Ubuntu's Gutsy Gibbon Takes Over For Feisty Fawn

[Xaggeration]

Thursday marks the official stable release of Ubuntu 7.10, but by Wednesday -- with the Ubuntu community Web site ticking off the time as "1 day to go" -- the Internet was awash in glowing tributes to Ubuntu's latest advancement.

 

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for desktops, laptops and servers. In preparation for the event, developers got to work with a release candidate, ensuring one last round of testing before going live.

 

Going 3-D and Green

The highlights of the latest release include 3-D desktop visual effects that raise the appeal of using the system; a new security layer; automatic printer installations; hard-disk encryption options; tailored kernel feature optimized for virtual appliances and an idle-mode feature that results in savings on power and heat.

 

With the latest release, tagged as "Gutsy Gibbon," the writing is on the wall, or, to be more specific, on Wall Street. Ubuntu's commercial sponsor, Canonical, is set on placing Ubuntu on a growth path on the enterprise level.

 

Support Signs

"Given that organizations are leery of trying out unknown or unsupported software, the fact that Ubuntu has gained support from major systems providers such as Dell and Sun should help," Clay Ryder, president of Sageza Group, told LinuxInsider.

 

"Right now, it is unlikely to unseat Red Hat or Novell from the number 1 and 2 spots, but overseas Red Hat is not the leader, and both distros are controlled by North American companies," he added.

 

Earlier this year, Canonical's reps saw encouraging signs at a virtualization show in the U.S. Those circling the Canonical wagons could no longer be typified as tech enthusiasts as much as people from traditionally "conservative" business sectors, government agencies and energy suppliers.

 

On the eve of the official release of 7.10, that is pretty much where enterprise uptake stands, on the edge of the network, but inching closer within.

 

People are prototyping and experimenting with new applications or virtualization, Canonical's marketing manager, Gerry Carr, told LinuxInsider.

 

"This use of Ubuntu is extremely widespread across all industries, and we are starting to see that use move into production," he added.

 

Energy Conscious

Nonetheless, one feature being highlighted by technical types is the new "tickless kernel," tied to easing up real-life business issues of power consumption and missions toward going environmentally green.

 

"Any business interested reducing their power costs or simply trying to save space -- the more VMs (virtual machines) the fewer actual machines and racks -- would find this advantageous," Carr said.

 

As good as Ubuntu's technology advancements may be, Canonical's business future may largely rest in building out sales and support.

 

"Technocrats and developers will always be defining which solution is technically 'better,' but ease of support and purchase thereof is a greater concern," Ryder said. "Applications are the ultimate driver of deployment, not the operating system itself."

 

If Canonical is set to win over business customers, it will not follow the open source vendor herd in terms of charging business users for an "enterprise edition." Canonical's management makes no distinction.

 

In Class by Itself

Its revenues come solely from commercial support contracts and custom engineering services.

 

Not unrelated to its popularity has been its consistent championing of the principles of open source. That is unlikely to change, according to Carr.

 

"We won't produce an enterprise model in the sense of it being exclusive to payers," he said. "Ubuntu is developed and supported by its community and it would be wrong for us to deny that community access to what is essentially their own work. We take the view of charging people only where they truly need support and moving toward revenue that way."

 

Source: TechNewsWorld

[DigitalX]

I'd really recommend people who have thought about linux who haven't used it before or if you have any vague interest in Ubuntu you should really check out now 7.10 it's an amazing upgrade! even if you don't want to install it and just want to try go ahead, it can run off live CD with no install and just to experience it i'm sure those seeking something new or different to use it's something should definitely check it out!

[Xaggeration]

I ran it off live cd. I loved it. I think I'm going to try dual booting it on my laptop tomorrow.

[Haggis]

i put the live cd from the last version in my laptop and it took 45 mins to fully boot up

[Xaggeration]

Might have been a hardware compatability issue. As Linux isn't as widely used, Not every setup is supported 100%. I know mine took awile, but not 45 min. But I'll let you all know how dual booting on my laptop goes. I can't wait to load a bunch of pretty neat software on it. Beryl mainly.

[Jonny1]

hey, I'm on the live Ubuntu now, its so far seems better than mandriva (which I tried for a brief time), but I find it hard to learn Linux as first off I'm used to windows and second, I don't find enough support for it.

 

tho my first impressions of this are pretty good, now that I have time I would like to learn how to use it. tho I dont like the design I would like the idea of themes, if there available and maybe some tutorials if anyone knows of any?

 

gonna look around on live tonight and install tomorrow.

 

EDIT: I found the themes options and found theres a lot better in there than the orange. I have an second hard drive full of all my videos and music, but it wont let me view it in Ubuntu. I assume thats because its ntfs, is there anyway to view files on ntfs file systems in linux?

Edited October 19, 2007 by Jonny1

[DigitalX]

use ntfs-3g and mount it and for themeing use http://gnomelook.org/

Edited October 21, 2007 by DigitalX