Ubuntu has released the successor to Gusty Gibbon (7.10), Hardy Heron (8.04). While they are known for having some of the fastest servers on the block there is something about millions of people trying to download 700MB files at the same time that just brings them to a crawl ;-)
Be patient and enjoy!
Often in usability the focus is on the “lowest common denominator” which is to say the least experienced user. This is because generally people only consider something usable if they (an unexperienced user) can pick it up and instantly be a power user.
The problem with this is that when looking at something complex like large scale system management the user is required to have some background knowledge on how the system works. If you where to design the system for a user with no knowledge you will most likely be hampering the systems ability to complete its tasks. You may also make it more difficult for experienced users to access the functionality they desire.
On occasion a company will say “Minimize the novice user’s experience and maximize the experts experience” and by doing so find great success. I would argue that a great example of this is Adobe’s Photoshop. There are lots of products that are considerably easier to use yet Photoshop has become the gold standard of image processing software. This standard is not only in the professional world but runs deep into the amateur/home-user world as well. Most people who have any interest in digital image processing have a desire to own this application even if they have never done it before and may not find it easy to use.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe Photoshop is a difficult program to use but for a completely novice user it is bound to be intimidating and have a fairly steep learning curve. But by choosing to focus on the advanced user Adobe has ensured that their product is the best one.
A few weeks ago I wrote a brief post about the newest version of Ubuntu, 8.04 (Hardy Heron). The post consisted of my first impressions of the new system and really looked at the surface level enhancements. After giving it some thought I decided to revisit the topic from a different perspective. Is it worth upgrading?
With each new version of Ubuntu the reason to upgrade is diminished. This is because the operating system continues to grow stronger and stronger making each consecutive version have less and less added value. This is not to say there isn’t several good reasons to risk the headaches that could ensue.
The first reason that comes to mind is the improved overall experience. A lot of work has gone into smoothing out the details of the operating system. One area that I have noticed a great improvement is in the boot process. In previous versions the boot process has been choppy with several different resolution changes that make the whole thing seem disjointed and a bit jarring. In hardy this has been smoothed out a great deal (at least on my Sony Vaio). Now instead of having several noticeable transitions between resolutions and background colors you get a smooth transition where the colors are better matched and appear to transition smoothly.
Another great enhancement comes again during the boot process. Every 30 or so boots Ubuntu will scan your disk drive for errors. While this is great feature as it provides a level of data security, it can be a bit annoying when you are in a hurry. In Hardy Heron the user has the ability to bypass this by simply pressing the ESC key.
Once the system has booted up you will see the familiar menu options and applications. You don’t have to look deep to see a couple of new faces such as Transmission (BitTorrent Client) and Brasero (disk burning utility). These two offer a great upgrade to their predecessors with improved usability and increased functionality.
Another feature that I have found handy is the ability to “Bookmark” web based drives and server connections. This is a nice touch as it allows you to unmount the drive with out loosing the settings. For someone who uses several different network drives and is a little OCD about their desktop this is a great feature. To utilize it simply select the “Add Bookmark” check box the first time you connect to your drive. From then on you can access the drive from the “Places” menu or the “Bookmarks” area of Nautilus.
Better hardwareware support is something to strongly consider when upgrading. If you have any problem hardware typically an upgrade offers an opertunity to get support as the kernel is always adding new drivers. In my previous post I mentioned a problem with my network card. This has been resolved and was simply a problem in the beta level software. One thing I do enjoy is with the new update my system runs completely open. I no longer have to depend on any closed source drivers (Thank you Intel for open sourcing the 3945 driver). To many this may be marginal but I believe in open source software and try to use it when it is available. It also typically means better support and performance.
The final reason for upgrading is to have a Long Term Support (LTS) version. These versions will recieve support form Cannonical for 3 years meaning you won’t need to upgrade for quite sometime.
Overall I think the upgrade is worth it for me, afterall I have my Home directory on a separate partition so even a full install isn’t to much work ;-)