I'm not alone in my opinion that the latest Ubuntu Linux version - 8.04 LTS was disappointing. I moved to Linux in early 2005 when the first iteration of Ubuntu became available, since then I have really enjoyed using the platform, it's software and the nice feeling that you're using a combination FOSS projects instead of commercial ones.

Late 2007 I bought a Mac Mini, it was quite a random purchase, I guess I wanted to have a play with OS and quite fancied using it just for media things, video editing, song composing and photography related things as after views a few demo vids of iLife '08, I thought the Mac seemed like a pretty good platform for these type of things. Anyway, enough about Macs...

The latest version of Ubuntu is perhaps visually the nicest, the icons have been tweaked again amongst other things. The problem is that Ubuntu seems to have changed a little, the worst thing being the Xorg setup. Ubuntu now seems to be less reliant on the xorg.conf file and favours magically detecting your resolution via your monitors, EDID. When it works it's great, however, when it doesn't I have no idea how to fix it. The latest Ubuntu feels as if things have changed and I must rediscover how to fix them by scouring the Internet. After becoming accustomed to the Mac I began to wonder if I should even bother doing this.

I'm getting older and busier and I feel the times when I could sit down in front of a computer for hours taking pleasure in working out how to fix X, Y and Z are now gone. Instead, I'm now lazy, I want things to work first time as advertised. The Mac, so far, has indeed offered this. My biggest reservations about using the Mac are that it lacks some of the great software I have been used to using, in most places I have found alternatives often with price tags however. Perhaps the thing I liked the most about Linux was the geeky side, having a terminal to hand whenever one should need it, being about to get under the hood. The power to hack if one desires to do so, this in large is still available on the Mac. The terminal and all it's lovely commands are still here because it's a UNIX OS, commands that are missing can be easily added via Darwin Ports or Mac Ports. I began to asses the two operating systems and found that for me, OS X comes favourable close to Linux and in some ways can surpass it. However... the thought of having to support the latest iteration of Ubuntu Hardy Heron did not sit well and as such provided the tipping point in me jumping ship to OS X.

In closing I would like to say that my opinion of Hardy Heron stands on no technical ground and is simply an opinion based up on the "feel" and tasks needed to perform to customise it for my usage based upon comparison to previous version of Ubuntu. I have not given up on the platform and will no doubt revisit it somewhere along the line. I'm still a Linux and Ubuntu fan despite this seemingly negative post



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