Ubuntu 10.10: released on 10.10.10

                              

Canonical Ltd. announced the release of its latest Ubuntu 10.10 on 10th October, 2010 (apparently the most auspicious day of this century). Open source operating system Ubuntu 10.10 is available to download for desktop, notebook, and server editions. All the versions are emphasizing Canonical’s embracing of the cloud, whether in terms of a “personal cloud” for desktop and netbook users or the deployment in virtual environment of the server edition. The first visible change comes in the installer itself.

The Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook edition has come up with the all new “Unity” user interface. It is optimized for smaller netbook screens and mobile computing. The Unity UI offers limited support for touch. Canonical says that it lets you find and rediscover your preferred applications more easily whether they are on your netbook or on the web.

Ubuntu 10.10 untangles the complexities of cloud computing in a very efficient manner. Ubuntu One Basic offers users a personal cloud for sharing and synchronizing files, contacts, bookmarks and notes. It offers 2 GB of storage and access to music from the integrated store. The Ubuntu One Mobile service supports Android mobile devices and iPhones. This allows end users to stream music from their personal cloud to their various mobile devices and synchronize contacts. Ubuntu One Mobile costs $3.99 per month or $39.99 annually. Canonical claims its server edition to be “the default open-source choice for cloud computing.” Ubuntu also allows the creation and control of public cloud. Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) allows you to build on-demand virtual systems on almost any scale without investing in hardware.

Ubuntu 10.10 includes Mozilla Firefox for web browsing and can also support Google Chrome (I’m especially happy for it because I use Chrome).The software named OpenOffice.org is fully compatible with Microsoft Office and has everything to create professional documents, spreadsheets and presentations. In terms of software, Ubuntu is like the iPhone. The Ubuntu Software Centre gives instant access to thousands of open-source and carefully selected free applications. Ubuntu’s new Me Menu lets the users access their Facebook and Twitter accounts and allows them to connect to all the favorite chat channels and make updates through a single window.

Ubuntu 10.10 takes less than 10 seconds for booting (good news for computer geeks who hate slow computers).Canonical says that Ubuntu loads quickly on any computer, but it’s super-fast on newer machines. What will be next? Only a six months wait can reveal (Ubuntu 11.04 planned to release on April 28, 2011).

(P.S. Now this post may seem different from my previous posts, the only thing why I was drawn to write is I’d used Ubuntu(9.04), its latest version solves the complexities of CLOUD COMPUTING(my seminar topic!!) and most importantly its release date.)