Obligatory Karmic Koala post

Ugh I’ve been such a slug when it comes to blogging lately.  I’ll make these next few short and sweet as to just get the thoughts off my head already.

My pocket protector possie already knows this but a new version of Ubuntu coined “the Karmic Koala” (version 9.10) was released last week.  Those of you who are completely out of the loop (i.e. almost all of you), Ubuntu is a free operating system (as in both beer and speech) much like Windows or Mac except it actually works, unlike those just mentioned.  It’s a Linux operating system meaning it’s built by users who care enough (and are knowledgeable enough) about their OS software to make it better for the masses.  I often tell people when describing the operating system that if I were to teach my granny how to use a computer at the ripe age of 80, I’d almost certainly sit her down with a Linux-based operating system.  Why?  It’s fast.  It’s simple.  It’s free.  It doesn’t crash spontaneously.  Never gets viruses.  It makes sense.  It works as it’s supposed to.  Any documents, photos, music, videos, ect. you have are supported through various free programs.  It updates seamlessly, not requiring lengthy restarts.  And the kicker that most people tend to misunderstand, you don’t need to be a programmer or coder of any sort to use it.  You heard it here first kiddies.  It may be faster and more efficient to use the command line in many cases but by no means are you, the user forced to use it.  Ever    Download the new release here, burn it and give it a spin without making any changes to your computer (beat that M$).  Afterward maybe you’ll consider installing it along side Windoze/Mac if you aren’t comfortable with completely ditching a slow, rigid, and unstable operating system your computer shipped with.

With a new release comes a new look and brand spankin new features; one of which particularly stands out in my opinion.  Tomboy is my note taking program of choice largely because it’s simple, yet quite robust. This nifty program now features syncing using ubuntu one cloud space meaning your notes are kept in online storage so you can sync them between PCs with ease.  A tutorial can be found here.

If you’re extra out of the loop you also wouldn’t know that Windows 7 was also released just over a week ago.  While I’m very much a Linux user, as a budding IT professional, it’s important to understand other operating systems and give them a solid test drive for the sake of familiarity.  Plus it’s always nice to play games on a native OS.  So what can you expect from a Windoze 7 experience?  Remember that Windows Vista thingie everyone despised so much?  It’s kind of like that only a polished version that doesn’t hate the user quite as badly.  In terms of new features, Microsoft went the interesting route of adding a handful of new tidbits and renaming anything they thought should sound like it’s been upgraded, but really only got a new set of lipstick.  I’m told driver issues are basically solved since Vista which is good but should have never been a problem in the first place.  Performance is on par with Vista, so not all together great.  Shouldn’t we expect an OS to be a final working product when it’s publicly released?  Alas, we’ve been well trained to expect such shortcomings out of Redmond.  Overall, I’ll say W7  isn’t so bad but Microsoft has a lot of catching up to do considering this is essentially a finished product of software released years 2+ years back.  Don’t run out and spend money on this polished pile.  I’ll be booting into Linux for the time being and only wandering to Windowsland only for the occasional Counter Strike Source session with the brother.