The first emotion that came upon me when testing the new Ubuntu was disapointment. The last release, although an LTS (Long Term Service) release had brought some radical changes to Ubuntu’s interface, featuring a complete new lookand the all-new “indicator applets”. Ubuntu 10.04 was exciting, and although I was disapointed by some details, I couldn’t stop the child in me to rejoice. I felt as though Canonical had released the first really good Ubuntu release, the one all would future versions would be measured against. That is not the impression I had when first trying the Meerkat.The theme has barely changed and some obvious defects in the OS have remained. I was almost considering turning my back to this release and waiting for the next one. A deeper look revealed that there was much more to 10.10.

The name

Dubbed “the perfect 10,” Canonical founder Mark shuttleworth promised even more open-source greatness for this release, and maybe even a new way of looking at the OS. According to the tradition, this version will be numbered as of the year and month of the release ( the first 10 for the year and the second for October) and given an animal name with an adjective starting from the same letter, following the alphabet’s progression. Ubuntu 10.10 is code-named “Maverick Meerkat.” Why? According to Mark, meerkats are smart and social, and that’s what this release of Ubuntu has been designed to be.

The look

Maverick looks a lot like it’s predecessor, Lucid. It features a purple desktop and the now-not-so-new black ambiance theme, together with orange icons. But it’s not because the theme is in keeping with the preceding version that we can say that the design team was bowling for the last six months. There are a lot of changes to be seen, and they’re all for the better as far as I can tell.

First of all, brown was dropped completely. In Lucid, the text-selection color was a washed-out version of the traditional Ubuntu theme-color. But the days when Ubuntu was synonymous with brown are over. The selection color is now officially orange.

That doesn’t mean that I’m pleased with the color choices. I love the purple, but I really don’t believe it goes well with orange. If I were in the Ubuntu Art Team, I’d push for a complete conversion to purple.

There’s one great change since the beta days of 10.10. The Art team had ditched the old default wallpaper that had caused quite a stir in the community because of it’s perceived ugliness for something that definitively feels more smooth. The old wallpaper apparently was Lucid’s with two bright orange blurs added to it. Not good.

My advice to everyone who upgrades: switch your color scheme to purple. In just a few clicks, your desktop looks much better. It’s just an opinion, but you should at least try.

I’m not a fan of dark window theme either. It’s the best that I’ve ever seen on Ubuntu, but I don’t think it can compete with Mac OS’s or KDE’s lighter themes. That said, the Ambiance theme has been improved. Most notably, the window buttons are less pronounced and don’t feel as aggressive as before. Also, a small line has appeared between the window titlebar and the similarly colored menu-bar. I’m not sure if I approve of that last change, but it does have the advantage of making the window look a tad more balanced.

The main problem I see with the black-ish Ambiance theme is that it makes the title and menu -bars seem out of touch with the rest of the window. In my opinion, a clear contrast between the top and bottom of the window should be eliminated, instead to be replaced by a feel of unity from the top to the bottom of each application.

The “Ubuntu” Font now comes as default font for supported languages in the Meerkat. The font that has been in private beta for long time was made available for all users and looks quite good. It’s also very readable and has personality, something that most default fonts do not have.

The Applications

The applications included in the default install haven’t changed much, and the one thing that changed has nothing more exciting than the removal of a wallpaper would have. What is that change you ask me? Ubuntu has ditched the F-Spot Photo management program for Shotwell.

I know, exciting isn’t it?

I won’t bash it though. Shotwell is a great application, andit does bring a cleaner (and more beautiful) interface to photo management. If you use this sort of application, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Shotwell is a great app built by Yorba, a small open-source development studio based in California that aims to bring simple-yet-powerful tools for our Linux media management. As well as great photo-organization features, it includes some limited image editing features. My lack of enthusiasm may be due to the fact that don’t use any photo-manageent application. If I did, I’d be pleased with the switch (though probably not over-excited either).

Apart from that you won’t be seeing anything new under the applications menu.

The Software Center

One thing to have received a major overhaul is the Software Center. A quick look at it revealed a lot of important new features and now just bug-fixing and slight aesthetic improvements.

The first big addition is the “for purchase” option for downloading new applications. Ubuntu 10.04 had introduced a “Canonical Partners” button now place right above it that hinted on it’s appearance. As of the time of writing, the only paid application available for purchase is the Fluendo DVD player (at $24.95)., but more are sure to come.

In addition to being more practical than buying an installation disk or hunting the official website down and then paying with Paypal, the Ubuntu Software Center’s paid apps can be transferred to another computer or reinstalled anytime you want via the user’s Software Store account. Whether Ubuntu users will be able to change their habits and actually buy applications is another story.

Some other less drastic changes have been made. An all-new “History” tab helps you keep track of all the changes you have done to your system, including updates, installations and software removal. The function is simple yet it may prove to be a great tool to the average power user.

The first page has been redesigned to present a sideshow of the “featured” applications, as well as a “what’s new” box. The featured list has quite a few interesting applications all new users should check, including games, productivity software and even web-apps.

The application view (the page you get when you click on “more info”) has been substantially upgraded. Plug-ins are now included at the bottom of the page (below the application’s description and screenshot). You can select them by clicking on the check-box, and they will be installed along with your application. Additionally, a new “find it in the menu” line has been added so you won’t ever again wonder where that installed app disappeared.

Technical packages are not shown by default anymore, so you won’t have any more strangely-named entries all over the place. That’s a significant improvement, and together with the changes mentioned above, it makes the Software Center quasi-perfect. All that’s needed now is to populate the commercial applications’ list to encourage third party developers to write for Linux.

Ubuntu One

Ubuntu One, Canonical’s free (as in beer) cloud solution, has had a welcome upgrade. There have been a lot of bug fixes, and Maverick’s implementation is now much more stable. Better integration with Nautilus, Ubuntu’s default file manager is evident. When browsing within his home folder, the user will see a bar with a check-box asking him if he wishes to sync the folder’s contents with the Ubuntu One server.

Additionally, Ubuntu users can now create their account from their desktop, without having to start-up their browser. Most settings and information about your Ubuntu One account can be found from within the desktop application.

Syncing has also become much more easy. You can view all your synchronized computers from the “devices” tab as well as select what will be synchronized in “services.” You can synchronize bookmarks (through a Firefox plugin installable through the Ubuntu One interface), your “broadcast” massage archives, Evolution contacts and, of course, files. The online interface has been streamlined as well, making it easy to access from other people’s computers, whether they run Ubuntu or another OS such as Windows or Mac OS.

Two application developed by Canonical for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch) as well as Google’s Linux-based Android OS have already been released, giving you the option to sync your computer’s music and contacts with your smartphone.

Indicator applets

Before reaching my final conclusion, there is one small feature and one small problem that I’d like to talk about. As you may well remember, indicator applets made an appearance in Ubuntu 10.04, almost completely replacing the now archaic “Notification Area.” Within this applet, one indicator has recieved a major overhaul (and with that, a great deal of attention): the sound indicator. the new sound indicator does more than adjust the sound volume. It now gives you power to control Rhythmbox (and other media players with the available plugins) from within the small menu. That does not seem like much, but it’s extremely practical to be able to control your music without even leaving the window you’re working on.

Some of you may point out that there have been widgets on Mac OS and Linux available that did just that for quite some time, but the inclusion of this tool makes the task more simple and more intuitive than ever with no need to configure your computer. I’d replace it with no other fancy tool.

There are some caveats though. First of all, the sound indicator has a little glitch in it: the background of the music controls are of a slightly different color than the rest of the drop-down menu. Most people won’t notice it, but on some screens, it’ll be slightly annoying, if not very important.

More importantly, the networking applet does not exist yet. this means that, for the second Ubuntu release in a row, we are stuck with a notification applet that does not look, feel and react the same way as the other “indicator applets.” This was inevitable, and I wasn’t expecting Ubuntu to be able to change all notificators with indicators overnight, but it is sad that an applet as important as this one could be overlooked.

Conclusions

Ubuntu 10.10 wasn’t love at first sight. The first thing I noticed was what had not changed, and some of it (like the networking applet) was disapointing. However, on a closer look, a lot of great improvements have been made. The software center is fabulous, the installer is the best I’ve ever seen, and the OS is solid. This is a great release. Should you upgrade? Definitely. It doesn’t cost you anything, and there’s only goodness in Maverick. I’d wait a few days to hear what people say about stability though, but that’s a choice.

Install it, upgrade it. Above all, have fun with the newest Ubuntu release to date!

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This raises a few questions and concerns. First of all, isn’t Canonical scared of legal actions from Apple? Apple is not quite the worst software patent troll, and not always the most agressive, but its recent history shows that it takes threats seriously and will use it’s patent on “multitouch”. The patent itself is ridicoulous, of course. As Dana Bankenhorn of ZDNet points out, Ubuntu is trying to go further than Apple has gone regarding Mac’s multitouch integration.

Apple may claim a patent on its mousetrap, but can it claim to control all methods for catching mice?

Of course, that’s not how law works. However ridiculous software patents can be, they are real, and companies like HTC are sweating under their power.

The easy answer would be to point out that Canonical is not based in the US, and therefore not subject to Apple’s patents as long as they don’t sell these products over there. Ubuntu is free, so inclusion of multitouch should not be a problem.

But will Ubuntu’s multitouch framework, dubbed uTouch, actually go beyond previous implementations? The answer seems to be “yes”.

The design team has lead the way, developing a “touch language” which goes beyond the work that we’ve seen elsewhere. Rather than single, magic gestures, we’re making it possible for basic gestures to be chained, or composed, into more sophisticated “sentences”. The basic gestures, or primitives, are like individual verbs, and stringing them together allows for richer interactions.

–Mark Shuttleworth

Mark Shuttleworth admits that what they are doing isn’t a revolution in human-computer interaction, but it “feels like a good step in the right direction.” I believe he is being modest here. Apple has a way of picking the best innovations in the lot, rebranding and perfecting them, and then releasing the next great thing. It has taken what already existed, and then revolutionized the computer industry by making it theirs. They’ve done that with the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, all of which were commercal sucesses. But Apple has also been very strong in the laptop business these last years, and multitouch has been a part of that.

If Ubuntu could make their uTouch framework efficient on all machines and then deliver what they are promising, there would be a revolution. unfortunately, that’s not what’s going to happen.

You’ll need 4-finger touch or better to get the most out of it, and we’re currently targeting the Dell XT2 as a development environment so the lucky folks with that machine will get the best results today. By release, we expect you’ll be able to use it with a range of devices from major manufacturers, and with addons like Apple’s Magic Trackpad.[...]
Window management will be gesture-enabled in Unity, so 10.10 Netbook Edition users with touch screens or multi-touch pads will have sophisticated window management at their fingertips.

–Mark Shuttleworth

The problem here is inherent to Ubuntu’s nature. Ubuntu, as the free OS it is, has to be designed to work on the widest range of devices that it could possibly run on. These devices are the ones that most people own, as they will buy their computer (touchscreen/multitouch included or otherwise) before knowing that they could install Ubuntu.

This means that the progress the Ubuntu has done will not be available for all Ubuntu’s users, not only because Canonical can’t control what hardware their users own, but also because hardware vendors might all have different goals regarding hardware, goals that may be incompatible with Canonical’s vision.

If you already are a fan of Ubuntu, your first reaction may be to think that “choice”–one of the open-source community’s favorite words–is a good thing, and that it’s evil for any OS to be tied to one particular vendor. You’d be right of course, but that’s not the whole story. Innovations in terms of computer interaction need two things.

First, they need the will and talent of the software developers, interface designers and the OS team as a whole. These people think of new ways in which users could interact with their software stack, primarily through the graphical user interface. But the user cannot interact with the software without the use of hardware. This hardware must be adapted to the needs of both the interface and the user. That’s where hardware designers come into play.

Apple’s pioneering in terms of computer interaction these last years has come from the fact that the same company controlled both the hardware and the software. It is not an inherant superiority of the OS itself–or the fact that allmighty Steve Jobs runs the company–that makes Apple appear more innovative, it is their ability to innovate when both ends of the product need to evolve.

Microsoft understood this, and while they’re still not going to be selling their own hardware, they are already setting hardware requirements for Windows v.next. That means that Microsoft will have some say on how hardware should evolve to suit their software. Ubuntu, unfortunately, will not have this luxury.

The nature of opensource makes it free, but this freedom comes with a price. In some respects, Ubuntu is the most innovative OS out there, and Canonical’s uTouch guidelines shows us why. Canonical is willing to try new things, and the UI (user interface) team has had some great ideas, but they are limited by the scope of their company and the type of product that they are distributing.

The answer, of course, would be for canonical to sign deals with PC OEM’s for some Ubuntu-approved computers that would provide the users the “full Ubuntu experience.” That would be if Canonical’s relations with the said OEM’s was easy, but the recent news about Dell’s offerings shows that it isn’t.

If Ubuntu were the future of computing, we’d see some real innovation. Canonical seems to be a company that’s ready to shake things up a little, and innovate in ways that prove they think far beyond just the next product, but they need to have a say on the hardware that their OS is installed on if they really want to make a splash. If they don’t, they’ll always be lagging behind Apple and Microsoft.

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If you haven’t been sleeping these last years, you’ve probably noticed that Windows is loosing some of its dominance on the PC market, primarily to Apple’s Mac OS X. However, Linux’s growth is not obvious to all. That’s because most of this growth has been going on behind the scenes, not on the desktop, but on servers and, well, supercomputers. But what is a supercomputer? Basically, a supercomputer is one of the most powerful computers in the world. Supercomputers are used for calculation-intense tasks such as weather-forecasting and climatology, physical simulations (including research in astrophysics and nuclear fission), etc.

Until the late 90′s, most supercomputers ran Unix. The new kid on the block, Linux, quickly took over. In less than half a decade, more than half of the world’s 500 most powerful supercomputers were using Linux, and a little more than 80% do today. The rest run mostly Unix and Windows (only 5 machines for the latter).

Of those who don’t use the community-maintained Linux, half are from the Linux family (i.e. running a modified version of the Linux kernel). This means that a full 91% of the world’s most powerful computers run Linux, and 81% run the same kernel as me (and you too if you use Ubuntu or another free Linux distribution).

Why should we care? Amanda McPherson of the Linux Foundation notes that “the work accomplished by the Super Computer manufacturers (IBM, HP, Fujitsu, Cray and so on) is poured back into the kernel and ends up helping all users.” With Moore’s law and the increasing growth of our (normal) computer’s processing power, super-computers tend to be no more that tomorrow’s normal computers (in bigger format).

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Thumbnail image: The Columbia supercomputer at NASA, once the 2nd most powerful computer, ranks 20th worldwide as of June 2010. It runs SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9