Ubuntu 9.10 Will Have Slicker Boot-Up, Software Store

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/image...ntu_bootup.jpg

Ubuntu 9.10 Will Have Slicker Boot-Up, Software Store

Hmm, seems like the Apple store, j/k, some nice things the new update will bring, will have to dump Kubuntu and try the this :)

As for the article, here it is :)

Ubuntu has released the sixth alpha of its Linux distribution, and it firms up two of the five features we want to see in Ubuntu: a faster, graphical boot-up sequence, and an integrated software store.

They're both still in somewhat early shape, but their inclusion in the last Karmic Koala alpha before beta indicates they're here to stay. The new xplash bootup will transition directly from a BIOS boot-up screen—and a newer GRUB chooser, if it's a dual-boot setup—to a graphical loader with a progress indicator, and then straight to the desktop if the user doesn't select a username chooser or password protection. It's not a complete design-forward rethinking of the interface, but it does remove the unsettling experience of watching indecipherable text scroll past as the system boots. Check out a (suspiciously slow-moving) video capture below: actually at the very very "bottom"....

As for the Software Store, it's present in Alpha 6, embedded in the System menu. It has a spare, unfinished look at the moment, but it also seems dead set on making software installation simple, which is a promising direction.

You can check out more screenshots and details of the latest Ubuntu 9.10 alpha release at Softpedia. While we're peeking at the next release of Ubuntu, check out a few of the community-developed themes that could make their way into the default offerings for Ubuntu 9.10.

[youtube]meZBPItWGxk[/youtube]

Source 1 - lifehacker |Source 2 - Softpedia
:view: Homepage: Ubuntu | Ubuntu Alpha 6
:down: Download Link: Ubuntu Alpha 6
:view: Changelog: Here Probably
:pic: Screenshots: App Store | App Store Too

Ubuntu rocks, nuff said. :lol:

Can't wait for this also, tried installing 9.10 last night however the install failed for some reason so I'm back on 9.04 for now.

Rethinking Empathy in Ubuntu 9.10

As WorksWithU reported last week, the Gnome application Empathy was set to become the default instant-messaging client in Ubuntu 9.10 upon its release October, replacing Pidgin. But Ubuntu developers have been reconsidering that decision in the last few days. Here’s the story, with some thoughts.

Last Thursday, a message was sent to the Ubuntu developers list pointing out that the most recent release of Pidgin offers video-chat support and other important features whose absence were a factor in the decision to switch to Empathy. Other users agreed that it wouldn’t hurt to have a new discussion about Pidgin’s status in Karmic, even if changes at this point in the development cycle would violate the release’s feature freeze.

Empathy advocates responded that the decision to switch to Empathy resulted not from Pidgin’s lack of video support as the appeal of Empathy’s Telepathy framework, which offers a rich infrastructure for desktop collaboration that Pidgin will likely never implement. Telepathy’s built-in support for remote desktop sharing, for example, was cited as a major advantage over Pidgin.

Does it matter?
My reaction to this heated debate about Empathy vs. Pidgin is to wonder how much it really matters. After all, regardless of which application ends up being the default client in Karmic and included on the live CD, the other will still be readily available and supported in the Ubuntu repositories. A few clicks in Add/Remove Applications or apt-get keystrokes are all it takes to placate unhappy users.

On the other hand, the importance of the default software stack to non-geeks and new Ubuntu users should not be underestimated. Although there may be dozens of instant-messaging clients available for free in the Ubuntu repositories, normal people are going to tend to use whatever is installed by default.

But when it comes to the functionality that normal people are interested in, Empathy and Pidgin are not very different. They both use libpurple to support all the major chat protocols, and they both have intuitive, beginner-friendly interfaces.

The only real difference is that Pidgin currently offers a few more bells and whistles (which should be implemented in Empathy soon enough), while Empathy provides advanced collaboration tools that, although unavailable in Pidgin itself, are easy enough to replicate using other Ubuntu applications. Geeks might think it’s cool to have desktop sharing built into their messaging client, but 98% of Ubuntu users aren’t likely to care–they just want to be able to chat with friends on AIM and MSN, which Pidgin and Empathy do equally well.

For the time being, the jury is still out on whether Ubuntu developers will reverse their decision to go with Empathy in Karmic. I’d bet they won’t, because a change at this point in the development cycle seems unlikely. But even if they do, I’m not sure it really matters.

Source: http://www.workswithu.com/2009/08/24...in-ubuntu-910/