Ubuntu 9.04 Beta: hit or miss? A computer support review

Ubuntu 9.04 Beta has been released.  This is the first test release to the public for this version.  The overall goal with this release is to improve speed and include web apps.  Well, one of two isn’t bad.  The speed has been improved dramatically with a now boot speed of 25 seconds.  This cut down the boot speed from 35% of the slower speed of the previous version.  Many people complained that the previous version made their computer slow so this will be a welcome improvement.

In regard to including applications, the mundane process and availability overall hasn’t been improved.  Some incompatibilities with applications still cause roadblocks.  Further, the desktop screen and overall theme is still the old boring brown and orange colors.  You can change the color theme, however, to something more lively.  You can adjust the screen to a more aero or transparent look like in Windows Vista and Apple’s Leopard.

In regard to the rest of the functionality, Open Office is integrated as well as the other free applications.  But, there really haven’t been serious improvements.  So, if you’re on an older Ubuntu, stay on it.  This would have been a total miss of a version if it hadn’t been for the peppier boot and processing time.