|
||||||
|
It’s easy to argue that Ubuntu’s success is because there’s an unlimited supply of investment from its super-rich parent company, Canonical. But Linux isn’t like any ordinary software stack. People aren’t forced to use it, and we can all choose something else at no extra cost. Ubuntu has to be doing something right. Ubuntu’s biggest, and earliest, success has been in marketing itself. It’s become a recognisable brand, not only in the Linux community, but in the wider non-technical world. As much as I’ve railed against quickie distro reviews, I find myself trying a new version of Ubuntu in live CD form and writing just such a piece. I apologize in advance for not running Ubuntu 9.04 longer, but in this evaluation, which has everything to do with the hardware I’m using, I’ll explain why this is a wham-bam distro evaluation: I’ve been sticking with Ubuntu 8.04 — the LTS version of the distro — on my main Toshiba 1100-S101 laptop for a number of reasons. For one thing, just about everything works (with exceptions being suspend/resume and some rare-but-troublesome crashes when running a USB Wifi stick), and as a production machine, I need it to continue to work. And both of my identical Toshiba laptops have extremely flaky CD/DVD-ROM drives that don’t like most CD-R discs. I managed to burn a Ubuntu 8.04 CD that did boot and install the OS to get me started on this laptop. Since then, I’ve discovered that commercially produced CD-ROM discs always boot fine. So does DVD+R media; I managed to burn a huge Debian Lenny DVD+R that I’ve used to set up the other Toshiba. While it may be a completely philosophical debate whether the universe is turtles all the way down, it’s a lot less existential to imagine that the internet is clouds all the way up. In April, Canonical previewed its Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (affectionately known as UEC), a system designed to simplify the creation, optimization, and management of cloud environments for private organizations. The interface and functionality of UEC is similar to the Amazon EC2 infrastructure, uses in-house hardware running Ubuntu Server Edition 9.04, and is powered by Eucalyptus Systems cloud computing tools. CNet’s Matt Asay beat The VAR Guy to the punch — writing a blog about potential Oracle-Ubuntu Linux synergies. Still, the potential Oracle-Ubuntu partnership gets a little sexier when you throw OpenOffice into the mix. Not even Jack, Janet and Chrissy looked this good together in their prime. Here’s why. First, some background: Ubuntu certainly has momentum on the desktop. But Canonical is evangelizing Ubuntu on servers as well. And that effort requires enterprise software partners, as Matt Asay points out. The recent Kubuntu Tutorials Day featured five of free software’s finest speakers spreading their knowledge to a large audience. There were talks on Kubuntu, artwork, packaging, as well as an introduction to Ruby. There was also a special guest speaker from Amarok who gave a well received tutorial on scripting Amarok with QtScript. Full and edited logs are available on the Kubuntu Tutorials Day page for anyone who wants to catch up. On behalf of Canonical and the Ubuntu Technical Board, Scott James Remnant has issued a position statement surrounding Mono, the open-source project that provides a C# compiler for Linux (along with other operating systems) and other components for a free software .NET stack. However, the legality of Mono is frequently a key concern to free software advocates considering patents and other intellectual property that’s owned by Microsoft… I had to ask this question as I am quite a fan of Ubuntu and have been for some time. Although I have at one time or another fiddled with all the major Linux distros since Warty I stopped distro hopping and settled down, we all have to one day. I have gone from Gnome to KDE and back again loads of times and thought nothing of it. Depending on how I felt on the day. I really didn’t have a favourite, although you have got to love Konqueror – ‘Do you want to accept this cookie’. There’s a reason it’s called Konqueror. Then, the news was released a new upgraded version of KDE, called – wait for it – KDE4. Just can’t beat pure imagination can you? I messed around with it a little, tried to follow the instructions to build it on my system. When taking a look at “CompizConfig Settings Manager” in Ubuntu it can be a little overwhelming when considering all the possible combinations available to us. Often when you set up a couple effects, it seems that you rarely ever see them, or they have to be self induced. Even when we place an effect on a common task we quickly become bored with the same effect happening time and time again. After taking a closer look at the “Animations” panel located inside “CompizConfig Settings Manager”. I took a close look at the “Window Match” string and compiled my own string to include as many “Window Match” keywords as possible. NEWS ANALYSIS: Ubuntu is the leader in the Linux environment and it’s slowly making its way into the mainstream. But is it ready to tackle the enterprise? While there is no chance of Ubuntu overtaking Microsoft Windows’ dominant market share or even making a dent compared to Apple’s Mac OS X, this open-source operating system can make a difference in the enterprise. Linux is an enigma. It has a loyal following. It’s a robust operating system. It’s free. It’s superior to both Windows and Mac OS X on a variety of fronts. And in recent years, it has become more user-friendly than ever before. It’s a fantastic operating system with a slew of distributions that would satisfy any user. And yet it’s not even close to capturing a significant portion of the market. Back in November of 2007, we wrote an article about the popularity of Ubuntu. At the time, it appeared that Ubuntu was the most popular Linux distribution according to many different web metrics. Of course, there’s no way to say for sure which distro is the most popular and to know exactly how many people use Ubuntu. That being said, we thought it would be interesting to take a fresh look at Ubuntu’s popularity. Is Ubuntu gaining in popularity? Is it being used by more people? Are more people searching and talking about Ubuntu? So, how many users does Ubuntu have? It’s really hard to tell. In October, 2007, Canonical claimed that there were over 6 million users of Ubuntu. Then in October, 2008, in an interview with IneternetNews.com a Canonical spokesman claimed that |
||||||
|
Copyright © 2009 Ubuntu Look - All Rights Reserved Ubuntu Look is Digg proof thanks to caching by WP Super Cache! |
||||||
Recent Comments