Ubuntu 9.04 Beta – Expectations Too High?
Before I even get started, allow me to make the following very clear. I am a full time Ubuntu user. as a matter of fact, as I type this, I am streaming my office and desktop live via Ustream on an Ubuntu min-PC. I also have two notebooks running 8.10 with my Ubuntu desktop PC placed firmly in front of me. Clearly, obviously, I like Ubuntu and the Linux platform in general. This being said, I have yet to have a release of Ubuntu come out that was not bundled with at least one really bad regression that sends me screaming into the forums for a quick fix. Often times, the tweak is easy or unneeded. Other times, it is hardware designed explicitly for Windows.
My most recent example, problems upgrading a notebook using the OpenChrome VIA video driver. For whatever reason, I was being forced to use the alternative CD for installation AND I had to rebuild the Xorg.conf by hand as the ‘improvements” were still buggy as the existing bug reports pointed out at that time.
So you will have to excuse me if I could not give a rat’s butt about cloud computing coming to Ubuntu 9.04. While I agree that this is the next logical progression, I would also point out the single biggest upgrade Ubuntu could give its users is a longer beta period between releases. Once each release has had time to sit out in the sun for a bit, the bugs begin to take care of themselves. But right off the shelf, not so much.
And what about progress on touch screen computing? Yes, this can be done by hand…but who the hell wants to deal with that? For my money, I will hang onto my older releases longer than most as I always have while watching the progress of the new Amazon S3 stuff develop over time.
Hey, who knows, maybe I will be pleasantly surprised this time and we can not have ongoing regressions this time around to be solved later after it is released. But I guess that is part of the fun of using Linux. Just wish I could see longer development periods with this distro though.
5 Comments
What do You Treasure Most in Life? | Chris Pirillo
April 5th, 2009
at 11:53pm
[...] Are the expectations too high for Ubuntu 9.04 Beta? Ads by GoogleChris noth? – Images/Videos/More - taptu.com [...]
Ron Enderland
April 6th, 2009
at 2:27am
The Evolution Revolution! That’s why I’m looking forward to 9.04. Evolution talking to our Exchange server via the web interface has been a buggy mess. The new Evolution is supposed to use MS’s protocol to communicate directly to the Exchange service.
Plus, I’ve heard great things about the Gnome look on 9.04.
zeddock
April 6th, 2009
at 9:00am
So far, I am very impressed with the beta and disagree with the writer; I do not think beta periods should be longer.
***If you use a beta, be prepared for beta problems. But, each beta release that I have done has been more solid than any other OS beta to include Windows 7, and others.
The cycle Ubuntu uses works. It will get better, and the timing is perfect for me. Just my two cents.
zeddock
1fastbullet
April 6th, 2009
at 9:44am
Matt, this is essentially my greatest complaint about all updates, upgrades and new releases that come from Ubuntu. Every darn one of them is guaranteed to break something that was finally working in it’s predecessor.
(Lately, this pattern has spread to Firefox, as well).
It seems that the developers are of a mind that throwing something/anything out there is the only consideration, regardless of of how poorly thought out it may be.
I’ve come to a point where I’m extremely hesitant to accept any changes to the system I’m currently using and, in most cases, ignore the new junk simply because I don’t have the time or desire to sort through the problems the “new and improved” versions create.
What I wish Ubuntu would do is fix the stuff that is known to be buggy or not work and then concentrate upon the lack of drivers everyone (else) knows are missing.
Matt Hartley
April 6th, 2009
at 11:44am
1fastbullet: To be fair, I would also point out that waiting translates into a smooth process. It’s upon release adoption that most stuff goes badly.
As for the specific updates, I have a method that makes the entire things a total slackfest. And frankly, this should be done with all operating systems as we are too trusting anyway.
I have a step by step process that I will be posting later that will blow your mind as it will mean NOTHING Ubuntu can throw at you will ruin your day. And you can update without fear. Once setup, it is painfully reliable. :) Stay tuned…