Today is Thursday the 29th of October, 2009, and now the latest Ubuntu has been released. Karmic Koala aka 9.10 is now available for download. I was about to say “get it while it’s hot” but it seems redundant since it’ll be hot for the next six months until the next version is released.
Need some more information? Take the tour!
In less than two days the new Ubuntu gets released. This time it’s 9.10 aka Karmic Koala. I’ve been running Karmic as my primary desktop system since late August, and while it had something of a… err… personality when i installed it back during Alpha 4 it has since become very nice to deal with. Looking forward to having it finished.
And another thing I’m quite stoked about when it has been released is re-installing my server! Yes, I’m actually looking forward to doing this. I’ve been going over the process in a sandboxed virtual machine, and I think it’s going to be good. I’ll be reformatting the server and moving from Debian to Ubuntu Server instead. Not that Debian is any bad, I just have the feeling I’ll be slightly (0.0005% probably) happier with Ubuntu Server.
I’m stoked about reinstalling my server since it’ll feel good cleaning out the cobwebs. Literally and metaphorically. The server has been puttering away inside my storage for the last year-plus and it’s probably filled with dust and other nasty stuff. I never cease to be impressed by that machine. It’s cobbled together from spare parts that used to be in my desktop, yet it’s like an incredibly faithful dog – it just never quits no matter how much I abuse it.
The Debian-installation has been running since 2003, with upgrades every now and then, but it’s become quite broken and needs a lot of tender loving care to keep running. So, it’ll be nice doing some fall-formatting. Getting rid of all the insecurities when dealing with it. Such as no longer having to worry about “will it come back up after a reboot or is the LILO screwed again?”
Which just goes to show what goofy installation that is. No sane distro has used Lilo for years, and the prospect of switching it to GRUB scares me. But Lilo was default on Woody, which was what that machine was originally installed with. Ho boy.
So, next week perhaps. Don’t panic if you can’t reach me by web, XMPP or mail, it’s just my machine being reinstalled.
A lot of hoopla surrounds the fact that Microsoft unleashes Windows 7 on the world this month. Personally I am less than interested in this fact, since October to me this year is Karmic-month.
I have followed the hype surrounding 7 with both a lack of interest and a slight amusement. Lack of interest because Microsoft lost my interest years ago, and lost me as a user three years ago. I have no particular interest in going back, and this makes all the marketing seem even more hollow to me.
The most amusing aspect of this whole thing is that Microsoft is trying to promote release-parties. Surely you’ve seen the commercial that’s being spread around the globe. I think it’s a laugh-riot. Microsoft trying to promote release-parties for their OS is as artificial as astroturf. It’s like IBM back in the fifties, where they forced employees to sing company-songs and have company-parties. It’s just artificial, and promotes only artificial loyalty.
Karmic is also going to have release-parties around the world, but since Linux (and in many ways Ubuntu as well) is a community-driven effort, the parties are not enforced by some corporate entity, but rather an outburst from the community in pride and happiness. In other words, not artificial.
I admit that I haven’t plumbed the depths of 7, but to me it just seems as Vista, but with less Suck. Admittedly, it’s not particularly difficult to make an operating system that sucks less than Vista. I believe that if I handed out laptops to a bunch of angry monkeys at the zoo, they could produce a better operating system simply by beating each other senseless with said laptops. Now, in many ways I’d say Windows Me was a worse operating system – and this would be true if you only counted the technical merits. But Vista promised so much and delivered so little nothing at all which makes it a much bigger letdown.
Plus, it’s still Windows. Even Windows 7 is at the core the very same Windows codebase that Microsoft has been pushing for years. Windows 7 is a reaction to all the hostility that Vista received. They took the same old tired codebase, fixed the major issues and released it as a “new” operating system. It’s Windows, with some features added to make it look shiny, and other less appealing features removed. It’s the same old dog with a new coat of paint and some new tricks.
Ah yes, the tricks. I’m amused at the level of pseudo-technobabble that Microsoft has to apply to everything it does now. When they invent steal something new to put in their OS, they instantly have to apply some hyperbolic label to it. It has to be called SuperSomething, AdvancedSomething, PreSomething.
No, Microsoft. You lost my interest somewhere between Windows 95 and 98, and you lost me as a user three years ago. Windows 7 will not get me back, since I don’t feel any passion for Windows, since Windows is a passionless operating system, and since the culture you promote is a rusty and more clunky version of the same monosphere that Apple promotes.
Me, I prefer the freedom to tinker.
Oh, and here’s a hilarious picture of Linus Torvalds outside one of your Windows 7-kiosks that you in your blundering stupidity decided to put outside a Linux-con in Japan.
I’ve temporarily become the custodian of a Great Dane named Bamse. In normal cases he belongs to two friends of mine, but due to various circumstances I was asked to watch him for a few days.
Which I happily accepted, since Bamse is one cool customer. In the past I’ve had some fairly bad experiences with this breed and I settled into the opinion that Great Danes are lazy, spoiled and high-maintenance type breeds. I knew this was somewhat prejudiced since I only could base this opinion on three dogs, and three dogs couldn’t represent a breed as a whole.
Bamse changed this opinion. He’s very easy-going, extremely charming (in a big elephant-wants-to-cuddle type way) as well as low-maintenance and with a generally cheerful disposition. He’s trying to make friends with my cat, but the cat regards him as a clumsy nuisance and mostly ignores him.
Here’s a picture of him, burrowed down into my couch with his head on the backrest, having a snooze and snoring in a manner reminiscent of an idling diesel-engine.
My father happened to be in Stockholm this weekend, and happened past Medborgarplatsen where the swedish Pirate Party was demonstrating the FRA-law going into practice. He took these photos, sent them to me and figured someone might like them. So, here they are. Feel free to spread these in any which way you feel is proper, and if you give credit then give credit to my father (Tim Senften) and a link to his website.
I wish I could’ve been there too and show my support for protesting against this heinous law that promises to corrupt much of our personal integrity online.
(Det här inlägget är bäst ackompanjerat av Wagners “Also Sprach Zarathustra” även känd som introduktionstemat till 2001: A Space Odyssey)
För ett tag sen gnällde jag över avsaknad av hyllor. Jag kom fram till att Lack från pålitliga och ekonomiska IKEA var det bästa valet, och sen gnällde jag över att det inte finns nån IKEA här i stan. Min vän Ida erbjöd sig att köpa nästa gång hon var i närheten av IKEA, och tack vare henne har jag nu åtta stycken Lack-hyllor som jag ska distribuera på lämpligt vis runt min lägenhet.
Jag valde den svarta hyllan, det verkade vara den färg som funkade bäst i mitt latte-färgade vardagsrum. Den vita var snygg, men inte tillräckligt diskret. Den röda var för… tja, röd. Helt enkelt.
Det som slog mig dock igår kväll efter att jag fått hem dessa åtta hyllor var att de ser ut som nerskalade versioner av monoliten från Stanleys klassiska mästerverk “2001: A Space Odyssey”. När de står på högkant ser de oroväckande lika ut.
Jag var på vippen att arrangera alla åtta lite snyggt, men jag var för lat. Plus, det kändes onödigt att ta ur alla åtta ur förpackningarna bara för det. Ni får nöja er med den jag redan öppnat. Lägg märke till fingeravtrycken också. Hyllorna är mycket svartare i verkligheten, kunde inte få till en bra bild utan blixt så därför blev den lite grå.
