Since its launch five years back, Ubuntu has turned into one of the most popular Linux operating system.  After the launch of Windows 7, a major update of Vista, Ubuntu 9.10 or “Karmic Koala” has launched on October 29th. At present, Linux operating system has about 1% market share for desktops as compared to 92% of Windows, whereas it is popular for servers or embedded systems. Ubuntu, based on the Linux’s Debian flavor has focused to bring Linux OS to the common people.

Here, the article compares some of the features of Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10:

Installation and upgrades

Users can easily upgrade their PCs with the new version of Ubuntu and it can also installed on your vintage PCs.  Further, like Windows 7 and Mac OS X, Ubuntu 9.10 automatically keeps users’ operating system up-to-date. While, Windows 7 will update only the Microsoft software and the OS, Ubuntu updates itself with any other software installed on users’ system.

Multimedia

Due to their own terms and conditions, Ubuntu does not ship with the ability to play commercial DVDs. However, you can download the commercial DVD support via Ubuntu Restricted Extras in the Software Centre. It has Rhythmbox player for music and the Movie Player for video.

Microsoft’s Windows 7 come preinstalled with Windows Media Player and Media Centre, which take care of your personal files. Further, if your hardware permits, you can also watch live TV on the PC.

Software and applications

According to developers, Ubuntu is like Apple’s iPhone and supports vast softwares and applications. Users can have instant access to thousands of free and open-source applications. It comes with free OpenOffice.org 3.1 installed by default as its office productivity suite through which you can create professional documents, spreadsheets and presentations. The suite is compatible with all office apps including MS Office.

Windows 7 users have to buy Microsoft Office, or they can download OpenOffice and GIMP. While Windows users will have Outlook for their email, Ubuntu comes with Evolution, its emailing and calendaring software.

Windows 7 comes with Internet Explorer 8 and MSN Windows Live messenger, Ubuntu 9.10 ships with Firefox 3.5 and Empathy multiple protocol IM client.

Cloud Service

The new Linux version offers cloud storage to the masses with its Ubuntu One service, where users can store upto 2GB of data for free, but will have to pay for more storage. Ubuntu 9.10 can also take advantage of Amazon’s EC2 cloud computing service.

Microsoft also provides a cloud storage application called Live Mesh that offers 25GB of storage for free, but the service is not integrated with the OS as in Ubuntu.

Speed and hardware

In terms of speed, the latest OS of Microsoft is definitely lighter on hardware than its predecessor, Vista and it will run well on older hardware. However, Ubuntu 9.10 also works well on a wide range of hardware.

Security

According to various analysts, Linux OSs are more secure than Windows and are not easily infected by bugs and viruses. In Windows 7, Windows Security Center has been renamed to Windows Action Center, which covers both security and maintenance of the computer.

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www.thespinningdonut.com A 6 minute introduction to Ubuntu 8.04 from Bill Stevens at http

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Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron Articles on all of these features cal be found at

BeginLinux.com

After continued success with Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon, the new Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron Linux desktop is sure to make big waves in the Linux distribution pool. As shown in the Ubuntu 8.04 alpha and beta releases, the new Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron release offers many features and enhancements for your desktop including the following and more.

Gnome 2.22 on Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron has a full array of improvements including the new GVFS Back-end Nautilus.

Pulse Audio offers cutting edge sound server technology on Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron.

Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron offers Firefox 3.0 which offers a good collection of new, tested, productive features but is still in beta at the time of this writing.

The Wubi installer allows you to easily install Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron on Windows using an .exe just like any other Windows application.

Along with the new Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron graphic scheme the World Clock Applet is an all around positive for the desktop offering temperature display, location profiles and more.

X.org 7.3 gives Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron users auto-configuration enhancements with the focus placed a minimal configuration file.

Developed by Google during the Summer of Code project and included in the upcoming Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron release, Prefetch will speed up boot-time and common application launching by profiling which files are read in which order and will automatically optimize the order of the data on the hard disk.

A new addition to the Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron application selection is Inkscape, a drawing program that has similar features to popular drawing applications like Illustrator, Freehand, and Corel Draw. Inkscape on Hardy Heron will help complete the graphic design application options on Ubuntu Linux.

Ubuntu 8.04 includes Vinagre which is a useful VNC Client designed for the new GNOME 2.22 desktop.

The Gnome BitTorrent downloader has been replaced by the GTK version of Transmission, a multi-platform BitTorrent client that is light weight and full of features.

Brasero will replace the Serpentine burner on the new Ubuntu desktop. Brasero provides simplicity and a decent set of features

Ubuntu 8.04 includes PolicyKit which is now integrated in the administrative user interface. PolicyKit provides the finest control over permissions while enhancing usability and increasing security.

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This is PART 1, more videos to follow covering different aspects of the new version of this Open source Linux Distro. Its a Free operating system. Visit PCWizKidsTechTalk.com for more details

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1) what will be the advantages and disadvantages of using ubuntu instead of vista?
2) what will be the setbacks of replacing my vista?
3) how hard is it to cope up with the new OS? what must i learn to utilize ubuntu?

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I support open-source and enjoy reviewing the benefits of using the many different Linux Distributions.

Pidgin, Gaim, Kopete: these days, there’s a variety of different options for instant messaging (or IM, for short) for Linux distributions such as Ubuntu. they all connect to a variety of different protocols and offer plenty of advanced features, so which one should you use?

Pidgin and Gaim are basically the same program. For reasons that have a lot to do with naming rules laid out by America Online, the Gaim project recently decided to change its name to Pidgin. Pidgin offers the ability to connect to many different protocols, including the large ones such as AOL Instant Messaging (AIM), Yahoo, MSN, and Google Talk. It’s really lightweight and supports tabbed conversation, timestamping, and buddy pounces. It also has a fully expandable plug-in interface which is useful for adding new functionality. Gaim is created to run with GTK, which comes with every Ubuntu installation and facilitates integration into the GNOME desktop manager.

Kopete has many of the same features Gaim has, but it is better integrated into the KDE desktop manager. The Kopete design focus is more based around the user interface, allowing users to display buddy pictures right in the buddy list and keeping IM from becoming too intrusive. It supports message encryption and archiving, and integrates into the KDE contact manager for a complete solution for instant messaging.

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This is part 1 of a series of new reviews of the Ubuntu OS, version 9.10 known as Karmic Koala. Click here for ore Ubuntu tips PCWizKidsTechTalk.com and RATE or COMMENT! Cheers!

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Mary Riley has been a Linux user for many years. Learn more at The Daily Ubuntu. You can find out more about Pidgin here.