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127 Comments
- adamroach, on 11/14/2008, -11/+84I just wanted to make a comment on digg because I felt good about myself!
- prae, on 11/14/2008, -1/+64Ubuntu’s Intermediate Ibex
Nov.13, 2008 in Articles, Columns, Linux
When Mark Shuttleworth, the man behind Canonical/Ubuntu, made the comment that Ubuntu should be prettier than Apple OSX in near term I got excited - the man was absolutely right. It doesn’t matter how customizable and operating is, or how good can you make it look with some effort if it does look bad out of the box. The out-of-the-box experience is the key to reach the average users, and if that is not aesthetically pleasing a lot of effort is needed to win the user back. Interestingly Ubuntu with their orange/brown themes and very basic Gnome looks is possibly the worst looking distribution out of the major players. So here comes release 8.10, the Intrepid Ibex - a first step to the direction of making Ubuntu look good? We’ll see about that…
First of all I have to say that I am a big fan of Ubuntu because they do a lot of good for Linux. They productize the most popular(?) Linux distribution, provide good infrastructure for the user communities and gain a lot of positive publicity for Linux. I have also the understanding that Ubuntu contributes significantly to the upstream projects (Gnome, Debian, GNU/Linux). On the other hand I have a hard time understanding parts of their strategy, which in my opinion leads to intermediate releases. Pretty good, but boring, non-innovative and after all pretty damn close to the mother Debian.
From the live CD boot the latest Ubuntu looks and feels…well Ubuntu, and there has not been a lot of development for the last couple of years (6.10 Edgy Eft was the first Ubuntu version I tried). I have to say that the improvements so far to the visual aspects were a big turn-off. They consisted of a few changed icons, slight gradients in Gnome panels and a new (rather good) wallpaper and thats it. Oh yes, there is the new theme called ‘dark room’, which is even more brownish than the default. I really expected a bolder approach in re-working the user interface as Ibex is the first release after the previous Long Term Supported edition, so it would be justified to drive more radical changes and development. There are many small distributions that have been able to come out with slick visuals, so the required peaces for the puzzle do exist. For an example openSUSE, Ubuntu’s strongest contender on the Linux field, is able to deliver much more pleasing visuals that are more professionally finalized, well thought and more intuitive.
Under the hood the Ibex brings many improvements from the upstream. Gnome has been updated to 2.24 with slight improvements, the new Network Manager being perhaps the most interesting one as it now provides improvements for Wiress and GPRS/3G connectivity. The 2.6.27 Linux kernel should improve the hardware support in many areas, which is always welcomed and always an issue with Linux on the latest or less common hardware. New X.org 7.4 brings improved multi monitor support, but caused a gap in graphics card drivers which have not been updated to latest X.org revision yet (this should obviously improve over time).
The word intrepid mean something like ‘fearless’, ‘brave’ or ‘courageous’. Unfortunately the Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex does not live up to it’s name. It lacks any ground braking changes, innovation in design or brave new approaches on the visuals and usability. I would really like to see the most popular Linux distribution to innovate something that would make it stand out from the crows, and especially Debian, more. Competitors like openSUSE and Mandriva are much better in this sense as they are delivering their own value adding features like YaST or Control Center for system administration. Version 8.10 Intrepid Ibex is a small incremental upgrade on the solid foundation of Ubuntu (or Debian), but are these changes worthy a new release? They seem more like a ’service pack’ to Ubuntu v7.04 Hardy Heron, if a Microsoft Windows expression is allowed here. - BrainInAJar, on 11/14/2008, -11/+62Step 1 is drop the hideous *****-brown with baby-***** orange themes
- damndj, on 11/14/2008, -0/+36I dug you up to build your self esteem.
- MattB123, on 11/14/2008, -0/+23You're good enough, you're smart enough and gosh darn it, people like you!
-Stuart Smalley - orvl, on 11/14/2008, -6/+24MIRROR:
http://74.125.45.104/search?q=cache:http%3A%2F%2Fw ... - blazewide, on 11/14/2008, -6/+23it would be nice to see ubuntu to make os x look childish >.>
- JohnFlux, on 11/14/2008, -0/+16Mark Shuttleworth said that he had intended to get new artwork out for Intrepid but that hiring suitable artists was taking longer than anticipated. It's hard to find good gui designers.
- gllopc, on 11/14/2008, -3/+17Hmmm... I thought by the description of the article it was going to be about how pretty Unbuntu has become. I think a better description, clipped from that same article, would have been:
"Ubuntu with their orange/brown themes and very basic Gnome looks is possibly the worst looking distribution out of the major players. So here comes release 8.10, the Intrepid Ibex - a first step to the direction of making Ubuntu look good? We’ll see about that…" - inactive, on 11/14/2008, -1/+14How hard can it be to make Ubuntu not look like this? After all this deep programming and driver compatibility, doing a visual improvement is surely the easiest possible thing.
- nwlinkvxd, on 11/14/2008, -2/+14Perhaps I haven't been on Digg long enough, but I still find this meme funny.
- inactive, on 11/14/2008, -0/+11From this day forward November 14th is adamroach day!
- nightsweat, on 11/14/2008, -2/+11Hmmm. Ubuntu, Mac.. All this article needs is a mention of Ron Paul to be the most Dugg article ever!
- xceptionaly, on 11/14/2008, -6/+15Gonna have to agree with the article here. I love Ubuntu and am running Ibex on my desktop right now. It's fast, stable and fuctional. Unfortunately, it is also an ugly, ugly bitch. Ubuntu is like that really awesome girl that nobody wanted to take to prom because of her terrible acne.
- wozyjob, on 11/14/2008, -1/+9Some articles make you feel more stupid after reading them. That was just incredibly uninsightful.
Some perspective: I have used GNU/Linux for over a decade. I also use Mac OS X daily and Windows when I am forced to at work.
I installed Ubuntu 8.10 within 24 hours of its release. While it wasn't perfect, it was very impressive. Linux HAS come very far. The fact that we have it as a result of the dedication of the masses makes it all the more impressive.
Some thoughts on my experience....
Note: My machine is a very old Pentium III with 384 MB of RAM. Even Windows XP struggles on it.
Ubuntu experience:
- Installation: Brainless. Almost perfect.
- Update manager: Brainless. Almost perfect.
- Desktop: The prettiest I've ever seen (keep in mind I also use Mac). The bad part was the amount of time I spent admiring it.
- Networking: Flawless.
- Sound: Flawless.
- Battery: Worked flawlessly (on my friend's Thinkpad laptop). Very impressive.
I repeat: Things have come a long way. I remember the days of fighting with X-Windows configuration files. Those days are long gone.
Now for the downside (nothing is perfect, you know):
- I'm not sure how well Suspend and Hibernate work. Why do you need both anyway? Take a cue from Mac OS X.
- I still see kernel messages as X-Windows (re)starts. I hate that. Once again, look at Mac.
- Why are the Log-in and Lock Screen dialogs so inconsistent? Make them similar and make them pretty.
- Desktop: Text-beside-icons does not work. Once again, look at Mac. Watch the way they abbreviate filenames to limited widths, and show a highlight with the entire name when you hover above it. Also, settings for the desktop (icons, filenames, ...) should probably be *on the desktop* (with a right-click).
- Nautilus File Manager: Similarly (like the desktop issue), when there isn't enough space for the filename, show a highlight with the entire name when you hover above it.
- Recent Documents: Put an option in gconf-editor for this so we don't have to do silly things to prevent people from seeing files we've been using.
That's all for now.
Overall though, how do I grade Ubuntu 8.10? I say 8/10 (no pun intended).
All in all, I really enjoy the release and commend the team on a job VERY well done. - jivemasta, on 11/14/2008, -2/+9I could care less about what it looks like out of the box. Unlike Windows and OSX I can get new themes and shells without hacking the ***** out of it. That is pretty much the glory of linux, if you don't like something, you can change it.
- Lewie, on 11/14/2008, -0/+7We love you!
- and386, on 11/14/2008, -0/+7IMHO this article is a troll. It's just pushing on the point that Ubuntu offers no added value to the linux ecosystem
and that all of its improvements are from "upstream" :
- "I have also the understanding that Ubuntu contributes significantly to the upstream projects (Gnome, Debian, GNU/Linux)" when it appears sadly that it is not true. I guess it was just a satirical demonstration of wit since everyone knows that Ubuntu is not really strong on that front.
- "Under the hood the Ibex brings many improvements from the upstream."
I feel this article is biased and is an open attack towards Ubuntu. First it's attacking the look of Ubuntu when it's purely a matter of
taste, then comes the upstream argument, then It goes on digging even more *****.
I happen to like the look and the user experience that Ubuntu offers, it's consistent and in my book it's huge quality. - orangefly, on 11/14/2008, -1/+8when i install ubuntu for people to try, the first thing i do is pretty it up before they see it....
- FredFredrickson, on 11/14/2008, -2/+9No, it's just stupid.
Don't worry though, reading comprehension is overrated. - demodawid, on 11/14/2008, -0/+6At least you can get a new skin in Ubuntu.
- d0nkeym0nkey, on 11/14/2008, -0/+6The only "ugly" thing on the current ubuntu desktop, is the default font(s), IMO.
- dilbert, on 11/14/2008, -0/+6As long as your porshe is a Porsche.
- talonstriker, on 11/14/2008, -1/+7Looks are all its got. It is pretty slow compared to KDE3.5 and it's usability is meh. I'll check back on it when it hits the 4.8 stage but for now I stay clear of it.
- EricAnderton, on 11/14/2008, -0/+5Well played.
- TehDoctor, on 11/14/2008, -2/+7I fail to see how Gnome's cartoony icons and windows 95-like panels look better than OS X.
Don't get me wrong, I don't like OS X and you can get Linux GUIs to look way nicer, but they never come that way out of the box, with the possible exception of KDE 4. - DeathRay2K, on 11/14/2008, -1/+6Anti-aliased windows! I cannot understand why this is never addressed, it would be a big step towards OSX and Aero interfaces in terms of aesthetics, and yet it's one that is consistently ignored with each release.
Also, I like Ubuntu's brown themes, and when people who don't like them talk about them, they don't seem to realise that it is a personal preference thing, they always simply say that Ubuntu is ugly and that's that. - Jareth86, on 11/14/2008, -3/+8I honestly think they should focus on making it look nicer. The look of an OS, unlike usability and bugs, is a very easy thing to fix and has dramatic results on how many people want to use it. As of now, Ubuntu suffers from visual blandness.
- olafcore, on 11/14/2008, -0/+5you s.o.b.
- talonstriker, on 11/14/2008, -0/+5I'll vouch for the improvement of wireless. In Hardy, I had to install some firmware junk to get the wireless working. Even after installing the firmware, I couldn't detect some networks that I normally could connect to under Windows. Now using, Intrepid, I can detect all the networks and connect to most of them. Intrepid is not upto par with windows, but its MUCH better than Hardy. So that part of ubuntu is definitely going in the right direction.
- phate2292, on 11/14/2008, -0/+4*****...i needed that mirror *cries*
- jjustin01, on 11/14/2008, -0/+4Save the following code to your home folder with the file name ".fonts.conf" then restart Gnome (ctrl+alt+backspace). This will smooth the fonts out better than the default method. If you don't like it, go to your home folder and press ctrl+h (this shows hidden files) and delete the file and restart Gnome. Also, "sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts"
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>
<match target="font">
<edit name="autohint" mode="assign">
<bool>true</bool>
</edit>
</match>
</fontconfig> - ch40sBr1ng3r, on 11/14/2008, -0/+4Its true what he said about OpenSuse tho. That is the main reason i made that my distro of choice. The installer ( DVD version ) looks professional, and So does the default theme. Plus things like Yast, Slab, and others make it very appealing. Granted things like Nautilus with tabs would be great to have in every distro, but i guess that would be asking for too much.
- HonoredMule, on 11/14/2008, -1/+5I'd dig you up largely for your critique, but all the positive points you listed have one HUGE caveat, in the "Your mileage may vary" form. Every one of those things are perfect, except when they're not--then they're horrible. The problem lies in the too-large percentage of users for which one or more of those bullet points fail miserably.
At least on the UI front though, you make some very good points. But for that kind of touch to (important) details, I think you'll have to wait for a robust, mature KDE4. The Gnome team is unshakable in their relentless pursuit of mediocrity and clumsiness. - freezerburn666, on 11/14/2008, -0/+4i always upgrade so i never really notice any of these new design changes. i will notice new options or components but not colours or gradients. i like my theme and it stays that way. if i install ubuntu on a computer, the brown stays there for about 15 seconds. it's easy to change, maybe it shouldn't be default i guess if it really bugs people that much. maybe the next one should include cairo or awn, so the user can choose between having a bottom panel or a dock, or a side dock.. or i dunno. maybe people shouldn't be so stupid, but that will never happen.
- socialidiocy, on 11/14/2008, -1/+5http://www.gnome-look.org/ got me to love my linux machine even more.
- arjie, on 11/14/2008, -1/+4I'm going to say it. I think the Ubuntu 8.10 wallpaper is awesome, I really think so. I think the GDM theme is clean and neat. I _like_ the orange.
I like Fedora's boot process though, it kicks ass. And Fedora looks slick. - gllopc, on 11/14/2008, -2/+5The article wasn't favorable of Unbuntu's current or coming looks.
What were you referring to? - JoelJ, on 11/14/2008, -0/+3I'll admit, I just switched to the darkbrown theme, and I can't figure out why they just didn't make that the default theme? It looks so much better. But they still need to get some originality going. Something that will appear familiar but still look different.
- dent42, on 11/14/2008, -0/+3Have you tried using wine? I mean, I don't know what digby is, but if it is a Windows app, it should run on wine.
- ethana2, on 11/14/2008, -0/+3Kubuntu 8.10 failed miserably on my Ubuntu Dell. The LiveCD actually crashed, yes I did verify its integrity first.
If there's an excuse for that, I don't know what it is. - ryanspeck, on 11/14/2008, -0/+3Well, that'd really be the only point in using Linux: to increase the speed of an old laptop.
There's a plethora of articles on the internet about getting new use out of the Presario 2100 using Ubuntu. And, realistically, the older the hardware, the better supported it should be out of the box as there's been plenty of time to fix all related problems and get drivers in order. We're not talking about a P2 here. We're talking about a decent Athlon XP with a reasonable amount of RAM.
But when package management fails you, as it did for me, installing from the Terminal is the only option. And there were many cut & paste tutorials but very little that explained what you were doing and why beyond "this might make it work".
And, no, even under 8.10 the video drivers still didn't work too well, but were servicable for being able to see the desktop and look at web pages.
For the sake of toying around I kept 8.10 on the computer under XP using Wubi so that I can get rid of it when bored. But it really doesn't offer anything that XP doesn't do for me.
Perhaps if I get the itch to experiment again, I'll install it on my desktop to see how it works with fresh hardware, but I'm too busy with actually listening to music, writing novels and playing games to get around to it anytime soon (so good call on your part for predicting what I'm actually doing). - adamroach, on 11/15/2008, -0/+3Thanks everyone!
- tj111, on 11/14/2008, -0/+3I just switched to the Dust theme, I really like it. Darkroom was just too brown for me.
http://i35.tinypic.com/2ed8rpw.png
http://i38.tinypic.com/2i084fn.png - inactive, on 11/14/2008, -0/+3Ubuntu is a paper bag ***** looks wise.
- RaulMuadDib, on 11/14/2008, -0/+2Way to quote the article :)
- i22yb, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2It would be really nice if the Ubuntu installer simply asked the user to select a desktop theme. While we're on the topic, how about prompting for a default cursor theme as well? IMHO they should include crystal cursors and oxygen cursors as choices.
- sexybobo, on 11/14/2008, -2/+4Wireless Networking has improved leaps and bounds with 8.10
Printing hasn't been a problem in a while (no matter what make/model of printer i throw at it the printer gets installed and ready to print with out me needing to do anything)
And i am not sure what you mean by compatibility no it isn't compatible with windows applications but it is compatible with most hardware. - Smuikas, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2@willfe:
Something has never sat quite right for me, with KDE. I've tried just about every iteration since using Mandrake on my old 486 many years back... and I've never quite been able to get used to it.
True nuff on the cost of hiring an artist, though. - wlk125, on 11/14/2008, -2/+4I see what you did there...
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