Ubuntu 11.10 Released

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In an earlier release Ubuntu introduced a desktop environment Unity, which was accepted by Linux users very differently. I was writing about bad user experience with Unity and some drawbacks in one of my posts: It’s time to go open source.

Oneiric means “dreamy”, and the combination with Ocelot reminds me of the way innovation happens: part daydream, part discipline. Next after Natty?

Canonical released Ubuntu 11.10 under codename Oneiric Ocelot on 13 October 2011. A few days later my laptop (running Ubuntu 11.04) was trying to convince me to make upgrade. As I didn’t read any reviews of a new release, I didn’t know what to expect. After 3 hours of package downloading and installing the system rebooted and I was able to see a new light login screen. Also desktop looked like a bit lighter (or maybe more transparent). The main menu is definitely on the right way. I also noticed that everything became smoother.

What I really like is a file browser with simple and minimalistic design. I don’t understand Microsoft putting huge Ribbon bar in file explorer in Windows 8. There is a lot of stuff that regular user will probably never or rarely use. On the other hand experienced users will probably take this as wasting space for unnecessary improvements.

Evolution mail client was replaced with Thunderbird, on which I cannot put any comment as I never used Evolution. Firefox 7 is default browser, which I would rather replace with Chrome browser or open source Chromium. Gnome desktop is no longer pre-installed. If you wish to use Gnome desktop you have to manually install it. The software center is updated and is now more transparent. More new stuff can be view on http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/whats-new.

In my opinion Ubuntu is on good way replacing Gnome with Unity, especially after good improvements. With improved stability and user experience it is able to lure new users.

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