Ubuntu 9.10 'Karmic Koala' released, could decide your OS fate
By Thomas Ricker 
posted October 29th 2009 8:31AM
posted October 29th 2009 8:31AM
posted October 29th 2009 8:31AM
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what's the percentage of people who actually use this? i would think it's well less than 1%.
out of my 100 contacts on msn at least 10 use ubuntu!!!
No problem boss, its does't matter what percentage of people use this, but what it gives to the bunch thats uses it and i am happy person in thats bunch using it.
Even if you are right, SO WHAT?
My music server has been running on Ubuntu for last 2 years - can't wait to upgrade it!
Well, I do... obviously.
And for those interested - they didn't do away with the Add/Remove Programs option - it's just deeper within the menu button. Synaptic is still there, too.
It's not an amazing update from Jaunty - but represents a worthwhile progression.
If that's important to you, then your are just another cheep that follows what everybody else.
I'm a Karmic Koala user and I can tell the experience has been wonderful so far, It had some bugs but I'm using the release candidate version. I can't wait to install the final release, will be tonight I hope. I also have it installed on a USB key, it boots and shutdown fast, using the USB key just because I want to be able to load my own OS regardless if I'm in a different system, try that with OSX or Windows...
what's the percentage of really smart people in the occidental world ? :)
@reisa it's an important update if you've got an intel graphics device (like many laptops). I've noticed a marked improvement in video performance with the new UXA acceleration.
Whatever it is, it's increasing.
1%?
That many?
im pretty sure ubuntu is the 3rd most popular desktop OS in the world second to windows and mac os, so a lil bit more than 1%.
What's the percentage of people who actually have a Ferrari? (pardon the publicity)
Does it mean anything? No.
Grow up, get a life, whatever...
@linuxamp
You're right. But the Intel seems to be fixed in Jaunty, too - right? I have Intel graphics on my laptop, and the Compiz performance was originally excluded -- then I did the workaround and it worked OK -- and sometime between then and now it's become top-notch. I figured that it had been fixed.
@EI8HT
You got downranked because your question seems condescending. Maybe you didn't mean it that way. It probably is less than 1 percent who use Ubuntu, and the average Windows user probably shouldn't switch. But this blog is the kind of place where a lot of users "get" Ubuntu and other Linux distros.
having looked at you profile and read most of your posts, it fair enough to say that anything you posts should be low ranked if not already by now. to coin a phrase "you are the weakest link... goodbye!"
guys, it's a valid question, and downranking anyone who doesn't know much about linux is only going to alienate it more, so let's be a little more constructive.
you're right, desktop marketshare is probably around 1%, but a majority of the websites you visit are probably hosted on linux. most handheld gadgets use linux in one form or another, like mp3 players and gps units. with the number on android phones on the way, i would say linux is becoming pretty successful. these devices all have a specific purpose, so it is easier to forgive that they aren't windows. hopefully netbooks will open this up more, as distros like moblin 2 serve the netbook's purpose better than fullblown windows.
i think most people are tied to one or two apps that make full-time linux a dealbreaker, but virtualization is helping with that.
cheers to conanical, it is good to see innovation and competition, no matter what os you use.
You also have to account for people using Ubuntu in a second machine or in a virtual PC.
For me while i am using Windows 7 on my primary PC, i use Ubuntu in my HTPC , i also use Ubuntu in a virtual PC from time to time.
Considering just the computers that connect to internet, Linux has a 1.84% market share. Counting on servers and pc's which doesn't connecto to internet the share could be higher.
http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php
http://www.osnews.com/story/21035/Ballmer_Linux_Bigger_Competitor_than_Apple
You're getting down-ranked for the condescending and obviously derogatory manner in which you presented your question,
I run it on my web server farm and it is fantastic. Other ISPs do too, and it's lightweight JEOS edition can handle more clients then Steve Balmer weighs.
Sorry Mark and other Microsoft Fannie boys, some people have applications for *nix based security and no registry to screw with all day. It just works.
"i think most people are tied to one or two apps that make full-time linux a dealbreaker"
I fall into this camp. If Adobe would release a Linux version of CS4, I would switch in a heartbeat. Dare to dream.
Sure, Steve, it just works - after you've installed Windows wireless card drivers and disabled your ATi Radeon card like I had to do.
Hey, you never know: maybe the geeks who dig Linux will actually get behind Ubuntu and make it the de facto standard which would give it a chance. But no, they'll probably be too busy promoting yet another tedious variation on a theme.
As for operating systems, I'm agnostic but not unrealistic.
@pnomadewolf
Awesome!
I think the main thing is that most desktop users have no real incentive to switch to linux these days even though linux has become more user friendly than ever before although on occasion you'll still run into hilariously nightmarish problems trying to get stuff to compile and install...I think I spent a solid 30 hours trying to compile a bittorrent client at some point by getting everything required one by one before realizing that it just wasn't gonna happen on my linux installation and just using a different client...which then had it's own serious stability issues. Might explain why so many people just run uTorrent with wine on linux.
But in all seriousness most people just surf the web, and since so many people can't even be bothered to switch from IE to Chrome or Firefox 3.5 even though they're not any harder to use and a bajillion times faster means that there's no chance in hell they'd switch to linux especially when all the programs they need are already in Windows. And frankly there's still a lot of things that really only run on Windows so I'd only dual boot or run a VM at best.
For server use though there's really no comparison with the kind of performance you get on normal, budget, hardware. Linux is way better, although honestly a lot of the best stuff is still run straight up command line and editing various files in emacs or pico or whatever.
Yes it is shame the world is cursed with the 'defacto' standard of CSS2 and IE6. If only Microsoft would release a self updating browser that doesn't require a reboot, was 'pro-active' vs reactive, and supported standards beyond 1998.
I would actually like to know this percentage. Not out of sarcasm or anything, but simply from a developer point of view. To me, once an OS hits about 4% market share, it becomes a target for some app dev, to test browsers, special site features, etc for. Or simply to factor in for special code to compensate for problems.
@Steveorevo
Or supports standards at all, instead of having to be (in the words of one of MS's IE project managers) "tricked into executing correctly using test cases."
Also I would like to point out that linux is not only popular on computers but on "non computers". Android and other cell phone OSs are linux based. I think the PS3s OS is linux based (can't remember). And so forth. Ultimately that is what will drive up the software quality in linux.
However, my biggest problem with distributions of Linux is that they are generally an atrocity to look at. I don't want to work with Windows 95 beta anymore. There are a lot of other issues that are at hand before Linux becomes a popular OS, but the amount of ugly is one of the bigger ones. Most don't look marketable (Mint does, which is basically Ubuntu with a pretty interface, but even Mint isn't that good looking), which is a key reason the Mac OS is growing so fast.
Just in case you are wondering, I'm a lifetime Windows user who has used (for work and school) Linux based OSs.
@Steve
I think you're confusing IE and Safari. As for 'standards' go away and find out with 'de facto' means. In business no-one really gives a shit about W3C.
@pnomadewolf Except Ferraris aren't free. :) But your point is otherwise valid.
@ Mark Anderson
Yeah, like my company. If our product isn't working on IE6/IE7/IE8/whatever because the browser doesn't adhere to W3C... we tell our customers to point the middle finger at Microsoft. Not our problem.
Its really, attitudes like yours which fragment technologies and cause both the customer and me personal headache. I don't worry or care too much, because people like you are getting buried by Google by the minute.
This whole thread is related to a known bug.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1
It's being worked on.
I have to say Ubuntu got me some brownie points with the lady when her HDD crashed on her laptop. I just loaded Ubuntu up on a usb key no problem, force mounted the HDD and transferred all the important files off. Now I can't talk any shiz against something I downloaded in a few minutes and recovered my data for free.
Does anyone know what version of ALSA the 9.10 release comes with?
Every time I attempted to update it it on 9.04, it'd mess up my flash installation.
4.5 +
That's cause 9.10 doesn't comes with ALSA (by default). It comes with Pulse Audio which is superior. Read the post.
PulseAudio is layered on top of Alsa, it doesn't replace it. OSS would be the alternative to Alsa, and Ubuntu most definitely doesn't ship with OSS.
Unfortunately no, I don't know which version 9.10 is using, but I can check tonight when I get home.
9.10 uses ALSA version 1.0.20 but it's a customized version with a lot of backports from 1.0.21. It does have native X-fi support thanks to the new driver.
@rendezvous65: Really? I played with the beta yesterday (livecd) and my X-fi wasn't detected, only the crappy onboard realtek soundcard.
Messed with 4front's implementation wich uses OSS for a while but still no success.
They've replaced DMIX / Alsa with PulseAudio.... they really should layer PulseAudio on top of Dmix, though. Most people aren't the audiophile I am and don't care about the impact on quality resampling and software mixing have on their applications.
In general, 9.04 sucked for sound, and they once again had a half-done KDE installation. Both are reasons why I use OpenSuSE instead. Notably, however, sound hasn't been much of a pleasant experience on 11.1 either.
Ahhh! That image is playing games with my eyes. Here comes my breakfast!!!
Breakfast? I'm just having dinner, you must be living somewhere weird...
i was thinking the same thing
Well judging by his avatar and your username, you are correct, you live nowhere near each other. Maybe he thinks you live somewhere weird...did you ever think of that?
Uhm... no :D
That's not broccoli in the brownies. Just an FYI.
You think that image is bad, wait for the next release Ludicrous Lama!
You're just lucky they didn't accept my patch which changed the default background (and all the OS naming) to Karmic Khameleon, and played a 30 second sample of that awesome song as your startup sound.
Beware of my next patch, for Lusty Luchador!
That image definitely made me think of this:
http://www.kerrydean.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/wolf-inspirational-quotes-messages.jpg
He lives somewhere weird because it's in a different geographical location than you? That may be one of the dumbest comments ever.
Can't believe people are downranking Swede for a pretty funny comment. It's a joke. I got it. Lighten up!
Guys, he posted at 8:36, my time.