Evaluating Windows 8 Developer Preview

Microsoft is in the process of developing its next version of Windows and it will be nothing like its predecessor. I have been using the Developer Preview since its release back in September and here is how it went.

Read more »

Ubuntu 12.04 Alpha 1 [First Impressions]

At first glance, you won't notice anything different. But in fact, they've broken the software center over at Canonical. Any attempts to install software directly from the Ubuntu Software Center will fail.

You can see any visual changes here.

This is probably due to the communication between the dpkg manager and the Internet communication modules. Another possibility would be to assume that the development team has purposely disabled the Center for testing purposes. Although this is not likely considering they would have just completely removed the center.

There are no visual differences that could be discerned, though this is normal for an Alpha release of Ubuntu. As previously stated, there are different software choices in terms of application versions and inclusions.

Overall, performance has increased by a bit and the Unity Dash rendering has increased in speed.

As always, happy testing!

Read more »

Ubuntu 12.04 Alpha 1 Released

It's this week that Canonical has announced the first of two alpha releases for their Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin line.

There aren't many visual changes or upgrades but there are some in terms of software choices:

• Banshee, Tomboy and gbrainy have been removed (for now)
• Rhythmbox is the default music app, although it lacks the Ubuntu One Music Store plugin at this stage
• Firefox 9 Beta and Thunderbird 9 Beta are included
• The Linux Kernel is version 3.2.0-2
• The latest Ubuntu Software Centre adds support for multiple screenshots
• Squid3 is now installed by the squid package, Cobbler is now based on the upstream 2.2.2 version, and the Openstack components are now based off Essex 2

That's all the software choices at this point of release and as always, you can download the daily builds here.

Download
Ubuntu 12.04 Alpha 1, can be downloaded in a variety of images here.

Release Schedule
December 1st, 2011 - Alpha 1 release
February 2nd, 2012 - Alpha 2 release
March 1st, 2012 - Beta 1 release
March 22nd, 2012 - Beta 2 release
April 19th, 2012 - Release Candidate release
April 26th, 2012 - Final release of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Stay tuned this weekend for opinions and other things on the matter.

Read more »

Ubuntu 12.04 Alpha To Debut

While we don't really follow Ubuntu releases very closely most of the time, this one is one to definitely be excited for.


Mark Shuttleworth says that this will be the release to end all [or most] criticisms. He also says that most complaints are coming from two different bug, and the fixes for them go in two completely different directions with two different desires. "Bug (a) says an action should go left, Bug (b) says it should go right". Hopefully the Mark is right and we'll see a properly developed Unity and not one that overcompensates and confuses the user. 


Lately, Ubuntu has been losing popularity and people have been complaining about Unity a lot; they have complained over, and over, and over. However, the Ubuntu team has been hard at work and hopefully it will bring Ubuntu's praise back to what it used to be. Personally, I'm a fan of Unity and I think it's okay at the moment. But I also think that it could be so much better in terms of overall appearance and also the whole interface of it, although certain sections need to be more improved than others. Along the lines of customizeability, it's got a long way to go.


All in all, we look forward to testing the Ubuntu 12.04 Alpha when it's released.


Note: You can download the daily build here. We recommend using a Virtual Machine to test these images as they are PRE-ALPHA.


Happy Ubuntu'ing

Read more »