Ubuntu 9.04 Review Part 2

So, its been around a week that I have had the latest version of Ubuntu installed on my lappy and I have more thoughts and a couple of gripes on it.

The new version of Gnome that comes with it is slick. Doesn’t look all that different, but some of the small changes are nice, plus it is definitely more stable. I”m still playing a bit with the package manager and installing and removing software to see how that works and what is available. I did notice that Postgres is not available through the add/remove software feature, which did disappoint me a little, but not as bad as the following problems, which show it is not really ready for prime time yet.

First issue is the automatic search for updates when you log in. At one point in time on 8.10 it worked, and was done with its check rather quickly after logging in. Then some update came down and all that changed for the worse, and it is still that way. When I log into the machine it takes 10+ minutes for it to finish the update search and during this time frame the machine works like a slug. Yes, its a 4 year old laptop, but considering that the updater is the only thing that consistently slows my machine down, I have to say that there has to be some issue with it.

The biggest issue I’ve found so far has to do with Wireless Networking. Oh, don’t worry, it will find your card, and you can connect to a network, provided it is not using WPA for security. I did try to set the machine up to connect to my WPA Secured wireless network, and it will not connect to it. Of course the fact that the built in wireless software for Ubuntu does not show you a list of available wireless networks is a big drawback in its own right. Yes I can get a 3rd party scanner, but if Ubuntu wants to compete with the big boy’s (Microsoft and Apple) Then it needs to have that scan functionality out of the box and enabled by default. Even if they only gear it for businesses, or netbooks, when you travel you need the simplicity for the average Joe.

Of course that brings us back to the problem with the Average Joe and the Linux community. One day maybe those geeks on the Linux board will realize that the only way for them to be accepted is if they stop putting down non-tech people. Only then will Linuxx truly be ready for the Desktop.