The Inquirer

Canonical releases Ubuntu Linux 10.04 LTS

With a social notworking Me Menu

  • Nick Farrell
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THE LATEST VERSION of Ubuntu, the Linux poster child distribution for the great unwashed has been released to the world.

Canonical has been making one of the most Windows like versions of Linux for some time. It has found a niche amongst those who don't want Windows but cannot strip their computers to their alchemical principles and don't want to sell their souls to Steve Jobs.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop Edition is available for free download from today. It features better design work for those who do not like the trademark elephant's arse dipped in orange and it offers faster boot speed.

It also comes with social notworking integration because, unlike other Linux users, Ubuntu users often have friends. Alas it comes with the Ubuntu One Music Store, too, because you can never have enough online music stores.

Music stores are apparently the Pied Pipers that help people select which operating system to use. After all Apple's Mac OS X only succeeded because of the Iplod, didn't it?

Jane Silber, CEO of Canonical, claims that Ubuntu 10.04 LTS challenges the old perceptions of the Linux desktop and will bring a whole new category of users to the world of Ubuntu.

Actually, as always there is some pretty good stuff in this release of Ubuntu. The boot up, which was fast, is now noticeably quicker on almost any machine. It also is better on SSD-based machines such as netbooks, which means users can speed straight to the browser for fast web access.

The social notworking feature works from a 'Me Menu' and that allows you to consolidate accessing and updating social networks including Facebook, Digg, Twitter and Identi.ca. It also integrates chat channels so users can talk with friends or colleagues on Google Talk, MSN, IRC and nearly every other chat network.

Canonical has also made improvements so that Ubuntu works better with cloud based services. This is probably because Canonical is trying to flog its cloud based service Ubuntu One, which offers 2GB of storage for free and 50GB for $10 per month.

The company has tinkered with the Ubuntu Software Centre 2.0 so it is even easier now to get new system and applications software and upgrade it. Ubuntu was fairly good at this already, particularly in comparison to some other Linux distributions. µ

 

 

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