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Welcome to Ubuntu 11.10: Oneiric Ocelot

The new Ubuntu cat is ready to play.
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Welcome to Ubuntu. Yes, that’s the new and improved Unity interface. If you want an old style GNOME interface, , look to Mint Linux. Want to try the new GNOME shell, see Fedora. Ubuntu’s default desktop is going to stay Unity.

Here's the full review.

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If you can’t find the application or file you’re looking for on Unity’s left menu bar, you can use Unity’s Dash interface. This is a combination desktop search engine and file and application interface.

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Can’t recall where you put something? Let Ubuntu Dash do the job for you. With its instant search, it’s quite handy.

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For Web browsing Ubuntu uses the latest version of Firefox. Notice how Unity places this known application is in full-screen mode.

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Need an application’s menu Unity’s sidebar menu from a full-screen application? Just move your pointer to the top of the screen for the application’s menu and to the left side of the screen for the Unity side menu.

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Ubuntu, for reasons I don’t get, have decided to replace Evolution with Thunderbird for its e-mail client. I found it slow as a standalone client, but it worked OK as an interface for Gmail.

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Need a new application? Then check out Ubuntu’s built-in app. store: the Ubuntu Software Center.

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In the Ubuntu Software Center, each application comes with a useful description, reviews, and one click installation. Now, does anyone still think installing programs in Linux is hard?

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The Oneiric Ocelot also comes with built-in integration with online services. Here, for example, I’ve set up my Ubuntu desktop to work automatically with my various Google accounts. No fuss, no muss.

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Ubuntu also works well with your local networks. Here, for example, I’m looking at a pair of Samba server networks and a Windows 2008 R2 Active Directory network.

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For music, Ubuntu integrates the Banshee media player. It, in turn, can use its own music libraries, networked music sources, and Internet-based music services.

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Ubuntu is a Linux desktop that’s meant to work hand-in-glove with the cloud. Ubuntu One, the system’s cloud service, can also be used with Windows, iPhones and Android devices.

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You control how much bandwidth Ubuntu gets to use for its cloud services.

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Like all Linuxes, Ubuntu makes it easy to run multiple desktops at one time.

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