In today's open source roundup: Alpha 2 of Ubuntu 15.10 is out. Plus: Kodi 15 media player released for Android. And Windows 10 versus Linux Ubuntu 15.10 alpha 2 released The Ubuntu developers have been hard at work on the next version of Ubuntu. Ubuntu 15.10 (code named Wily Wereworld) alpha 2 has been released. The Ubuntu mailing list has details: The second alpha of the Wily Werewolf (to become 15.10) has now been released! This alpha features images for Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Kylin and the Ubuntu Cloud images. Pre-releases of the Wily Werewolf are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu flavor developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting and fixing bugs as we work towards getting this release ready. Alpha 2 includes a number of software updates that are ready for wider testing. This is quite an early set of images, so you should expect some bugs. While these Alpha 2 images have been tested and work, except as noted in the release notes, Ubuntu developers are continuing to improve the Wily Werewolf. In particular, once newer daily images are available, system installation bugs identified in the Alpha 2 installer should be verified against the current daily image before being reported in Launchpad. Using an obsolete image to re-report bugs that have already been fixed wastes your time and the time of developers who are busy trying to make 15.10 the best Ubuntu release yet. Always ensure your system is up to date before reporting bugs. More at Ubuntu Mailing List The announcement about Ubuntu 15.10 alpha 2 spawned a thread on the Linux subreddit and redditors weren’t shy about sharing their thoughts: Xd1936: “How are things coming along? I haven’t been paying attention to this release cycle. What are the changes that they are focusing on? Is Mir default yet?” Waspinator: “…the current rumor is that Mir and Unity 8 will be default in 16.10 or 17.04. They are focusing their efforts on IoT and mobile right now.” Trezor2: “Still? They’ve done they for how many releases now? And how many Ubuntu iot mobiles are there now? One? I’m ready for them to again focus on the one thing which made them a thing in the first place: a superior out of the box desktop experience.” Darthbo: “They ARE working on the desktop. You can even start the desktop mode on the ubuntu phone by plugging in a mouse. No one’s going to switch the default to Mir/Wayland as long as the proprietary nvidia/amd drivers don’t support them, though.” Deed: “…it really feels like every version since about 12.04 has just been under-the-hood stability and security updates. I mean those are important too, but it’s nice to get an aesthetic upgrade once in a while. Also I really don’t care about mobile, if I’m being honest. :/” Jan: “Hopefully its not just minor tweaks like the releases in past 2 years. I’m ready to be excited.” NewPhoenixx: “I installed 15.04 once it was officially released, somewhere around may this year, and it was a unmitigated disaster. I had 14.10 running before with very very few issues and 15.04 basically left me with a page full of issues. Suspend not working, sddm login manager hanging about 90% of the time, clock screen hanging for 10 minutes, and I can go on for half an hour. A few weeks later, somebody told me to try the night lies of 15.10 and it solved nearly everything.” Trish: “I’ve been running Ubuntu Studio 15.04 since release and have had none of those problems.” Sludge: “I feel like you almost always want wait for at least XX.YY.1 before upgrading/installing.” More at Reddit Kodi 15 media player for Android Kodi is an open source media player that used to be called XBMC. Kodi 15 is now available for Android users, and it offers an enhanced add-on manager, chapter support and some other goodies. Eric Brown reports for Linux.com: Kodi lets you watch and record live TV, and it supports integration with backends including MediaPortal, MythTV, NextPVR, Tvheadend, VDR, and its prime competitor: Windows Media Center. The software provides a consistent UI ranging from phones to 10-foot TVs, and lets you apply custom skins. In addition to adding Android support, Kodi 15 provides a new chapter selector window, a more flexible adaptive seeking feature, more convenient audio and subtitle options, and more frequent language add-on updates. The add-on manager, meanwhile, has a revamped UI. If these don’t seem like major changes, keep in mind that Kodi is already quite mature and comprehensive, which only adds to its popularity. Full Android support was the key missing piece to the puzzle. Android-specific improvements in Kodi 15 include 4K support, refresh-rate switching, and HEVC playback on those Android 5.0-ready devices that support these features. These are said to include “a number of Amlogic based devices and the Nvidia Shield Android TV.” …a growing number of Linux- and Android mini-PCs and media players have Kodi preinstalled, and the final Android version should push it to even higher acceptance. According to Team Kodi, in the first 36 days on Google Play, there have been over 400,000 active Android installs. More at Linux.com Windows 10 versus Linux Windows 10 has finally been released, and many Linux users are probably wondering how Windows 10 compares to their favorite operating system. Tech Radar compared Linux to Windows 10, and noted that it’s really a bit of an apples versus oranges thing. Neil Mohr reports for Tech Radar: One is a free codebase which can run on most any hardware imaginable, the other is a proprietary product with an undecouple-able GUI that, until recently, has run only on x86 PCs. Our approach will be to consider features from Windows 10 and compare them with like-for-like equivalents from various Linux distributions. Windows as a Service can in some ways be compared to a rolling-release operating system, such as Arch or Linux Mint Debian Edition. At the same time the multi-branch release model for businesses is vaguely similar to Debian’s release model. Indeed the whole Insider Preview model is a big old beta test itself, just like what has been happening with Steam OS over the past year-and-a-bit. But none of these are really Linux ideas, and it’s actually pretty refreshing to see Microsoft co-opting them. Also pleasant is the fact that Microsoft’s new OS is being offered as a free upgrade for those already running a legitimate copy of Windows 7 or later, but this move is largely a deal-sweetener for potential upgraders sitting on the fence. …we’ve only been using the Windows install for about a week, once a few apps and a few (thousand) obscurely titled runtime libraries are installed the age-old curse of Windows decline will kick in. Our Arch install has been used pretty much every day for over a year, has all manner of long-forgotten packages installed, and remains blazing fast. More at Tech Radar Did you miss a roundup? Check the Eye On Open home page to get caught up with the latest news about open source and Linux. Software DevelopmentOpen Source