Let’s improve Ubuntu Linux!

To me, the core feature, the absolute killer program and piece of software I couldn’t be without that gets me using Ubuntu is the Synaptic Package manager and its variants (Software Update etc.)

For those of you who don’t know, the Synaptic Package Manager allows you to search for and install software without having to go and manually download setups and follow install wizards. For example if I wanted to install the firestarter firewall and Inkscape (two medium sized applications which would take me about 20 minutes to download and install on my slow laptop in windows) I only have to open up the Synaptic Package Manager, click search, find the two programs and mark them for installation, and then apply my changes.

I can now walk out the room, get a drink and some food and come back in about 5 to 10 minutes with both programs fully installed. That’s it!

Now what about having to update these programs as new versions are released? Easy. Ubuntu handles all my updates for me, downloads security updates as they become available then prompts me to install them. I only need to click “Apply” for my updates and leave the computer to do the rest. Easy!

But what about software not in the Ubuntu software repositories? While there are over 18,000 different packages which can be installed through Synaptic, there does come a time when something isn’t in a repository and this is where I believe Ubuntu has room for improvement.

When installing software, like the Opera Web Browser, which can only be downloaded from Opera, the annoying process of Download, Locate, Double-click and install comes back. But what if there was a single, small file which could be downloaded and double-clicked on that adds new repositories without any sort of technical know-how?

For one, many people don’t know that Opera actually offers a repository for its web browser, so any updates to the program can be updated using the automatic processes built into Ubuntu.

The following screenshot is from Synaptic Package Manager and shows the difference between the repo Opera and the static Opera install (the download and install manually one)

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This clean solution means I never need to worry about keeping Opera up to date again, Ubuntu takes on that responsibility. If only there was a simpler way to add repositories and install third party software into Ubuntu!

What’s new in Firefox 2.0?

As many of you probably already know, Firefox is a web browser, released in 2004, that is a direct competitor to Internet Explorer and Opera. It supports many standard features, such as tabbed browsing, and themeing, as well as having a powerful extension system which permits the adding of features made by third parties.

The 1.0 release of firefox proved to be very popular, and 1.5 fixed many of its shortcomings. For anyone who needed more features there have always been extensions to add things like session managments, advanced download features and integration with web services, but now the 2.0 release plans to integrate the benefits of these extensions into the core software.

The benefits are aimed at the end user, instead of just improving their technologies. The top enhancements are:

1. Find what you need. All aspects of search in Firefox are being improved. From searching bookmarks, to the integrated search bar in the top-right of the screen. UI tweaks, backend rewrites and new systems for carrying out the same tasks are just some of the changed.
2. Improved Tab interface, multitasking ability. Tabs will be even more integrated into the new firefox, with links defaulting to opening in new tabs instead of new windows and being more effective at handling larger numbers of tabs.
3. Keeping up-to-date with feeds. By adjusting the way feeds are subscribed to, and allowing different feed aggregators to be used, feeds can become more efficient for the end user, than their current implementation. Changes include previews and the ability to use any reader.
4. General usability improvements. With miscellaneous changed, such as spell checking, and more serious updates like reducing the number of notifications needed. These changes are obivous in the security update process, and the graceful way the browser will restore a previous session if the browser crashes.
5. Improved OS integration. By providing new themes for integrating into Vista, OS X and Gnome, a more prefessional and streamlined experience is possible.

Of course their are technical updates, such as a smaller memory footprint, but these are less important than the above features that users will actually see.

Osdir has some great shots of Alpha 3.