The Blog of Tony "T-Bird" Burgess

No Ubuntu Update For Me

Ubuntu and Linux Mint For the first time in ages I am not downloading an update to Ubuntu. On Thursday the 12.10 version was released to the masses and from what I have read its a good release with lots of bells and whistles. They have further refined the Unity desktop to interact more with the Web. However I am sitting this update out.

Since switching to Linux Mint a couple of months ago I have been very happy with its performance on our slightly older hardware. There is something good to be said about the MATE desktop environment. I am very pleased with Linux Mint and how it has a classic feel of earlier Ubuntu releases with all the power of the long term supported Ubuntu 12.04 at its core.

Ubuntu is going onward and upward in features and technology which seems to be slowing it down a bit. They have abandoned the 2-D version of Unity which is what I used on my laptop so it would run at its best.

It wants to compete with Windows 8 and I think that’s great. Microsoft and Apple need some competition. However they need to be sure the widest array of hardware configurations can run the operating system with little problem so that they can a much bigger adoption. I like what Linux Mint has done by offering multiple desktop environments so it can be something for everyone.

What happens in the future will be interesting to watch. As for me I will continue to download updates and keep Linux Mint 13 (Maya) going as good as I can.