Ubuntu 15.04 reviews

Ubuntu 15.04 reviews

Ubuntu 15.04 was just released, and there are some early reviews of Canonical’s latest desktop distribution. So far the buzz seems somewhat mixed, and that’s not surprising since Ubuntu 15.04 is a relatively low-key release without lots of flashy, new features.

Darien Graham-Smith at PC Pro wasn’t impressed by Ubuntu 15.04:

In fact, Ubuntu 15.04 raises the bar when it comes to inconspicuous updates. From a user perspective, the only noticeable change is to application menus, which now appear in their respective windows rather than at the top of the screen. Such behaviour has been optional since 14.04 – and indeed was the default in Ubuntu 10.10 and before – so as user-experience updates go, this isn’t exactly a brave new world.

Ubuntu is as capable and accessible as it ever was, and just as free. But it’s hard not to feel a touch of dismay at the apparent lack of progress on show, especially in light of all the ambitious talk that’s been coming out of Canonical in the past few years.

Ubuntu isn’t driven by profit, so it doesn’t need to chase market share, or indeed relevance. However, as big plans have faltered, and innovation on the desktop OS appears to have ground to a halt, the scent of stagnation has started to hang around the platform.

If you’re looking for a free, friendly and powerful OS for desktops and servers, Ubuntu is still an easy Linux distribution to recommend. But even for established Ubuntu users this update is neither practically nor emotionally compelling. If Canonical seriously wants Ubuntu to make more of a mainstream impact, Ubuntu 15.04 – a barely necessary update rolled out to serve a timetable rather than a strategy – is precisely the sort of thing it needs to stop releasing.

More at PC Pro

SJVN at ZDNet wasn’t thrilled with it either, but still considers Ubuntu a good option for desktop users:

There are lots of new goodies in Ubuntu 15.04, Vivid Vervet, but most of them are for cloud administrators and DevOps. Ordinary Ubuntu PC users will only find a slightly better desktop experience.

The new desktop, though, is, well, OK. There are no major changes that will jump out at you. Yes, there’s now a default purple background, but you can change that in less time than it takes to read this paragraph. Another change is that local menus, menus attached to an application, are now the default. A while back Canonical decided that in its Unity interface, menus should be on the top of the desktop. Well, you can change it back that way if you like, but most users seemed to prefer the application menus with the application window, so Canonical changed it back.

All-in-all, I would be very excited to use Ubuntu on the cloud or if I were a developer. For an ordinary desktop user, I still think Ubuntu is the easiest way to get into the Linux desktop. For a power user, like myself, Linux Mint 17.1 with the Cinnamon interface is still my top pick.

More at ZDNet

Quidsup, however, has a negative take on Ubuntu 15.04 in a video review on YouTube:

Hidden options in Ubuntu 15.04

Speaking of Ubuntu 15.04, Softpedia has an article that shows you how to tweak Ubuntu via some hidden options. You might find it useful if the default Ubuntu setup isn’t your cup of tea.

Silviu Stahie reports for Softpedia:

Unity Tweak Tool provides access to some options that are not available otherwise, or at least not with a fancy GUI. First of all, the Unity launcher can be made transparent, and it’s done just with a single checkmark in the Launcher entry. From the same location, it’s also possible to make apps minimize by pressing the icon in the launcher for an opened app, and you can even change the animations (a short list is available).

Also, users can modify the background blur for the opened HUD, change the way answers are provided when searching for something in the Dash, make the top panel thoroughly transparent, and stop that annoying integration popup in Firefox.

The second application, called CompizConfig Settings Manager, is much more powerful and provides access to many more options, but only one of those will prove to be extremely helpful. By default, new windows are opened on various places on the screen, and the type of placement is called “smart.” If you open multiple windows, you don’t know where that will happen and you’re always chasing them around.

More at Softpedia

Kubuntu 15.04 released

Hot on the heels of Ubuntu 15.04 is Kubuntu 15.04. You can download Kubuntu 15.04 right now. This release of Kubuntu offers the Plasma 5 desktop, and KDE Applications 14.12.

The Kubuntu site has more information about Kubuntu 15.04:

Kubuntu 15.04 has been released. This features the beautiful new Plasma 5 desktop from KDE. Plasma 5, the next generation of KDE’s desktop has been rewritten to make it smoother to use while retaining the familiar setup. The second set of updates to Plasma 5 are now stable enough for everyday use and is the default in this version of Kubuntu.

Kubuntu comes with KDE Applications 14.12 containing all your favourite apps from KDE. This is the 14.12.2 update with bugfixes and translation updates. Several applications have been ported to KDE Frameworks 5 but those which aren’t should fit in seamlessly.

More at Kubuntu

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