Codenamed “Natty Narwhal” (say that 10x fast), Ubuntu 11.04 wasn’t some little update.
This was major.
Ubuntu 11.04 delivers an all new Unity desktop shell that has ease of use and good looks at the forefront. Ubuntu developers have been feverishly adapting the Unity desktop for the past six months, and it delivers. Sure, it looks pretty, but it has more to do with usability. The new shell boosts performance, reliability, and is more suitable for larger screens. All these things were crucial.
The first thing to jump-out to Ubuntu users is the new Unity-based desktop task dock on the left-hand side of the screen (see above).
There’s some mixed reviews about the new task dock, mostly its location. I like the idea of using the horizontal screen real estate. With most users having a wide-screen monitor, this is the best place. It’s the vertical space that’s become more valuable. I personally like it, but I feel the pain for those that don’t. Hopefully Ubuntu will release an update soon that will enable users to change the location of the task dock, since as of now, Ubuntu users have to switch to “Classic” Ubuntu desktop to rid themselves of it, thus forfeiting all of the Unity desktop enhancements.
In addition to delivering the new Unity shell, the new version of Ubuntu also brings some improvements to desktop theming and bundled software. The Gtk+ theme has a new slim scrollbar style and a number of other enhancements.
Ubuntu’s Software Center, which allows users to install and manage applications, got several noteworthy new features, including support for posting ratings and reviews. Canonical’s Ubuntu One synchronization service got some nice user interface improvements and performance optimizations. The default music player in Ubuntu changed from Rhythmbox to Banshee in this new release, improving the out-of-the-box music experience for end users.
Much of what I’ve seen online, most users are really pleased with Ubuntu 11.04. If you’ve made the switch or moved to the new update, what do you think?
You can download the latest release from the Ubuntu website.
[via ARS Technica]
Darius says
I just upgraded my netbook to Ubuntu 11.04 last night. (Ok, technically, it finished this morning…)
A couple things I noticed… It took longer to long into the new Unity shell than the classic desktop. I’m guessing this is probably because my netbook isn’t exactly the best example of computing horsepower? Also, the task dock graphics lagged quite a bit…
Another thing – the “dash” was much larger than I expected. On my netbook, it took up the whole screen when you opened it, not just the top left corner. In the sense of usability, it works ok, but I almost feel claustrophobic when it takes over the whole screen.
So, I ended up going back to the classic desktop. There are a couple of updates there that I noticed off the bat, and while small, they all tend to be pretty good, IMO.
It’s not really a necessary upgrade – more of a ‘take it or leave it’ kind of a thing… More evolutionary than revolutionary since I can’t really use the task dock effectively.
Eric Dye says
I agree.
Screen space is especially important with netbooks. They need to build the options in to adjust the dock, for sure!
Kevin says
Looks nice….but the Server release is always pretty! Nothing like CLI 🙂
…I’m looking at upgrading my web servers…but I really don’t see much of a need to yet.
Eric Dye says
🙂