Ubuntu 14.10 Happened for me!

As I wrote earlier, I continued to do some online research on the latest offering of Ubuntu -- 14.10, to see if any good/adverse comments were made by early updaters, more cautious than myself. I was pleased to note that, at the time of writing, nobody had anything much different to write about the OS, other than what I'd indicated in the linked post. I continued to toy with the idea of installing the update, while tweaking my existing Desktop (Ubuntu 14.04) when the software updater flashed, letting me know that an update was available -- a Library update, which I promptly authorized. After it had downloaded and installed itself, (serendipity!) it confirmed this in a notification and, in small print below, reminded me that an updated version of my OS (14.10) was available if I wanted. I decided to go ahead and install it!

One of the leading websites on Ubuntu -- Ubuntu Insights -- had this to say on 14.10, thus strengthening my resolve to complete the process: "This release focuses on the developer experience, overall quality, and brings a number of important features and security enhancements. The Ubuntu desktop continues to be intuitive, easy to use and reliable for users all over the world."

Installation itself was as easy as the previous version, with me having to do very little but read, click and wait. Oh, yes ... I was warned about the waiting time by the software itself! It told me approximately two hours, but the whole thing was over in just under an hour -- possibly because I don't have that much software installed on it anyway and the packages to be downloaded were a mere 1500 or thereabouts.

Once the preparation stage was over, I did encounter an error but, as this had something to do with my existing hardware (remember, I'd written about this earlier as well?), I didn't worry too much about it and continued getting new packages, installing upgrades, and ... waiting.

The wait was worth it for me because, once the system had rebooted itself, there were about a further 20 seconds to restart and a further 20 seconds to bring up the login screen ... not much at all, and I was extremely happy to see my desktop and all my software, tweaks, personalizations, untouched (or restored) without a blemish.

And indeed, my default applications including LibreOffice, Firefox and Rhythmbox, were also updated to the latest versions and features. On the internals, write Ubuntu Insights, "Ubuntu 14.10 runs the 3.16 kernel which offers better support for Power8 and ARM 64 architectures and graphics support for NVIDIA and AMD graphics as well as Intel’s Haswell, Broadwell, Merrifield and upcoming Cherryview chips. The kernel gives an improved audio experience with support for the Radeon H.264 video encoder." Not that I had any such advanced stuff on my older laptop, but it was nice to know. Also, I understand, there were improvements in suspend and resume times.

Incidentally, I was also glad to note that Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, are doing a great deal "to make open source software available to people everywhere." Jane Silber, the CEO comments,"As Ubuntu becomes the open-source standard in so many markets, our portfolio continues to flourish. I can’t imagine a better place to work."

As I mentioned earlier, I am impressed with the strides Ubuntu has made between my first dabbling inn 2007/2008 and today. Good work, Ubuntu Team!