Ubuntu Linux 11 - A Quick Review

Mightyware is Linux Hosted

Mightyware, this web site, is hosted on a Linux virtual server. I develop it locally on an Ubuntu Linux Desktop and then I push my files up to my host. This strategy has its ups and downs. On one hand, Linux as a server platform is a winning proposition. For a smaller site like mine, the tool stack and the ease of C++ development give me a performance / price proposition that a Windows based solution couldn't match. However, the desktop has had its rough side. I prefer Windows 7 as a desktop, honestly.

This has been a long story with Linux - great to host on for the tech savvy, but sometimes, not so great to use.

The latest Ubuntu upgrade, version 11, continues to change this. Unlike Windows 7, the update was both free and automatic. One day Ubuntu popped up with a message asking me if I would like to upgrade, and I clicked yes. After a bit of downloading, my PC rebooted and I was ready to go. The below image shows how I typically work on Mightyware, a C++ IDE for the server CMS itself, which we don't change that often, a text editor for our pages, a lot of terminal windows.

The Menus Moved

First off, most application menus are now moved to the top of the system, similar to the way Macintosh has been doing it since day 1. True to classic developer fashion, they didn't say they did this in the release, and we were a bit disoriented for a few minutes after all the updates applied. Even worse, my tweaked desktop theme made the menus actually difficult to read, almost invisible. Changing the theme fixed that. With that out of the way, my reaction has been one of growing fondness for this change.

Also, scroll bars have disappeared. There are no more scroll bars. Instead, a little scroll dongle appears when you mouse over where the scroll bar is supposed to be. I'm not sure if I like this, but, I can live with it.

Improved Task Bar

Gone is the old menu system for Ubuntu. The new menu bar is as powerful as it is colorful. It still trails Windows 7's powerful task bar, as it doesn't have the Aero quick peek, but it's gotten a lot better. The bar scrolls. It has different themes. Common applications are easy to access, and the "search" system is in some ways more powerful.

Search

Click on the Ubuntu Circle in the upper left brings up a menu, similar to the way the Windows "Start" button works. In the case of Ubuntu, though, the search box actually feels more intuitive and useful, and applications are much more organized. This has a lot to do with Unix culture. Since inception, the commitment to just keeping files and applications organized has been religious and the result continues to pay off.

Integrated Application Downloading

Because of better file organization, managing applications on Linux has long been easier. Linux works almost like iTunes, where you can go to one spot and add and remove programs from your system, and do so securely. You can always go outside of that system, or even tweak it, of course, but the advantage of staying in the box is a system that is rather stable. Here, the start window gives us a list of applications that I can download.

File Folders

The bad news is that the Linux file browser continues to trail Windows 7 and badly. Linux lacks Windows 7's notion of attributes and therefor can't search quite the way Windows 7 can. There's no baked in file preview, managing libraries ala Windows 7 is aweful and the columns are not nearly as customizable when looking at files. Also, forget file management within a file open or a file save dialog on Windows 7. On Linux, you can't do that at all.

The good news is, that Linux can actually look at a lot more different kinds of files and file systems than Windows can, and can look at them more often. Linux effortlessly reads files off of Windows disk drives, DVDs, old disks, weird formats, pretty much if it ever existed in bits and bytes, there is a way for Linux to get into it.

System Monitor

The Linux system monitor trails Windows 7 task manager, but, it does show you out of the box what an application is waiting for, which is nice.

Libre Office

With the upgrade came Libre Office. Libre Office is a suite including a word proessor, spreadsheet and presentation application. With an almost ancient menu system, Libre Office is not as attractive or as powerful as Microsoft Office, but, in a pinch, it can get the job done and save you a few hundred bucks.

Movies

The great surprise is that watching a movie in Linux works rather well. Googling to see if your Soundblaster PCI Express sound card will work on Linux is actually misleading. Website after website will tell you that Linux has problems with PCI Express sound cards, that it's not supported, and there's all these steps you have to do. Yet, my Soundblaster PCI Express suddenly worked fine, and with it, came movies. For me, the picture was better with the same movie, under Linux, than it was under Windows 7. As Captain Jack says "Interesting..."