Obviously, I think this is a good move. To recap switching to Yahoo for search would have alienated users because it’s a worse search engine, but more important would have overwritten people’s existing experience on upgrade.

In an email to the ubuntu-devel mailing list titled “Follow up to Default Search Provider Changes for 10.04” Rick Spencer writes:

Each release we determine the best default web browser and the best default search engine for Ubuntu. When choosing the best default search provider, we consider factors such as user experience, user preferences, and costs and benefits for Ubuntu and the browsers and other projects that make up Ubuntu. Up until Ubuntu 9.10 these defaults have always been Firefox and Google. Earlier in the 10.04 cycle I announced that we would be changing the default search provider to Yahoo!, and we implemented that change for several milestones.

However, for the final release, we will use Google as the default provider. I have asked the Ubuntu Desktop team to change the default back to Google as soon as reasonably possible, but certainly by final freeze on April 15th.

It was not our intention to “flap” between providers, but the underlying circumstances can change unpredictably. In this case, choosing Google will be familiar to everybody upgrading from 9.10 to 10.04 and the change will only be visible to those who have been part of the development cycle for 10.04.

All thanks the Ubuntu Masters!

System>Administration>Synaptic Package Manager is the common way to install software, but for the dyed-in-the-wool geek, it has to be done by the command line.

I’ve been careful not to dirty my Dell Dimension E520, aka delin, with every package under the sun, preferring to keep it pristine and do the dirty work on the ThinkPad. Today, I went to install VirtualBox to give me some spaces to play in.

apt-get is old faithful, but years ago, I started using aptitude because of its ability to clean up related software (dependencies) when you remove software (package).

Doing some research now, I see that apt-get has had equivalent functionality since Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft), with the command sudo apt-get autoremove [application name].

So now, I have to break myself of the aptitude habit. I would sudo apt-get autoremove aptitude , but like it seems to be part of ubuntu-minimal — why?

Thursday, April 3rd Update: Thank you AmyRose! She explained that the default behavior of aptitude is to install “recommended packages”. I can see why this would be desirably by many people, but also why for many people such as myself this is very awkward default behavior. Why would the source code by a recommend package for Virtual Box? I would dislike to try and add a single KDE application and next thing I know am running Kubuntu instead of Ubuntu.

What are the advantages of aptitude today?


$ sudo apt-get install virtualbox-ose
The following extra packages will be installed:
libqt3-mt libxalan110 libxerces27 virtualbox-ose-modules-2.6.22-14-generic
Suggested packages:
libqt3-mt-psql libqt3-mt-mysql libqt3-mt-odbc xalan
Recommended packages:
virtualbox-ose-source
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libqt3-mt libxalan110 libxerces27 virtualbox-ose
virtualbox-ose-modules-2.6.22-14-generic
0 upgraded, 5 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.


Yesterday, I did an install of Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) on the Dell Dimension E520. The install went well; I haven’t experienced any hardware problems (yet), but I’m near tears for all the (minor) experience issues.

I’ve been using Ubuntu since the first release three years ago, and maybe I should be used to the problems, but with a new installation they are back in my face. My passion for Ubuntu, open source and free culture, also makes it hurt more — probably a good thing.

There is more to why it hurts. Complimenting my natural critical thinking, I have spent over seven years developing an eye for software issues, so my discomfort with each of the issues is definitely heightened, but I’ve learned in working with people on the software problems they are experiencing, that minor problems resonate and eventual exasperate people.

Part of me is begging the other part of me to switch to a Mac, but my pain is the pain I have the largest stake in healing, so here I am starting to work through the problems. Although a high cost, I’m willing to pay it, because I can and the benefits are well worth it!

I received a similar warning when I tried to use Synaptic Package Manager.

I checked and made sure that the software was trying to install from the official repository.

I’m not really sure of the cause, or when it started happening, but I have seemed to have fixed this by cleaning out most of the keys.

Searching the web, I found out about SecureApt, apt-key, but didn’t really find myself closing to a solution until I looked at the contents of /etc/apt/trusted.gpg .

In Software Sources (System > Administration >) I found a long list of “trusted software providers” including what looked like some duplicated.

I noted what they were and removed them all except the first one, 437D05B5 2004-09-12 Ubuntu Archive Automatic Signing Key <ftpmaster@ubuntu.com> and closed the application.

It was then working. It seems that I could have likely removed them all and then <code>sudo aptitude reinstall ubuntu-keyring</code>.

After I added back the keys for Google Linux Software and Wine for IEs4Linux.

My first disappointment is the timing of the article. September 27th Ubuntu will have a beta release of their next version with Ubuntu 7.10 scheduled for release October 18th.

I don’t think you would write an article about the experience of Windows XP a month before Windows Vista, nor Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) now with Leopard… somewhere in our future.

My next disappointment is you leaning on the term user: mainstream, nontechie users; average users; vast majority of computer users; average Ubuntu users, and mainstream, nontechnical users. You used the term 10 times in the article (+1 quoting Dell), and I think excessively.

Couldn’t you just write that you don’t think Linux is ready for most people. Oh, that is pretty much how the title of the article reads, but that message is lost in the article — likely because the article is largely you asking the Linux zealots not to come after you.

To most people I recommend Mac OS X, because I think that’s pragmatic, but I would definitely recommend Ubuntu over Vista to most people, also for pragmatic reasons. I use Vista everyday on a Dell Dimension E520 that it came pre-installed on. It may someday soon be the best Windows yet Walt, but as I told Don Dodge “It will be, but not likely until a couple of service packs from now.”

“People are having variety in their experiences with Windows Vista.” Zipkin, what does that mean?

How is this for a variety in my experience, I tried to delete a small file on the desktop and that was flushing much too long, so I tried to cancel and that hung:

Trying to force that to quit in Task Manager caused Windows to shutdown.

Internet Explorer 7 regularly crashes and unlike Firefox it doesn’t save any of the tabs and windows I had open, nor more importantly any of the content I was editing in those tabs.

On two occasions IE7 has started opening the same window over and over again until I had to shutdown the computer, and I definitely wasn’t on a malware site.

Are the very regular updates requiring reboots making it better? A little I think.

About those updates, who do I have to thank for the experience that has trained me to put the computer to sleep:

and then when there is an update required:

That is a great help in losing work as I quickly go to shutdown the computer when I’m running out the door, or exhausted and off to bed. No warning, just closes all of the applications and shuts down.

Do I have to wait for a first “service pack”? We’ll be waiting a long while yet. “Microsoft finally came clean yesterday and said it will release Windows Vista SP1 in the first quarter of 2008.”

Notice how no one is claiming any more that Windows is the best operating system. As Windows plays catch up, there is a lot of opportunity for Linux and Mac OS!

Walt, I notice that the problems you describe are all getting Ubuntu setup. That’s the next reason I’m disappointment with the article, though it mimics my own experience with Vista on this Dell computer.

My description of problems with Vista are all ongoing problems, and the problems I have had setting up Vista far exceed the ones I have setting up the current Ubuntu 7.04 or the ones you describe in your article.

The best part of Ubuntu is that once you set it up, you won’t ever have to worry about it again and you will automatically be kept update to date with the latest security and features. In the other hand, setup is Ubuntu’s achilles.

All of the problems you describing having are issues that need to be addressed.

Did you try solving the problems? Are you going to give Ubuntu a real chance and use it for two weeks? (That is what Steve Jobs asked for with the iPhone on screen keyboard, and that was a very minor change compared to a whole OS.) You can at least give it that, or are you going to assume that it will leave you wading through online forums or finding complex workarounds?

You will actually find solutions in plain English to all of your problems and assistance from a diverse and talented community for free.

But it isn’t really free is it? Everything has a cost, to someone.

My last disappointment is with your assertion:

But open source is a two-edged sword. While it draws on smart developers from many places, nobody is ultimately responsible for the quality of the product, and open-source developers often have an imperfect feel for how average people use software. A European company called Canonical is the “commercial sponsor” of Ubuntu and provides support. But it’s largely focused on corporate and techie users. Average Ubuntu users are likely to have to wade through online forums, often written in technical language, to get help.

There are real people ultimately responsible for the quality Ubuntu and many open source products.

Your article unfortunately reinforces the fear that there is no accountability available when choosing open source products. Your research should have found that open source products are often backed by companies that have commercial motivation in the success of the products, and offer equivalent support and customization as any company selling propriety products. ie there is professional quality open source software without the lock in.

The irony is I don’t know any “mainstream, nontechie users” that have ever directly received support from Microsoft, and those people have already paid Microsoft hundreds of dollars for the product.

I think for most people Ubuntu will have a smaller cost than Vista.

Jeff’s mailing list message reads (emphasis mine):

Good morning freedom lovers,

Just a quick message to let you know that over the past few days GNOME has migrated from NewsBruiser (which basically stopped being maintained around the time we implemented it) to WordPress µ and the response from our users has been overwhelmingly positive. In many ways, WP and GNOME have very similar philosophical views on freedom, usability and tastefulness, so I’m happy we’re in good hands!

Thanks very much to all the WordPress and WPMU hackers! I hope some of the fixes and changes I’m working on can be a fitting return contribution.

http://blogs.gnome.org/

Thanks,

- Jeff (one of the duo who kicked off ‘Planet’, as it happens!)

Jeff (jdub)’s welcome post at blogs.gnome.org includes (again emphasis mine):

• Rocking user experience, built on the foundations of everybody’s favourite blogging tool, WordPress.
• All the mod cons you’d expect from WordPress: XMLRPC, APP, feeds, GUI editor, blogrolls, great management of pages, categories and comments.
• Some cool themes to start you off, including the beautifully stylesheetable Sandbox. You can apply your own CSS to any theme using the ‘Custom CSS’ page. Make your blog yours.
• Customisable sidebar widgets, and a few cool widget plugins to play with. Stick a Twitter or Flickr feed in your sidebar, let everyone know where you’re at.
• Not only have we maintained your Google-juice, we’ve enhanced it!

This is awesome! I extensively and passionately use Ubuntu GNOME!

There are 75 blogs registered in three days!

GNOMErs Pedro Villavicencio Garrido, Ray Strode, Xavier Claessens, Shreyas Srinivasan, Lucas Rocha, and many others seem to be enjoying it!

Is there a higher compliment than experience oriented, open-source-for-everyone participants using the software that you care about?

I am certain both projects will greatly benefit from this relationship!

2007-06-10 Update: WordPress lead developer Ryan Boren is also excited by this news, and shares that “[he] found out about WordPress through some GNOME developers” and had contributed to “GNOME before being consumed by WordPress full time”. If Matt Mullenweg and WordPress did not have similar values as GNOME, it seems unlikely that Ryan would have become involved.

2007-06-15 Update: Jeff’s blog has undergone a face lift. He posts on his own blog GNOME goes WordPress MU, “we’ve already managed to complete the virtuous circle: WordPress MU bug #352 was filed, fixed and shipped with WordPress MU 1.2.2 as a result of work on GNOME Blogs.”. He includes this awesome image:

“Tastes like freedom — and there’s more on the way!”