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Ubuntu's Karmic Koala: What to expect

Ubuntu's Karmic Koala: What to expect

Postby Grav!ty » Wed Aug 05, 2009 8:05 am

Ubuntu's Karmic Koala: What to expect

Alastair Otter
04 August, 2009


Scheduled for release in October, Ubuntu 9.10 is perhaps the most important release to date for the community-driven Linux project.

Over the past six months there has been significant hype around the impending release of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system. Scheduled to be released in October this year, Windows 7 is already getting rave reviews from beta testers and analysts are, for the most part, predicting that the operating system will be a smash hit and make up for the relative failure of Vista.

But there is something else being released in October, perhaps not as large and loud as Windows 7, but certainly relatively significant: Ubuntu 9.10, otherwise known as Karmic Koala.

The timing of two releases undoubtedly pits them against one another. For Microsoft Windows 7 is going to have to make up for the many missteps it took in Vista. For Mark Shuttleworth's team over at Ubuntu the Karmic release will have to prove that Linux is really ready for the desktop to avoid the inevitable suggestion that Linux is still just for geeks.

The good news for open source fans is that Karmic Koala promises to be chock full of new features that could make it very appealing to users ready to upgrade from Windows XP or Vista but not completely sold on another Microsoft purchase.

Interface

The first thing users, hopefully, will see is a new theme for Karmic which will make it feel a little more contemporary. The problem is that a new theme for Ubuntu has been in the pipeline for the past two releases and apart from some minor tweaks has largely been insignificant. The things this time around is that Windows 7 really does look the part of a modern operating system with its transparency, floating desktop widgets and aqua-toned desktop. Ubuntu on the other hand looks a little dated and, as Apple has proven, looks do count. When he first announced Karmic Koala, Ubuntu chief Mark Shuttleworth said that the release would have "a designer's fingerprints all over it" which hopefully materialises this time around.

Better audio is expected from Ubuntu 9.10 and again this is going to be a critical proving ground for the Linux upstart. Audio handling on Linux has been famously bad over the years and as multimedia becomes an increasingly important part of the modern desktop, audio failings become increasingly noticeable. This is even more the case since Windows 7 includes Windows Media Player 12 which not only makes it easier for users to manage their media files but also makes it easy to stream multimedia over home networks. Ubuntu Karmic must live up to its promise of making audio "just work" in order to remain in the game.

Speed-up

Boot times are also going to be a major battleground for Windows 7 and Ubuntu Linux over the coming months. Traditionally users used desktop PCs and starting and stopping them was not something done too frequently. But with the increase in laptops and netbooks faster boot times is becoming a key differentiator.

The Ubuntu team has been saying for some time now that they hope to achieve boot times of less than 20 seconds with the release of Ubuntu 9.10. And more recently developers laid out plans to reduce that to sub-10 seconds with the release following Karmic in April 2010. With those speeds users can certainly expect faster startup times in Karmic with more improvements to come. As far as Windows 7 goes, Microsoft is targeting startup times of around, or even less than, 20 seconds in ideal conditions. If Ubuntu can drop its times down to just 10 seconds by early 2010 then it will have a big lead over Microsoft.

Bootup on Ubuntu is also expected to be a lot smoother and attractive because developers are using Red Hat's Plymouth boot system. Using Plymouth, users will get a new, mostly flicker-free, graphical bootup. This won't be worrying Microsoft but will go a long way to reduce the impression that Linux is overly geeky.

Of course Microsoft has a lot else up its sleeve, things such as multi-touch support, but Ubuntu is not being left behind. Ubuntu Netbook Remix is an ever-improving netbook-optimised version of the operating system and Ubuntu as a whole runs on just about every imaginable architecture from desktops to servers. But while being that versatile has its advantages most end-users will stick with Windows because of an overriding impression that Ubuntu is only for serious geeks.


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Re: Ubuntu's Karmic Koala: What to expect

Postby gries818 » Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:50 pm

Well, I'm keeping up on all Ubuntu upgrades for the Server side of things. I love Ubuntu!
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Re: Ubuntu's Karmic Koala: What to expect

Postby Grav!ty » Wed Aug 05, 2009 11:45 pm

Yeah, my expectations for 9.10 are high too :yesnod:
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