Rupert Goodwins

Rupert has worked at ZDNET UK, IT Week, PC Magazine, Computer Life, Mac User, Alfa Systems, Amstrad, Sinclair, Micronet 800, Marconi Space and Defence Systems, and a dodgy TV repair shop in the back streets of Plymouth. He can still swap out a gassy PL509 with the best of 'em. If you want to promote your company or product, fine -- but please tell me what it is and why it's interesting right up front in the message. PRs: the probability of a successful pitch can be calculated by the following handy formula applied to the details of your client's latest wheeze. 3NT x 4UP x 2BI x 5EAI = P(copy)3M^3 x 2ACE x 10L, where NT = New Technology, UP = Unique Product, BI = Beer Involved, EAI = Engineers Available for Interview, M = Marketing Managers, EMEA or Mornings, ACE = Already Covered Elsewhere (i.e. your American brethren have already spilled the beans) and L = the word Leading or Leader in the first para of the press release. Dear Engineer, Researcher or Inventor: Talk to me -- it's the new stuff that makes this game worthwhile.

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Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

<p><em>Editor's note:</em> This is an amended version of the original review, following further testing. </p><p> The Ubuntu update machine remains locked to its six-monthly cycle, more or less, with the release of Hardy Heron, officially labelled <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/804features/">Ubuntu 8.04</a>. With such regular spurts of evolution, there's far more in common with the last version &mdash; <a href="http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/software/os/0,1000001098,39290510,00.htm">Gutsy Gibbon (Ubuntu 7.10)</a> &mdash; than there is different. 8.04 is a Long Term Support (LTS) release, so parent company <a href="http://www.canonical.com/">Canonical</a> is promising support for three years on desktops and five on servers. The last LTS release was <a href="http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/software/os/0,1000001098,39273360,00.htm">6.06</a>, nearly two years ago: we are still running that release as a domestic media file server, where it's currently clocked up 150 days of uptime. </p>

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS

In the two years since it first appeared, <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a> -- an operating system based on <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> Linux with <a href="http://www.gnome.org/">GNOME</a> as its primary desktop environment -- has created enormous interest. By concentrating on usability and straightforward packaging, the Ubuntu community is making a sustained assault on behalf of mainstream acceptance for the free, open-source operating system. Version 6.06 LTS (Long Term Support) is claimed to be the most stable, usable and enterprise-ready Ubuntu distribution yet. It's available in 40 languages, with free community-based support and global enterprise-class support from <a href="http://www.canonical.com/">Canonical</a>, the company behind Ubuntu. There's also a growing number of companies offering local support for Ubuntu: the European list is <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/support/marketplace/europe">here</a>.