Switchfast Blog: The Future of IT
Is Ubuntu’s Lucid Lynx Concentrating on Aesthetic or Functionality?
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 by Bryan Anderson
The strong open source community of Ubuntu has turned away from
"human" and emerged as, well, a refreshed system. Ubuntu 10.04 Beta
1 was rolled out on Friday and many people have voiced their
opinion regarding the feature upgrades and theme changes.
According to ZDnet.com, Lucid Lynx is a "long-term support
version, meaning the software will be supported for three years on
the desktop or five years for the server version." This is
contrary to the 18 month standard release support time
period.
Some of the features listed as upgrades or entirely new are the
following:
- MeMenu - Allowing users to manage their instant message and
short message posts to a range of networks, this was the feature
that Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth spoke of when he referenced "bringing social applications like
Twitter and Facebook directly into the software." According to the
article, the goal is to merge the desktop and online worlds,
similar to Google's up and coming Chrome OS.
- 'Nouveau' video driver, a free and open source driver for
nVidia Cards, is now set as the default, according to a
thinkdigit.com report. Match this with the improved hardware
support and you'll see a great improvement in performance and
resolution.
- The default search engine (when accessing Mozilla) is set to
Yahoo, replacing Google.
- Ubuntu logo and themes - as you can see in this article, as well as here, the re-branding of the logo which has
taken a turn for the more aesthetically-pleasing and the two
themes, 'Ambiance' and 'Radiance,' are inspired by light.
With all the excitement in the Ubuntu community, the focus of
this new Beta has been the integration of social interaction and a
new design. Ubuntu also plans on supporting desktops, netbooks, and
servers.
But are the real changes actually a half-step at
re-branding?
One blogger at techrepublic goes as far to point out that
Apple - who has thrived off a market of aesthetically-aware
consumers - and Microsoft have both quickly progressed into the
bigger picture - build user-friendly AND innovative functionality
with a touch of personality.
Take a look at some screenshots here at arstechnica.com and ask
yourself: Are the design changes enough for your small business to
"jump ship" for Ubuntu? Is there really enough meat to consider
switching to this open-source community?
Until next time -
Matthew Hymel
Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Support &
Consulting
Rochester
IT Support & Consulting
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