Transfer to new dimension complete

I have (almost) completed the switch from XP to Ubuntu Feisty Fawn on my two main machines (a Dell SX280 and an Advent laptop). It was no big deal really: XP was barely functional on my desktop machine anyway (probably a function of way too many programs installed) and I had had plenty of time to get used to Linux. What’s left to do is transfert a few gigs of archived emails from .pst files to the equivalent for ThunderBird, I have already done that in the past so that should be no problem. It feels as though I have bought two new computer, with double the processing power, so I remain impressed with the core tech at work in Linux.

Here is the list of programs I have decided are keepers:

* ThunderBird 1.5 to replace Outlook. Too bad 2.0 isn’t out in .deb format yet, I would have had some use for the two-way Google Calendar hack that is available out there. Evolution is, as far as I am concerned, complete crap.
* FastMail.fm, which has a very good IMAP service, to replace my existing account with an Exchange provider in the US.

* OpenOffice to replace Office: this one is a no-brainer, as GNUmetrix couldn’t even import my Excel files. OO is okay, not great, but okay and definitely improving very fast (I tried it out a few years ago and it was unusable).

* Grip to replace dbPowerAmp (I will miss that piece of software…), OGG encoding anyway (that was another good decision, BTW)

* RythmBox to replace Windows Media Player: simple, works great. I considered Amarok but: I run Gnome, the whole KDE philosophy is pretty much visible in Amarok and I just don’t have the patience for that sort of stuff. RythmBox has a lastfm add-on so I am happy!

*Gaim for MSN (salut Julien!): gets the job done and is way faster than the latest XP-based version of Live Messenger.

* Skype.

* Automatix for a few packages that are difficult to install (flame on).

It has been only a few days but so far, pure bliss.

Blonde Redhead – 23

A post about music for a change.

I urge anyone with a taste for noisy/indie pop to go out and buy Blonde Redhead’s latest album, 23.  I just stop listening to it: fantastic melodies, quirky arrangements and weird voices (esp. the voice of the female singer, very high and slightly off-key).  It reminds me of the Lush of Split and the ur-masterpiece of noisy pop, My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless.

This album is my first contact with BRH, so let me know if I am a bit late to the party, as I realize they have been around for some time!

In my thirty something mind, it may also signals the return of 4AD, the fabled 90s label.  For a number of years (ever since This Mortal Coil’s Bloood even), they just didn’t surprise me with the groups they signed and the albums they put out (a consequence of Ivo moving from rainy Britain to LA??).  For a spell in the late 801s/early 90s, I would buy every single album they put out, without an exception, so good was Ivo Watts-Russel’s ear!  The strange thing is, 23 sounds 4AD, and the whole album belong with all of the other great stuff Ivo has discovered over the years.  Great work!

Feisty is out

So Feisty is out… Looks like the servers are getting hammered, getting through to them yesterday was really hard, although easier this morning.

Lots of people sharing it on BT, though: I got my ISO image yesterday from ttorrents and have been reinstalling on all of my machines with it. It is just Synaptic that is really slow when it does get through to the archive servers.

Anyway, I think it is a great new chapter in the Ubuntu saga, and I am moving along in my plans to leave Windws and move everything to Ubuntu. I do feel that there is a lot of momentum out there (and especially in France, lots of people using it!) for Ubuntu and that Vista is increasingly looking like Microsoft’s Vietnam.

What I don’t fully understand is this: why there is such a quality gap between XP (and Vista) and Ubuntu ? I don’t really believe in the magic of open source in the sense that I don’t see why open source should be intrisically a better process for developping software. Yet, with Ubuntu, it feels as though Linux is able to get more done with the same hardware and the whole OS feels lighter and just more stable. Are there significant under-the-hood innovations at the GNU/Linux level? Is that a consequence of the kernel architecture versus a more monolithic approach for Microsoft?

Compiz and Beryl merging

Through slashdot: http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/02/1815214&from=rss

On one hand, it is good news and might even bode well for the free software movement as a whole: might the threat of adoption push the developers into adopting adifferent approach and stop forking and having schims all over the place?

On the other, I am worried the cutting edge approach of Beryl will “infect” the whole project and make it unusable.  Some of us still have to use the damn computer to do things, not just hack.  How about a super stable version, easy to install, nice to look at but not super innovative and an unstable one for the wild at heart?

One size fits all

I have been thinking a lot about Microsoft lately and why they don’t seem to be able to keep up with the Mac or my beloved Ubuntu. After all, Microsoft still employs some of the best brains on Earth, gives them good salaries and nice working environments, so why can’t they ship an OS in time and when they do ship it, it looks so lackluster?

I think that Microsoft is still trying to ship an OS that is one-size fits all, i.e works for the developpers, the hackers, the power users and people who just want a box that switches itself on when they push the button to look at something on the Internet. In terms of UI, I just don’t see how it is possible to create a unified system that can fulfill everyone’s needs.

The situation is different for Apple, with a more unified customer base and less stringent demands. The situation is also different for Linux where the hackers and programmers have Gentoo when I have Ubuntu.

When I was a VC, people used to say that the PC industry would have to become a lot like the car industry, that is ship products that just work. The same metaphor could also mean that there should be a diversity of platforms that just isn’t here yet: we are still pretty much in the Ford T era, where everyone can have a different car provided it is a black Model T and everyone can have a PC provided it is running Windows.

Are we seeing a new world where a diversity of OSs mean we have reached some kind of maturity and not everyone is satisfied by the same product? Should Microsoft give up on ubiquity?

Compiz on a Intel 945GM

When I tested Feisty, I did not think much of the 3D desktop effects: OK, the windows got all soft when you moved them around and it was fun to look at but, really, who cares?

I had a bit of free time this week-end and I started trying to upgrade my Edgy install on my laptop. Ubuntu is becoming my main OS on that machine and I am booting in Windows less and less… And to think I thought I’d have to wait for Feisty for that to happen!

Anyway, I first tried Beryl and gave up when faced with the very complex install instructions. I then turned my attention to Compiz, which was fairly simple to install. By the way, I do recommend 915resolution if you have one of the supported Intel graphic cards: it is a really nice hack and perfectly safe as far as I can tell! It made theCompiz install a lot easier and prettier to look at (sharper fonts, etc.).

Then a new session and the fireworks started: wiggling windows, but also tranparency, a lot of shortcuts for rearranging windows, thus many, many windows open without any performance impact nor getting lost at any time. It is so good I could ditch my desktop PC with its gigantic screen for 100% laptop-based computing, which I have never been able to achieve in 10 years on Windows.

Overall, I think Compiz ia a *great* piece of software not just for the eye-candy but because it gives a huge boost to the average user’s productivity. Being able to maneuver easily between lots of windows and several work spaces (now 4) means the interface does not stand between me and my work but feels a lot more intuitive and fluid.

Overall, it is pretty addictive (not all of my other machines support it and it shows) and, yes, it does impress even the most jaded users!