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On Sunday, the
latest incarnation of the Ubuntu Linux distribution was released.
Coming six months after the last edition, some people are beginning to
feel that Ubuntu’s six month release cycle is too often too soon. Some
even say that there are not enough changes to 10.04 to warrant an
upgrade.

I think they are wrong.

In Ubuntu 10.10,
there are many small improvements that have been made to polish the
distribution even more. For starters, the installer has received a lot
of attention. It is now a lot more attractive, and more importantly,
has been made simpler for novices. Of course, as is usual, there is the
live CD mode so that you can try out the distribution before actually
installing.

One criticism I
have of recent versions of Ubuntu is that you need a solid Internet
connection to get some things actually working. I think this is a
function of the fact that the makers (Canonical) are trying to pack
more and more into a single 700MB CD-ROM. In our environment, that is
not the most practical of things. Aside from that, I have no other
complaints really.

The most important
part of this upgrade is that Gnome has been updated to 2.32 (for KDE
users, the KDE version Kubuntu has KDE4.5). Also, the startup time has
improved even more. There is new wallpaper and the sound indicator now
includes music controls; so you can play music without having to open
your music application. This of course helps in saving memory, although
that will not be a concern for a lot of users.

Ubuntu One is
better integrated than ever. Ubuntu One is Ubuntu’s online file storage
service, which gives you 2GB of online storage for free. This allows
you to share files across multiple Ubuntu computers. Personally, I’ll
stick with Dropbox, but it is great to see Canonical plugging away at
this and attempting to get it right.

Apparently as well,
more people are signing up because the Ubuntu One Music Store has an
even larger selection of music than the last time I checked, but I
still could not find Fisherman’s Koko! As is usual, proprietary codecs
such as Flash did not work out of the box, but it was up and running in
a few minutes. Ubuntu’s default programs for multimedia include Brasero
for CD burning, Movie player, Rhythmbox to play music, and PiTiVi for
video editing. Great programmes, but since I am a KDE person, the only
one that survives on my computer is PiTiVi.

Of course, if you
are not happy with the default selection, just connect your computer to
the Internet and head into the much improved Software Centre.

One of the great
new features that still has me drooling is the updated Ubuntu Software
Centre and its ‘Featured’ and ‘What’s New views for showcasing
applications. A ‘For Purchase’ software category has also been added so
you can buy that proprietary software that you want.