Gutsy Gibbon

If you've looked at my blog in the last month or so, you may have noticed the nifty countdown to the right. Now that Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) is here and I've had ample time to play around with it, here is my review.

In a nutshell: it's very impressive. The new release does not look or feel too different from the last version. The user interface received some updated features, but I had been using the trial version of the features all along, so the only difference I noticed was that the minor bugs with it have been fixed. But the great news is that ALL of the things that gave me headaches with the previous version have been fixed. After installing and then downloading the few updates (this is essential), things worked beautifully. Here is a rundown of previous vs. current version relative to the problems I experienced.

• Problem #1 - wireless internet. In the last version, it took me a few days to get this working on my first trial install. After I formatted my hard drive to get rid of Windows, it became more difficult for unknown reasons - it took me a week that time. Current version: the OS informed me that I was missing a component for my wireless. A quick Google search brought me to the Ubuntu support page where I could download it. After downloading, it installed automatically and I had wireless. Total time to fix: maybe ten minutes. Tops.
• Problem #2 - Flash player on Firefox. In the last version, the only way to install the flash player (this allows you to do important things like watch YouTube videos) was download the binary and compile it myself using the Console (think DOS). And I never did get this to work on my desktop version, which runs the 64-bit version of Ubuntu. Current version - go to a website that has Flash stuff on it, and it will tell you you're missing plugins. Click on the icon telling you this, and Firefox pulls up a page where you select Flash player and then hit Next. Done. That's it. So much easier I could cry.
  

With these two fairly major bugs fixed, I would now happily recommend Ubuntu even to those who tremble in fear at the thought of programming or DOS-style commands. In fact, my brother is now running Ubuntu exclusively on his home computer with the full blessing of his wife. Simply put, I can't think of anything that Ubuntu can't do at least as well as Windows with free programs that are easy to download and install. And if you think of one, I have an answer to that too - the WINE Windows Emulator (which is also free to download and install) will allow you to run most of your Windows programs without a hitch.

Questions? Thoughts of Ubuntu-ing yourself? Post a comment and I'd be happy to help out.

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