Review: Ubuntu 11.10 'Oneiric Ocelot'

This past week Canonical rolled out the latest version of Ubuntu with version 11.10 'Oneiric Ocelot'.  Right off the bat, you'll notice some really nice changes to the system.  I absolutely love the new login screen.  It looks really sharp.  For fans of Unity, you'll love this release because by default (and short of using the GNOME 3 Shell) Unity is all we get as far as a desktop environment is concerned.  This time around they have stripped out the 'Ubuntu Classic' desktop completely.

Otherwise, you'll immediately notice that the Unity bar looks a little better.  We have lenses built into the Dash that allows you to download more lenses to extend the Dash's functionality (I really like this idea).  And finally, the Ubuntu Software Center has had a huge makeover and looks and functions a lot smoother than previous versions.  In my opinion, this release would probably have to be one of the most user friendly versions ever released if being approached from the standpoint of someone new to Ubuntu.  But for those of us who have used Ubuntu for years and are set in our ways, (at least for me) it isn't the easiest to get used to.  But it does look nice.

So checkout my review:



Review: Ubuntu 11.10 'Oneiric Ocelot'

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Ubuntu 11.10 Now Available!

Yesterday marked the release of Ubuntu 11.10 'Oneiric Ocelot'.  So what is the big deal?  What's been changed?  For starters Unity has been updated, and GNOME 3.2 shows up too.  Mozilla's Thunderbird is now the default mail app as opposed to Evolution (from previous released).  The Ubuntu Software Center received a makeover along with Gwibber.  And Firefox 7.01 is the default web browser.

For those of you fellow 'Ubuntuers' (haha, I just made up a word); swing by the Ubuntu website and download the latest release at: http://www.ubuntu.com/download

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How fast will Ice Cream Sandwhich be Adopted?

This is a common question I keep seeing pop up across the web over the last couple of days.  So here is my small opinion on the matter.  Like every other Android release for any device already on the market, user's are forced to wait for the update to rollout to their devices.  Some manufacturers are better at this than others.  So obviously the adoption rate of Ice Cream Sandwhich; at least as far as existing devices out into the wild are concerned, will solely rely upon how fast smartphone and tablet manufacturers take to go through it and optimize it for their devices.  And no doubt add their own mix of bloatware to the update prior to sending it out to customer's hardware.  And as far as manufacturers are concerned they will obviously place the majority of their attention on their new products and filter the update to existing devices once that is done.

If manufacturers made it easier and more accessible to manually update our devices then you would see a much faster adoption rate for every future Android release.  But I definitely don't foresee that ever happening.  Just some food for thought.

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Google and Samsung Cancels Unveiling

Google and Samsung cancelled their unveiling scheduled for October 11th.  It is speculated that they would be announcing the release of Android's latest iteration: Ice Cream Sandwhich.  As well as Samsung's latest smartphone.  It was initially unclear why the unveiling was cancelled.  However, in an announcement made earlier today it was stated that both Google and Samsung felt with 'current events' it wasn't a good time to announce a new product.  Now whether this is out of respect to Steve Jobs or whether they are trying to give the headlines some time to cool down before their announcement hits; is yet to be seen.

Either way, I'd expect something from them probably next week.

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