Suspected PayPal Hackers Seek Deal To Stay Out Of Prison
Did A Google Earth Mistake Cause A Couple's Brutal Murder?
Ubuntu 11 alpha now available, features new Unity desktop, Firefox 4
Along with the usual package updates and an updated kernel (2.6.37), Ubuntu 11 will also ship with Firefox 4. The alpha build includes Firefox 4 beta 7, and it will be upgraded with newer builds as they become available. The other big change is that the Unity desktop environment now enabled by default, replacing GNOME. You can still switch back to another desktop environment, if you don't like Unity (but looking at the screenshot above, how can you not like it?)
There are various changes and notes for the other Ubuntu releases -- Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Netbook Edition -- but mostly, this alpha is focused on the standard Desktop Edition of Ubuntu.
Comments
15
Subscribe to commentsPaul JosephDec 3rd 2010 10:35AM
Yeah, the screenshot looks nice.
"You can still switch back to another desktop environment"
Good thing there's choice. Will keep the 'old fashioned' people happy! ;)
angeliqueDec 3rd 2010 10:57AM
Is it me or does it look like 10.10 with a sidebar added in for good measure? While I will reserve comment (criticism) until April, I will say that right now, I'm not impressed.
motangDec 3rd 2010 11:04AM
@angelique Yeah nothing much to different yet as it's still the first Alpha release.
JordanDec 3rd 2010 11:39AM
So now comes Gnubuntu for the Gnome fans?
Sebastian AnthonyDec 3rd 2010 11:39AM
@Jordan That sounds uncomfortably close to 'Noobuntu' :P
RyzvonusefDec 4th 2010 3:09AM
@Jordan
At any time, in any of the various *buntu's, you can always install the other desktops by "sudo apt-get install x-desktop", where "x" is the name of the the desktop you want. I have installed lubuntu-desktop on my Ubuntu 10.10, and am using that as my default desktop. So should that "Noobuntu" (:P) come into existence, you would have no trouble.
But really, I think it will just be a matter of selecting something like "Gnome" or "Ubuntu Desktop" at the log in screen, as I can do now. They aren't going to chuck Gnome, and X so easily, Unity/Wayland isn't all that developed yet, app wise, in fact I recall reading they themselves don't expect it to amount to much, not until 12.04 at the earliest.
ShawnDec 3rd 2010 4:38PM
I use Ubuntu on most of my machines, but I just wish they would at least come with a new color scheme for each release!! We all customize anyway, so why not send me some visual cue that "Hey, this is different!"
Sebastian AnthonyDec 4th 2010 6:28AM
@Ryzvonusef Out of curiousity... why is it 11.04 and 12.04... instead of just 11 and 12? :P
RyzvonusefDec 4th 2010 8:16AM
@Sebastian Anthony
Curses, the comment system has gone nuts! Maybe if we offered it some furry porn as tribute....
Anyway, it's Year.Month, so 11.04 will be the version released on April 2011, then 11.10 (Oct 2011) and 12.04 (Apr 2012) so on and so forth. They have a regular six months cycle.
Sebastian AnthonyDec 4th 2010 9:36AM
@Ryzvonusef Hah... yeah... we've been a bit thin on furry porn recently. I'll get right on that.
That's a very sensible versioning system! Though I'm not quite sure why you need the month in the version number...
RyzvonusefDec 4th 2010 10:02AM
@Sebastian Anthony
They are not version number in the slightest, just a naming convention, they started from 4.10 (which, as you can guess, was released in Oct 2004) and went on with it.
SilverWaveDec 4th 2010 6:01PM
@Sebastian Anthony
If its late you get 12.05.
Its only happened once so you don't notice it :-)
SilverWaveDec 4th 2010 6:02PM
Heh this should have a huge warning saying "Bleeding Edge" use with care :-D
triBeDec 17th 2010 5:16AM
@SilverWave the Alpha 1 isn't enough?
SilverWaveDec 17th 2010 10:00AM
@triBe
A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend. :-)