ubuntu

Canonical seeks designers to primp Ubuntu

Canonical, the leading backer of the Ubuntu version of Linux, is hiring a team to help make open-source software on the desktop more appealing and easier to use.

The company plans to sign up designers and specialists in user experience and interaction to lead Canonical's work on usability and to contribute to other free and open-source desktop-environment projects, including Gnome and KDE, Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical chief executive and founder of the Ubuntu project, said in a blog post Wednesday.

He wrote: "We are hiring a team who will work on X, OpenGL, GTK, Qt, Gnome and KDE, with … Read more

Canonical funds Linux in a bid to overtake the Mac

It's one thing to talk about open-source software like Linux becoming easy to use and a joy to look at, but it's quite another to actually fund the development of such improvements. Mark Shuttleworth has talked a lot recently about desktop Linux becoming as easy and beautiful as Mac OS X. Now he's ready to fund the talk.

In his introduction to the next Ubuntu release, Jaunty Jackalope, Shuttleworth hints at a vision of Ubuntu's "once-in-a-lifetime chance to shine," and he says, "we want to make sure that the very best thinking across … Read more

Survey: 96 percent of enterprises not deploying Ubuntu server

Goldman Sachs September 2008 IT spending survey delivers a sobering blow to suggestions of the rise of Ubuntu:

The enterprise isn't seeing it yet.

I've seen indications of Ubuntu adoption within customer surveys that Alfresco and others have done, but this survey of 100 IT executives from a range of Fortune 1000 companies suggests that perhaps the Ubuntu revolution still has a ways to go to make it in the stodgy old enterprise.

Granted, with CIOs representing 48 percent of survey respondents, and vice presidents of IT representing another 33 percent, we're unlikely to get a very good view of grassroots IT adoption. … Read more

Ubuntu gets hopping with 'Jaunty Jackalope'

The Ubuntu project has detailed plans for the April 2009 version of its Linux distribution, continuing its habit of naming its software after animals by dubbing Ubuntu 9.04 as "Jaunty Jackalope."

The news comes after Ubuntu last week made available an advance testing version of release 8.10 of its Linux distribution, "Intrepid Ibex." The full 8.10 release is scheduled to be launched in late October.

"As we approach the launch of Ubuntu 8.10, it's time to create space for future plans...(Jaunty) will be the focus of our efforts from … Read more

Ubuntu issues security patch for kernel flaw

Ubuntu on Tuesday became the latest Linux vendor to patch a vulnerability in the open-source operating system's kernel that could have left the door open for hackers to find their way into users' machines.

In an e-mail sent overnight, the Linux vendor warned users to update all machines running recent versions of Ubuntu, ranging from 6.06, which was released back in mid-2006, to version 8.04, which came out earlier this year. The problem also applied to other versions of Ubuntu such as Kubuntu, Edubuntu, and Xubuntu.

"It was discovered that there were multiple NULL-pointed function de-references … Read more

Ubuntu on the Thinkpad X300: Impressions and installation tips

In light of my chronic Mac problems, I decided that I would take a shot at Ubuntu running on a Thinkpad X300.

I'm a power business user who has enough technical background to use the command line and utilities, so Ubuntu didn't scare me. However, there were a few quirks that I ran into. For example I had to reinstall Pidgin three times, and it seems to get corrupted on a whim. I also had a day where Firefox would crash every few minutes. These are not things the average user can deal with gracefully.

The positive side of those experiences was the Synaptic package manager worked flawlessly to reinstall the applications that were acting weird. I also was able to get Adobe AIR and Twhirl running with no problems.

I was able to run Microsoft Office with no problem via CrossOver, and it loads faster than on Windows or the Mac by a shocking margin.

I did however run into one major application issue. No Photoshop. Admittedly, I don't use Photoshop all the time, but I needed to yesterday and the Gimp just wasn't happening for me. If one more person tries to tell me that Gimp is just as good as Photoshop, I will physically attack them.

Note: Kevin, my intrepid IT guy wrote most of this up for me. If it says "I" it probably actually means "we" or "us" or probably just Kevin himself while I sat around eating bonbons. Also, we reconstructed the shell commands as best we could remember. Apologies if we got it wrong and you end in some kind of wormhole. There were also a number of other Ubuntu sites that we pulled information from. The Ubuntu community is utterly amazing at pulling together information and helping users solve problems. … Read more

Canonical joins Linux Foundation

Canonical, the company that sponsors the Linux-based operating system Ubuntu, has joined the Linux Foundation.

Ubuntu community members had already been participating in workgroups at the foundation, including the Linux Standard Base, Desktop Architects, and Driver Backporting groups. Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth has been a member of the Linux Foundation board since early 2007.

The Linux Foundation, formed in January 2007 to promote the uptake of Linux, announced Canonical's official participation Monday. Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, welcomed Canonical to the organization.

"Canonical is an important new member for the Linux Foundation," said Zemlin. &… Read more

Gadget lust: Dell Inspiron 910 shipping with Ubuntu Linux

Word on the street is Dell will release a new Inspiron 910 sub-notebook (I prefer the term 'laptot') on August 22 shipping with Ubuntu Linux. Further leakage from Gizmodo says that the machine will be $299.

I've written in the past about how sub-notebooks are a great opportunity for Linux on the desktop. There is no need to run Windows (or MacOS for that matter) when you are using the machine primarily for browser-based applications.

I've been running Ubuntu on a Thinkpad X300 for the last 2 weeks and while it's still a bit too geeky, the … Read more

The end of Windows as we knew it

Glyn Moody has written a beautiful eulogy for the Windows desktop of yore, one that I heartily encourage you to read.

For many years, people in the free software world have dreamed of a day when GNU/Linux would replace Windows on the desktop....[I]t seems unlikely that GNU/Linux will ever take over the desktop from Windows. But that does not mean that Windows will maintain its dominance there, simply that the future is more complex than the monoculture we have seen and suffered for nearly two decades.

Moody touches on a range of threats to Microsoft's … Read more