Ubuntu 10.10 Leaked! OMG!

So, it's finally happened. Ubuntu was leaked. You know you've made it as a brand when your stuff gets leaked. The guys down at OMG!Ubuntu got a stern telling off from the Ubuntu Admins for "letting it slip". I can sorta understand why but come off it, its not like there's some trade secret. The beta is available for download, we know what we're letting ourselves in for. We understand the risks.

It turns out of course that there is no real risk. In general it is as solid as a rock. It looks really pretty and adds some niceties. These changes are mostly to aid the newbie in their inevitable transition from Windows ;-) The initial setup and install is an absolute joy. The information is gathered while it installs the OS. It really speeds things up (especially if you type slowly...) The new option to install the proprietary drivers right from the off is a great idea although it may make the founders of Linux Mint unhappy. This new addition sorta makes them obsolete. Never mind, it's just the way it is.

Nautilus is still fugly but that is easily remedied by the elementary PPA made available to maverick users. The new icon theme is *OK* and just OK. It's more evolution than revolution with the new arrow and home icons. I'm not sure it was necessary to change it at this stage. I would have perhaps preferred more change to the default window theme or maybe some other photographic wallpapers. Nevertheless it is still really pretty. I haven't had a chance to really get my hands on the sound menu. It's a nice addition. I think everyone in the community would have preferred it to use the users' themed icons instead of the custom ones provided. I'll have to have a look to see if there was any justification for it when i get the chance.

The Software Centre has been smartened up with some cool additions such as a "Featured" and "New" app sections down the bottom. Although I still don't get why GIMP wasn't installed by default. Having said this, GIMP is shown to be available throughout the install process and is publicised sufficiently. Much has to be said about how well Canonical has done with getting certain sponsors like HTC and Asus to showcase their products with Ubuntu running on/with them, aswell as how they have shown off just what great software there is to be added to an, already, great lineup.

I don't think power management has really been tackled as yet by the devs. I think that's a little lame. It's somewhat frustrating, perpetually waiting for the next release to see if they've fixed it. I daren't try the new file system. I tried ext4 too early and I suffered for it. I'll wait for Natty to attempt it thank you very much.

I must say that not much else has changed on the face of it. I'm sure there is some super-code-fu gone on in the background, but nothing much superficially. That said, the 100 papercuts were finished with time to spare which is great so the interface is far more consistent.

All in all, this will be a good release by Canonical, but I think I might wait for the next one to see some real changes.

-Dave