Ubuntu is an operating system based off of a Linux platform that is offered for free download at the company website. Since my desktop computer crapped out on me this summer (I lost just about all of my saved e-mails going back to the late 90’s when it died), I thought that it might be time for a change – at least for the desktop. My laptop that I’m writing this on is still running Windows Media Center and I plan to upgrade to Vista when that system is available.

Anyway, downloading Ubuntu was a bit of a pain because it began downloading at incredibly slow speeds on Firefox and after waiting an hour and a half and getting only half of the system downloaded, it just stopped. At that point I flipped over to Internet Explorer and the 700MB system downloaded in about a half an hour. Hmmm…maybe Microsoft knows when you’re pissed off about their operating system and they try to impress you on the way out!

The next step was to burn the Ubuntu .ISO to a DVD, which was easy enough. I used this DVD to install the software on my desktop computer in a process that was simple enough to do, yet was not as graphically-friendly as the Windows installation. By that I mean the computer just sat there and installed the system without letting me know whether or not anything was happening. Having a Microsoft-mindset, I figured that no news was bad news and almost turned off the machine! But, as it turns out, the operating system did install on the computer.

The only thing left was to try out the new system…which I couldn’t even do! After restarting my computer to give the new OS a shot, the “Bug Buddy” continually popped up and told me that the Gnome interface wasn’t working. What does that mean? It means that the equivalent of the Windows Start Menu and toolbar would not load. I struggled with this problem for about a half an hour and then I had to go to sleep, but not before I submitted a report to the Ubuntu folks. Oh, and through my browsing on the internet, I’ve found that others have had the same problems.

So my thoughts on the Ubuntu 6.10 operating system are none. I do not suggested downloading it or installing it until these basic bugs are fixed. I may try downloading and installing the 6.06 version of Ubuntu, but I think it’s a little disingenuous to put up a “new” operating system that doesn’t quite operate!

I’ll post more on my Ubuntu experience when there’s more to post.