The Mobile Office Blog

I've had some time now to evaluate Ubuntu NBR on my Acer Aspire One and I've come to a simple simple conclusion...

...I LOVE IT!!!

I've not had a single compatibility issue nor any reliability issues.  I am able to function (very highly, might I add) with this OS on my netbook.  I've done a lot of different tasks with no issues.

For dealing with my multi-computer life I have the built in support of Ubuntu One.  I am able to store files locally and on the web through this built in file storage service.  Whether I am at my Netbook or my PC I have access to all of the files that I'm working on.

For dealing with MS Office documents I have the latest version of OpenOffice.  I am able to keep up with my Excel loving boss and my presentation loving peers using OpenOffice.  I've done massive analyses and written entire decks using OpenOffice and no one has caught me yet!  OpenOffice's compatibility with all of the regularly available MS products has saved me time and time again.

For dealing with images I have the GIMP.  I previously adopted the GIMP years ago when I realized that my pirated copy of PS2 was WAY out of date.  I've continued to use the GIMP and advise all of my cost concious friends to do the same.  The fact that it's baked in to Ubuntu NBR makes it even more user friendly.

For dealing with web development I have gedit, which I used to shun for vi on linux machines. No more!!!  vi has become a nightmare now that I have joined the ranks of the living!  gedit is a great editor and has awesome, built-in color coding and sdk capabilities for so many languages that I haven't even gotten to experience them all.

To sum it all up, if I were you I'd run out and get Ubuntu NBR for my netbook...and hey, you don't even need to actually run anywhere.  The best netbook OS can be found right now, even from your couch!

Whenever I rebuild my netbook, I have to go through the arduous process of getting the software tools that make this little computer a little more fun to use.  After a Windows install, I've got to run around the internet to find apps like Google Chrome, Firefox, OpenOffice, the GIMP, a lite twitter client, etc.  A lot of times I hit up download.com (cnet's download center) to look for interesting apps to try.  More often than not, I end of with something that doesn't meet my needs and the uninstall is more painful than finding the crapplication was.  I say...NO MORE!!!

Ubuntu's native Ubuntu Software Center is an App Store for Linux

Realizing that learning to use a standard Linux package manager (like rpm or yum) was a barrier to entry for those new to Linux, the Ubuntu community set out to make software installation and removal easy by following the app store paradigm.  With the Ubuntu Software Center, users can:

• Browse for applications by "Department"
• Search for applications by term
• "One-click" install applications
• "One-click" remove unwanted applications

Like other popular App Stores, when a user finds an app that they would like or is already installed, it's easy to see what to do!

Once an app is installed, there's no need to do anything to keep up to date with the latest version as the Ubuntu Software Center is integrated into the operating system and application updates will arrive auto-magically along with the regular system updates.  I'm glad to see that the Ubuntu community is hard a work bringing Linux to the masses! 

Well, my days of the using the free Windows 7 Release Candidate are over...I hate getting messages telling me that my computers going to shut down if I don't give M$ some money.

Looking back on my time with Windows 7 on my Acer Aspire One, I must say that I was very pleased with Microsoft's offering this time around!  I would suggest that anyone wanting to stay on Microsoft who already has a netbook running XP: Go for it!  I had no problems with the RC for the 6 or so months that I used it.  Windows 7 was so great that I actually upgraded my wife's Gateway laptop and my work laptop to the full version of 7. (It helps that my wife has a .edu address so she could purchase her Win7 license at a great price.)

Now on to Ubuntu Netbook Remix!  It was a really easy install and almost everything works!  Take a look:

I'll tell you more about it later.  Any specific questions you want answered, just put them in the comments!

I've recently read an post on getting Fedora 10 up and running on the Acer Aspire One (find a link on the Mobile Technology News page.)  If what is said is true, then I may get back to full hardware functionality with a full Linux distro yet.

Since I'm pretty busy here at HubSpot in Cambridge during the week I'm going to have to wait until the weekend to try it out.  Check back next week to see how it went.

I could have started this post with "Richard Stallman vs. the next thing that he doesn't have source to" but I decided to stay on point.

Guardian has posted and article in which Richard Stallman complains about Cloud Computing saying that web based services are a trap and we're all giving all of our precious data away to the big boys out there.

This type of comment is to be expected from Stallman, the founder of FSF and the creator of GNU who was featured prominently in the open source documentary "Revolution OS" from 2001.  His interviews and comments in the documentary reveal that he wants all source to be open and free. 

IMHO, his idealistic views lower his credibility on the subject...