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Ubuntu is dead. Long live Ubuntu.

Written by Roland Taylor on May 9, 2013, 9:25 a.m.

Sensational title is sensational. What really happened is that Ubuntu 10.04, the hold out spot for many old stallwarts unwilling to move on to the age of Unity, is dead. Along with it, goes Ubuntu 11.10. If you haven't yet upgraded, today would be a good day to do so. I suggest going with Ubuntu 13.04, but if you are scared, Ubuntu 12.04 will be supported until 2017, so you can go with that too. In my experience, upgrading from 10.04 can be tricky if you used any PPAs to install extra software, and if you have a lot of it, I suggest reinstalling. Don't risk losing your install - reinstall. From scratch. Anyway, that's all for now! Go get ...

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Ubuntu 13.04, Raring Ringtail, Live and Alive

Written by Roland Taylor on April 25, 2013, 9:28 a.m.

Ubuntu 13.04, one of the most hotly contested (and confusing) releases of all time, was released earlier today to relatively low fanfare. This is not surprising, with all the confusion (and news) that's been floating around regarding 13.04. We will be listing (and demoing) the changes in 13.04 in the coming days. Please note, Ubuntu Touch Currently I'm tied up with an IT conference, but some of the other members of the team should be able to pitch in once they upgrade. You can get 13.04 from ubuntu.com/download, but you will no longer be able to order CDs, unfortunately. Furthermore, 13.04 is now a DVD sized download, so I suggest you get a DVD or use a Flash Drive (recommended).

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Saucy Salamander? Yes, indeed.

Written by Roland Taylor on April 25, 2013, 8:53 a.m.

Ubuntu 13.10 has a name, and it's seriously slippery, but sweet. Saucy Salamander is the strange code name for the soon coming next release of Ubuntu. This slightly scary announcement slipped into time and space soon after the release of 13.04. This release will (likely) bring to the scene: Ubuntu Touch (stable). A working Mir server (not on the Desktop) Performance improvements (if Smpillaz's performance enhancements to Compiz make it in). God knows what else :) What we will not see yet, is Unity Next on the Desktop, as this will likely come in 14.04.

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Insync is going commercial

Written by Roland Taylor on March 28, 2013, 11:43 a.m.

Using Google Drive on Linux via Insync? Well, come April 15th, if you don't (or can't) pay up, you'll be left out in the cold. Announced just today, Insync 1.0 is on the way, and with it, commercial pricing. Oh and, guess what? There is no free option. Not even for Linux users. Once 1.0 goes gold on April 15th, that's it. So all you who said I was being silly in comments across the internet when I cautioned that Insync is not the answer to our Google Drive woes, the joke is on you, not me. There is no official client for Linux, and now we are even more in the cold. Of course you can use Owncloud with ...

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Online Accounts in 13.04 now allows disabling of individual apps

Written by Roland Taylor on March 20, 2013, 8:37 p.m.

A much needed feature Ubuntu, being able to control the access of your online account data for individual applications was missing since the Online Accounts feature was introduced. However, recent updates to the Gnome Control Centre in Ubuntu (which is separate from that included in Gnome proper), have finally brought this option into reality. This should bring a much smoother and more secure experience to Ubuntu, and put to rest some of the common criticisms regarding privacy.

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Apache OpenOffice reaches 40 Million downloads

Written by Roland Taylor on March 4, 2013, 8:23 a.m.

Though increasingly fewer people use this struggling Office Suite, Apache OpenOffice is reporting 40 Million downloads, since the release of 3.4.0. This is is a good sign for Apache's office suite, but not necessarily a good sign in any other way. Why? Well, if so many people are still using this Office suite (and so many downloads suggests to me that many of them are new users), then it means that too few people are aware of the better alternative - LibreOffice. Now, don't get me wrong, Apache OpenOffice is Open Source software, and its existence is quite okay, but it's lagging behind the competition in a serious way, and its unlikely for things to change very soon in the ...

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Some components of Gnome 3.7.x have landed in Ubuntu 13.04 - Updated

Written by Roland Taylor on March 2, 2013, 7:35 p.m.

Apparently I made a mistake here (teaches me not to write these posts late at night :P). I got the packages from the Gnome 3 PPA which I forgot I had enabled :/... Believe it! In what is a somewhat unexpected move, components of Gnome 3.7.x (3.8 has not yet been released) have begun to land in Ubuntu 13.04, including Gnome Shell 3.7.90. It seems that the issues blocking Gnome 3.8 in Ubuntu 13.04 have been resolved, and users of the Ubuntu Gnome Remix can rejoice, because they will get the latest and greatest that Gnome has to offer. Screenshot, therefore, it happened. Of Note: Baobab Eog Evince (Which sports a new interface) Gnome Games (many of them renamed) Gnome ...

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LibreOffice 4.0 has FINALLY come to 13.04

Written by Roland Taylor on Feb. 19, 2013, 11:20 a.m.

Testers fire your updaters! LibreOffice 4.0 is now officially available in 13.04. I have not yet installed it it (so no screenshots or experience to share yet), but as soon as I can I'll be sharing about it.

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LibreOffice has a new website, and I need a new jaw.

Written by Roland Taylor on Feb. 8, 2013, 11:53 a.m.

I dropped my jaw on the floor... does anyone have a new one? I won't say much more other than: Check. This Out. Look out for details about LibreOffice 4.0 in the real world in the coming weeks, when it hits 13.04 I'll sure be jumping on it.

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No more systray: It's dead Jim.

Written by Roland Taylor on Feb. 7, 2013, 6:41 p.m.

After holding out for a full two years (since 11.04) when Unity was made the default Desktop Environment, what was promised to happen in Unity with relation to the legacy systray has final happened. It's dead. Door nob dead... Well, sort of. As of the latest update to Unity (today, Feb 7th) in 13.04, the system tray (and the dconf value that enabled it) are no more. Unity will as of now only display application indicators, which means greater consistency, but in some cases, less compatibility. For example, Guake, the drop down terminal that so many love, no longer shows a system tray icon in Unity even with the system tray having been enabled before. However, this will eliminate some ...

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