Ubuntu 12.04 Review - the Best Yet
Year after year there is always some sort of contest as to when the 'year of the Linux desktop' will be. Well folks, that day is long gone. Not to sound pessimistic, but the reality is that Linux has now become such a huge success elsewhere else (yes, I'm looking at you, the mobile platform), that it doesn't need to even have its own year on the desktop. That said, if there was a contest for the desktop operating system of the year, I definitely think that that award would go fair and square to Canonical's latest effort Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin, a Long Term Support (aka 'the Big One' that only surfaces every two years). Yes, I know; Apple's OS X Mountain Lion comes out sometime this summer, and Windows 8 is fast approaching, but when considering the innovation, speed, hardware compatibility, user experience, and efficiency, Ubuntu seems to be the only system that is making headway in a way that makes actual sense on the desktop. So...the following review is going to look at what makes this release of Ubuntu not only a must-have (or at least try) system for all the Linux users, but also a seriously viable alternative to the modern mess of corporate software ecosystems from the camps at Redmond and Cupertino. Shall we?
So let's start out with the obvious and that is the user experience...better known as Unity.
Ubuntu's Unity's début was exactly a year ago in the 11.04 release, much to the chagrin of the wider Ubuntu community. I'm not going to recap on what was a glorious mess of half-baked concept art, but let's just say that while Canonical had good intentions for Ubuntu's Unity as a concept, it was hardly smooth or integrated enough to be ready for prime time. One year later and 'oh my, how you've grown!'
Not only has this desktop user experienced been polished so much it can't help but shine, but this thing is actually starting to make sense...and at a time when all industry standards are drifting in quite the senseless direction! It is absolutely not a traditional desktop user experience like the one that was introduced ions ago with Windows...uh....3.1? No, it's a sleek, modern user experience that - once adjusted to - is one of the most intelligent user experiences out there...period. At least for the way my regular human brain works. A simple press of the meta key (Windows key) and you have instant access to recently used files, apps, music, videos, photos and more from what is accurately named, 'the dash'.
A simple type to search, and you can easily get your hands on whatever app, document, album or website you wish. Think of Windows 8 start menu + OS X's Spotlight (which hasn't really been touched in years) and add to that the ability to add more extensions or 'lenses' to expand functionality, and you have a formidable launcher that doesn't even involve you taking your hands of the keyboard. Yes folks, no having to drag your mouse halfway across the screen like an idiot, or brushing/shoving your windows desktops around like an impatient artist on ice - just a clean and simple way to quickly get to what you want.
And then there's HUD...
Touted as one of the flagship features of this release, the concept of integrating the open applications menu options into a searchable field toggled by the 'Alt' key is one of the most original and brilliant innovations I've seen all year, all of the last three years to be exact. Windows doesn't do anything to help in this regard, unless you count scrambling all your menu options into graphically gorgeous pizzas known as the Ribbon interface, and OS X just puts them at the top of the screen...which by the way Ubuntu does as well. This HUD feature is not a new paradigm that is being forced upon its user base, but it is a killer feature in my opinion, especially when you start to get used to it in apps like LibreOffice, Gimp or Inkscape. Again, all of a sudden you are much more efficient because it's one less reason to take your fingers of the keyboard when your in the middle of typing. Not only does the HUD integrate with the app you have open, but it also can control items and applets on the panel bar such as logging in and out, summoning the music/volume controls, etc. The potential of the HUD and the Dash combined is a potent force of keyboard driven efficiency. But it also tastes simply delicious to click and plunk your way around Unity with a mouse or touch screen as well, as the not-overly-sized-but-still-bright-and-colourful icons make basic navigation very newbie friendly. Let's just say that your grandma is going to far less lost in Ubuntu 12.04 than Windows 8.
It's also the little things that make the user feel at home in Unity. The fantastically soft notifications gently remind you of appointments, mail, chats, tweets, music track changes, battery info and so on. Also many of the default apps on the launcher now have 'quicklists' available, meaning that you can right click to display a few of the most common tasks that you would perform with that app. For example, the quicklist for the file manager gives you quick access to all of your bookmarks in your home folder. Thunderbird's quicklist gives you the ability to quickly compose a new message, or search your contacts. Definitely a productivity booster.
Many of these features have been developed and integrated in the 3 releases since the last LTS (long term support) release, but it's all coming together in 12.04...and so it should be given the experience's 'unifying' title. Yes, the launcher is still immovable (grrrrr...) and seeing all of your installed applications at a glance is still somewhat awkward to access, but that said, the speed, simplicity, efficiency and sheer 'wow' factor of Unity is more than enough to give the boys at Cupertino and Redmond something to ponder.
With the all the UI stuff out of the way, let's move on... to discuss the speed, stability, hardware compatibility of the Precise Pangolin.
With the widespread simplication of the Gnome 3.4 desktop due to lighter GTK 3 libraries, and the huge performance tweaks that the Unity interface has undergone, Ubuntu 12.04 feels like the fastest Linux distribution I've ever used without having to sacrifice functionality. Considering all of the background processes Ubuntu is executing to make Unity flow, search, and launch smoothly, you never notice its impact. Applications launch almost immediately, and I have yet to experience a system wide lock-up or bottleneck in performance. Although the boot speed has not improved dramatically over the last three releases of Ubuntu, the time it takes to login to your desktop is almost instantaneous. Compare this with Windows 7, which - at least on my hardware - takes about the same time to 'boot', but takes more than 30 seconds to login and be ready for work with only one third-party app loading at startup. Obviously the performance of Unity combined with the efficiency of the (give or take) latest Linux kernel leads to some serious performance boosts even since 11.10. Even OS X Lion feels slightly sluggish on identical hardware. Compiz (or the 3D window manager) works very smoothly as it unobtrusively summons your windows to and fro, and the ability to customize Compiz using the Compiz Control Settings Manager is readily available by installing it from the Software Center. Overall, the hard work that the team at Canonical have put into optimizing Unity has clearly paid off as the system feels incredibly responsive, efficient and intuitive.
Next, stability. What can I say...this is Canonical's Long Term Support Release, meaning that this is the release that they will offer the enterprise, the educational institutions, the governmental institutions, and the average consumer - providing updates and security patches for the next five years on the desktop. In other words, stability had better not be an issue when offering your system to the world entirely unashamed. And thankfully, for the sake of Ubuntu's reputation, this system has been utterly immovable in my testing since its first Beta release, and all remote signs of instability have completely vaporised in lieu of the final release on April 26th. I would be very happy to pass this edition of Ubuntu on to an average consumer, and to be honest, I already did - as of the Beta 2! It was simply that stable. 'Nough said.
Finally, hardware compatibility. This is the genuine hit and miss arena of the Linux world, simply because, despite hardware manufacturers unwillingness to provide drivers for the Linux system, the incredibly dedicated kernel team, and all of its supporters do an incredible job to support most hardware scenarios out of the box. Of course, if you want/need a proprietary hardware driver for your obscure WiFi chipset, or beastly 3D grapics card then the appropriate installation option will present itself after install. So to summarise an incredibly long and awkward sentence stated above, all of my hardware on three different systems worked fine out of the box, and chances are...yours should too. And if it doesn't, a fantastic support site called 'Ask Ubuntu' will be sure to give you some sort of workable solution.
Shall we discuss software?
By default, the downloadable ISO image weighs in at just slightly over 700 MB, and by default you receive a healthy array of software to cover the most basic needs...and in this respect, I have no complaint because installing your favourite is an absolute cinch. However, upon install you get the Mozilla duo: Firefox 11 for web browsing, Thunderbird 11 for email and feeds, Rhythmbox for music, LibreOffice 3.5 for all your office needs, Empathy for instant messaging, and Gwibber for managing all of your microblogging in the Twitter and Facebook universes.
Ubuntu One is a personal cloud syncing service that can not only synchronize the files and folders of your choosing directly through the file manager across multiple platforms (Windows, Android, and iOS included) but also can also securely store scheduled backups of your data, and installed applications. Add to these fantastic features the musical capabilities of said cloud, complete with streaming your purchased music to your Android device or iPhone, and you have a service that beats iCloud at its own game a year before iCloud even launched! A free 5 GB of cloud storage is available to every Ubuntu user, and of course, more storage is available at a charge. Of course, I would like to see some 'Time Machine/version revisions' implemented across the system, but for what it's worth (ahem...it's free) it works incredibly well.
So let's start out with the obvious and that is the user experience...better known as Unity.
 |
| Ubuntu's Unity in 12.04...all grown up. |
 |
| Ubuntu's Unity at it's inaugural release a year ago... |
A simple type to search, and you can easily get your hands on whatever app, document, album or website you wish. Think of Windows 8 start menu + OS X's Spotlight (which hasn't really been touched in years) and add to that the ability to add more extensions or 'lenses' to expand functionality, and you have a formidable launcher that doesn't even involve you taking your hands of the keyboard. Yes folks, no having to drag your mouse halfway across the screen like an idiot, or brushing/shoving your windows desktops around like an impatient artist on ice - just a clean and simple way to quickly get to what you want.
And then there's HUD...
Touted as one of the flagship features of this release, the concept of integrating the open applications menu options into a searchable field toggled by the 'Alt' key is one of the most original and brilliant innovations I've seen all year, all of the last three years to be exact. Windows doesn't do anything to help in this regard, unless you count scrambling all your menu options into graphically gorgeous pizzas known as the Ribbon interface, and OS X just puts them at the top of the screen...which by the way Ubuntu does as well. This HUD feature is not a new paradigm that is being forced upon its user base, but it is a killer feature in my opinion, especially when you start to get used to it in apps like LibreOffice, Gimp or Inkscape. Again, all of a sudden you are much more efficient because it's one less reason to take your fingers of the keyboard when your in the middle of typing. Not only does the HUD integrate with the app you have open, but it also can control items and applets on the panel bar such as logging in and out, summoning the music/volume controls, etc. The potential of the HUD and the Dash combined is a potent force of keyboard driven efficiency. But it also tastes simply delicious to click and plunk your way around Unity with a mouse or touch screen as well, as the not-overly-sized-but-still-bright-and-colourful icons make basic navigation very newbie friendly. Let's just say that your grandma is going to far less lost in Ubuntu 12.04 than Windows 8.
 |
| Beautiful notifications... |
 |
| for every occasion. |
Many of these features have been developed and integrated in the 3 releases since the last LTS (long term support) release, but it's all coming together in 12.04...and so it should be given the experience's 'unifying' title. Yes, the launcher is still immovable (grrrrr...) and seeing all of your installed applications at a glance is still somewhat awkward to access, but that said, the speed, simplicity, efficiency and sheer 'wow' factor of Unity is more than enough to give the boys at Cupertino and Redmond something to ponder.
With the all the UI stuff out of the way, let's move on... to discuss the speed, stability, hardware compatibility of the Precise Pangolin.
With the widespread simplication of the Gnome 3.4 desktop due to lighter GTK 3 libraries, and the huge performance tweaks that the Unity interface has undergone, Ubuntu 12.04 feels like the fastest Linux distribution I've ever used without having to sacrifice functionality. Considering all of the background processes Ubuntu is executing to make Unity flow, search, and launch smoothly, you never notice its impact. Applications launch almost immediately, and I have yet to experience a system wide lock-up or bottleneck in performance. Although the boot speed has not improved dramatically over the last three releases of Ubuntu, the time it takes to login to your desktop is almost instantaneous. Compare this with Windows 7, which - at least on my hardware - takes about the same time to 'boot', but takes more than 30 seconds to login and be ready for work with only one third-party app loading at startup. Obviously the performance of Unity combined with the efficiency of the (give or take) latest Linux kernel leads to some serious performance boosts even since 11.10. Even OS X Lion feels slightly sluggish on identical hardware. Compiz (or the 3D window manager) works very smoothly as it unobtrusively summons your windows to and fro, and the ability to customize Compiz using the Compiz Control Settings Manager is readily available by installing it from the Software Center. Overall, the hard work that the team at Canonical have put into optimizing Unity has clearly paid off as the system feels incredibly responsive, efficient and intuitive.
I would be very happy to pass this edition of Ubuntu on to an average consumer, and to be honest, I already did - as of the Beta 2! It was simply that stable. 'Nough said.
Next, stability. What can I say...this is Canonical's Long Term Support Release, meaning that this is the release that they will offer the enterprise, the educational institutions, the governmental institutions, and the average consumer - providing updates and security patches for the next five years on the desktop. In other words, stability had better not be an issue when offering your system to the world entirely unashamed. And thankfully, for the sake of Ubuntu's reputation, this system has been utterly immovable in my testing since its first Beta release, and all remote signs of instability have completely vaporised in lieu of the final release on April 26th. I would be very happy to pass this edition of Ubuntu on to an average consumer, and to be honest, I already did - as of the Beta 2! It was simply that stable. 'Nough said.
Finally, hardware compatibility. This is the genuine hit and miss arena of the Linux world, simply because, despite hardware manufacturers unwillingness to provide drivers for the Linux system, the incredibly dedicated kernel team, and all of its supporters do an incredible job to support most hardware scenarios out of the box. Of course, if you want/need a proprietary hardware driver for your obscure WiFi chipset, or beastly 3D grapics card then the appropriate installation option will present itself after install. So to summarise an incredibly long and awkward sentence stated above, all of my hardware on three different systems worked fine out of the box, and chances are...yours should too. And if it doesn't, a fantastic support site called 'Ask Ubuntu' will be sure to give you some sort of workable solution.
Shall we discuss software?
By default, the downloadable ISO image weighs in at just slightly over 700 MB, and by default you receive a healthy array of software to cover the most basic needs...and in this respect, I have no complaint because installing your favourite is an absolute cinch. However, upon install you get the Mozilla duo: Firefox 11 for web browsing, Thunderbird 11 for email and feeds, Rhythmbox for music, LibreOffice 3.5 for all your office needs, Empathy for instant messaging, and Gwibber for managing all of your microblogging in the Twitter and Facebook universes.
 |
| A Mozilla Suite! |
So, despite the meagre amount of software available after a fresh install, the installer does do you the courtesy of fetching those pesky codecs, so you can enjoy you music library while you set up system just the way you like it. And if you feel so inclined, you can easily buy tracks from Ubuntu's Music Store and it will automatically synchronize your music with your personal cloud storage in Ubuntu One...more on that later.
 |
| Music anyone? |
And when it comes to installing your favourite software, you're no longer poking a stick around in muddy pool of open-source software wondering which ones actually work. Upon it's launch, you are presented with a neatly categorized software catalogue complete with promotional banners, user ratings and reviews, and recommendations based on your application habits. The search works very nicely too, search 'office word' and you will be given three quality alternatives for Microsoft Office Word presented in order of rating. Very slick indeed. I definitely recommend you pay a visit to the 'Our Star apps' section to flesh out your arsenal of powerful open-source applications, including VLC for all of the media files you can possibly find, and OpenShot for the production of your next blockbuster home movie, Inkscape and Gimp for graphic design, and the list goes on...
The Ubuntu Software Centre is truly a testament to the hard work that Canonical have put into 'humanizing' the historical powerful package management system that has set Linux apart for years. A simple one-click install, an icon that happily jumps onto your launcher, lightning download speeds from a local server mirror, and application syncing over the Ubuntu One cloud all point to Ubuntu has having one of the leading software management systems available today. Yes, OS X Lion has one, but my goodness it's slow, and Windows 8 will have one for its Metro apps (ugh!) but Ubuntu's already got it sorted.
Finally, let's discuss the perks that are unique to Ubuntu...
...starting with Ubuntu One.
Ubuntu One is a personal cloud syncing service that can not only synchronize the files and folders of your choosing directly through the file manager across multiple platforms (Windows, Android, and iOS included) but also can also securely store scheduled backups of your data, and installed applications. Add to these fantastic features the musical capabilities of said cloud, complete with streaming your purchased music to your Android device or iPhone, and you have a service that beats iCloud at its own game a year before iCloud even launched! A free 5 GB of cloud storage is available to every Ubuntu user, and of course, more storage is available at a charge. Of course, I would like to see some 'Time Machine/version revisions' implemented across the system, but for what it's worth (ahem...it's free) it works incredibly well.
Ubuntu 12.04 also introduces some great Privacy Settings that allow you to customize what the Dash and other elements of the system are allowed to log and summon for convenience. This is a great addition for the enterprise (or the paranoid home user) as it presents Ubuntu as a much more secure operating system than the alternative systems. Other little features such as a toggle for a transparent keyboard shortcut overlay, personalized login screens, easily customizable icons and colours, fantastic workspace/window management (think Mission Control), automatic language support, and the ability to install any desktop environment including KDE, Xfce, Gnome Shell, or even the Media Centre 'XBMC' are just some of the perks that Ubuntu bring to the table with this release.
So the conclusion is...
A line has definitely been drawn in the sand with Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin. Usability, efficiency, speed, stability, and 'wow...that's cool' have never been combined with such panache. And although Ubuntu has been a highly criticized beast in the Linux community over the last two releases, the criticism, the bug reports, and the 'mass user testing' paid off, because, ladies and gentlemen, this is the desktop that you will want to become acquainted with when Windows 8 rolls around and you don't have the cash for a Mac. I, for one, am going to be happy using Ubuntu 12.04 as my daily work machine and all I can say is: Windows 8 and OS X Mountain Lion better bring it, because the bar is high, especially from a company that provides its system completely free to use and share. Congratulations Canonical, I think free software is ready for the masses.
So let the flame wars begin in the comments below but...keep it civil folks.
That will be all from me,
Cheers
And now after all that effort...here is my video review from my YouTube channel.
And now after all that effort...here is my video review from my YouTube channel.
InfinitelyGalactic
A bit disappointed. There are a lot of bugs left in Unity 2D.
ReplyDeleteThis looks way nicer than mac OS.
ReplyDeleteNo mention to the fact Unity "quicklists" is the same as Windows 7 jumplists?
ReplyDeleteNice review. Liking Ubuntu 12.04. Best so far. I wish I had a better PC though.
ReplyDelete"and you have a formidable launcher that doesn't even involve you taking your hands of the keyboard"
ReplyDeleteThere are users who prefer NOT having to put their hands on the keyboard. Task switching via mouse is a pain in the ass in Unity.
Looks amazing, I do hope the cinnamon team take note of some of these new additions to unity like the universal search bar. If implemented well with cinnamon it would be perfect!! As for the universal menu-bar implementation, that would be quite a tough one, the newest version of gnome shell which cinnamon is based on has included this, I wonder whether cinnamon will as well, or it will leave it out. Either way, this is a great development from ubuntu, I'm actually tempted to go back to ubuntu, but will stick with my mint debian + cinnamon. That won't stop me from installing ubuntu on my virtualbox though. Great work ubuntu!!!
ReplyDeleteWow! pretty detailed and condensed review!
ReplyDeleteIf you don't mind, there's an unofficial Ubuntu 12.04 gnome shell remix: http://ubuntu-gs-remix.sourceforge.net/p/home/
I'm hoping that you can get your hands on this one and share your thoughts about it.
:)
I still think it's the best yet.
ReplyDeleteOne question: Do you use 32-bit or 64-bit. I have an ASUS X53U Laptop 64-Bit with 4GB of ram. Which should I use? I know 64-bit is probably the right choice but what are my advantages of using 32-bit instead; which do you think I should use? I saw a great forum topic on this here and wanted to know your opinion: http://askubuntu.com/questions/1441/why-does-ubuntu-download-recommend-32-bit-install
ReplyDeleteI mainly use my laptop for online business such as Wordpress, YouTube, etc. and for uploading videos to YouTube. Mainly switching to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS because of video editing features that I can't get to work right on Windows 7.
Hi there. I've used 64 bit consistently now for about two years without any issues. My recommendation is that if you have a laptop which is three years old or younger (4 GB+ RAM), than 64 bit is the way to go. 64 bit will utilise modern hardware more effeciently and lead to better render times with video work, and more efficiency across the board. Even if you install 64 bit, you can always install 32 bit compatibility so you can still run 32 bit software if the need arises.
DeleteHope that helps. Good luck!