
  63. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What? Just get the testing or unstable and you have the latest.

  64. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe it's the 5 years of support and updates. Debian and others have far less.
    CentOS 6 software is just too old. LTS 12.04 is far mor modern and will be supported for 5 years.

  65. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by geek · · Score: 1

    You're doing it wrong

  66. BVU195 Functionality? by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    I would dearly love to know how I can install this device on my ubuntu/hp laptop, maybe 13.04 can?

  67. i love Unity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Everyone on slashdot is a hater. I'm not a hater, I fucking love Ubuntu, and this new update to Unity. Thank you Canonical.

  68. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yum handles those dependencies easy enough. RPM is more advanced in doing things like, you know, package management. Way more advance than Debian packages. I can search the rpmdb for nearly anything, verify and fix permissions with a command, etc...

    I might argue that things that yum does should be included in RPM, such as fixing and finding all the dependencies. Then again, looking at what RPM does already, it could quickly become unusable they increased what it does.

  69. Re:let me be the first to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So instead of turning in his grave he'll put on his robe and his wizard hat and go on a disassociated rant.

  70. This episode of Ubuntu brought to you by Amazon by Drunkulus · · Score: 1

    Nice to see that 13.04 also includes a free 30 day trial of Facebook File Manager.

  71. Re:let me be the first to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    meza's way is easier. That is, if you're already using Ubuntu and Unity.

    The next easiest way would be to type in the terminal "sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop" and switch to KDE. :-)

  72. Given increased secrecy, 14.04 has a name by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    Why not just call the next release Secret Squirrel by how its being closed up like Ringtail?

    Shuttleworth is a coward in front of his critics and is lucky enough to be able to withstand it - for now.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    1. Re:Given increased secrecy, 14.04 has a name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      its being closed up

      Any examples?

  73. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't understand #5, emacs is great. When people say this I can't imagine it being said out of anything but ignorance, like not using it enough or learning how to customize it or get around it. I still use vi/vim for simple things but for everything else emacs works better for me and I use it for most of what I do.

    Whatever the case, use it or don't; it's open source so fortunately it won't die out even if only two people in the world use it.

  74. Re:let me be the first to say by socceroos · · Score: 1

    hahaha, haven't been to bash.org in ages. Thanks for the flashback.

  75. Re:let me be the first to say by socceroos · · Score: 2

    I always start the latest Ubuntu release running Unity for a few months and then I gravitate back to the latest KDE SC. Don't get me wrong, I like Unity and KDE, but something deep inside my soul keeps drawing me to KDE.

  76. Re:Thanks Ubuntu, but I'll stay with 12.04 for now by tomofumi · · Score: 1

    It is most supported distro from commercial vendors, e.g. Steam. They'll choose to compatible with Ubuntu first before everything else. And it has a large community to ask for support & help. For other unpopular distros, you maybe on your own.

  77. Re:Highlights included in this release, for the la by kermidge · · Score: 1

    I've got a wide-screen display so have no prob with having the Unity strip with 30%-reduced icons taking up space. I took out some stuf I don't want or use too infrequently to be useful there, and lock often-used programs instead. For me, it's a handy thing.

    The first think I do with a fresh install is to get classicmenu-indicator. I want everything to be in the drop down menu. Then I adjust some of the fonts and restore scroll bars.

    Biggest complaint I have is that each version lately has been making it more difficult to get to many basic adjustments. While Dash sometimes helps find something, I never got used to having to type something to get at a program - unless we're talking DOS-style prompt stuff, and I haven't used that since 8-bit days.

  78. Erm... by Spencer+Lithium · · Score: 1

    Not much really. But I don't understand why Linux fanatics hate Ubuntu's releases so much. I have recently shifted from Windows to Ubuntu 12 and Unity isn't really an ass honestly. Maybe Gnome (my understanding: Windows-like interface?) maybe better but Ubuntu works flawlessly on my computer without much hassle. The community is supportive, app installation is ok... everything works. But does Ubuntu deserve so much from those who has participated in its foundations?