Ubuntu 10.10 review

It seems like just yesterday that Ubuntu Linux 10.04 was released, but here we are and Ubuntu 10.10 has just been released. Wow! How time flies!

There has been some controversy over this release, with some folks saying that Canonical’s six-month release cycle is too often and that there aren’t enough things in this release to warrant an upgrade.

I politely disagree with that assessment, and I’ll show you why in this review. Ubuntu 10.10 is a worthwhile though not overwhelmingly impressive release; it’s worth considering as an upgrade if you are already running an earlier version of Ubuntu. It’s also certainly worth looking at if you are new to Ubuntu and are thinking about using it as your desktop operating system.

What’s New In This Release

Here’s a sample of the new features in this release:

The GNOME base platform has been updated to the current 2.32 versions. This particularly includes the new dconf and gsettings API.

Evolution was updated to the 2.30 version, which operates much faster compared to the version in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

The Sound Indicator has been enhanced to include music player controls.

The boot process is cleaner and faster.

New themes, new icons, and new wallpaper bring a dramatically updated look and feel to Ubuntu.

Shotwell has replaced F-Spot as the default photo manager.

Gwibber has been updated to support the recent change in Twitter’s authentication system, as well as changing the back end storage to improve performance.

The Sound Indicator has been enhanced to include music player controls.

The Ubuntu Software Center has an updated look and feel, including the new “Featured” and “What’s New” views for showcasing applications, an improved package description view, and a “For Purchase” software category has been added. You can also now easily access your package installation history too.

Ubuntu One: Polished desktop integration with new sign up and sign in process. Tighter integration with Ubuntu SSO. Nautilus enhancements for managing folder sync preferences. Faster file sync speed. Share links to music within the Ubuntu One Music Store.

I’m happy to see the update to GNOME 2.32. It goes beyond the scope of this review to delve into changes to GNOME in 2.32.

I’m glad that Gwibber has been changed to match Twitter’s new authentication system. If you use Gwibber you shouldn’t have a problem tweeting in this release.

The speed increase to Evolution is certainly a welcome development in this release of Ubuntu. These days I generally prefer webmail to local email, but I know a lot of people who still use Evolution. So it’s good to see a significant performance increase available for Evolution users.

Shotwell is arguably better than F-Spot as a photo manager. I can’t say that I’m wowed by either of them, but I don’t do a lot with photos so that’s probably why. I suspect we’ll hear some moaning and groaning from F-Spot fans about this decision though. Not to worry, you can get F-Spot in the Ubuntu Software Center so it’s still available.

This is just the basic overview,overall there are lot of changes have been done under the cover.