Windows News and info 15th Anniversary 2009-2024
Other Operating Systems => Linux, gOS, Harmony OS, Moblin, Ubuntu, OpenSuse => Topic started by: javajolt on June 13, 2011, 08:35:12 PM
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We love Unity, the new user interface and window manager in Ubuntu 11.04. It's bold, it's occasionally beautiful. While it may have some compatibility issues, at least it's not the same old Gnome or KDE
New scrollbar
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Although it was initially disconcerting, there's a new scroll bar in Ubuntu. A small thing, but it's better.
Default media tools
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Using media is important, and Linux desktops have been criticized for lack of cool default media tools. Ubuntu 11.04 contains many.
LibreOffice
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LibreOffice replaces OpenOffice, although LibreOffice can't use some of the coolness of Unity. OpenOffice's future seems undecided after Oracle abandoned it after acquiring its sponsor, Sun.
MCollective and Cobbler
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MarionetteCollective from Puppet Labs and the Cobbler installation server allowed us to make replicant images with deployment instructions incredibly simple: we could make Ubuntu instances like rabbits.
Now what we hated:
Not enough hardware
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The Unity interface is fine, but it needs to be compatible with all kinds of server and desktop hardware. For example, a nice speedy graphics card ought to help.
Limits of LibreOffice
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Nice as it is, LibreOffice has no global menu system. Sometimes even a shell would help, but maybe we're too addicted to Microsoft Office.
Unity searches
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Searching for things in Unity isn't very fun. The UI needs a system indexing feature that can find "hyptertext", file, and metadata.
cloud-init isn't in it
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The cloud-init feature, a key packaging feature to run Ubuntu images-- especially against Amazon's EC2-- isn't production yet. We want it.
Server innovation lacking
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The new server features are few and far between, unlike the 10.04 version we reviewed. Desktop, yes. Cloud, yes. Server, snooze.