Ubuntu does what Microsoft couldn't?

Ubuntu for tablets revealed with split screen multi-tasking, preview for Nexus slates coming this week

This is very different to what Windows offers, for example, with its separate WP8, RT and Windows 8 versions. In fact, Mark Shuttleworth claims to have "cracked this one in a way that has eluded Microsoft," not least because Ubuntu's approach means that smartphone- and tablet-sized apps can run side-by-side on the same device in split screen mode. For example, you could have the Skype phone app running at the same time as a tablet document editor. This feature will be called "side stage," and judging from the video -- which is all we have to go on at this point -- it looks like a nifty approach to multi-tasking, and perhaps slightly more flexible that Samsung's multi-window solution in TouchWiz.

Ubuntu for tablets revealed with split screen multi-tasking, preview for Nexus slates coming this week

I think there will be interesting times ahead.

 

[Ray8]

I wanted to try Ubuntu a while ago, so I installed it on my Dell. Wi Fi was broken, Ubuntu didn't support the wireless drivers. Fail. I tried my wife's newer, better Dell. Same thing. It looks interesting, but its not made to just work. I'm not going through the painful process of using the terminal to manually fix the OSs shortcomings.

I've tried Ubuntu and Mint, and every version has installed perfectly. They've picked up my network (WiFi and LAN), my network printers etc immediately. The setup and installation has been no more, no less, painful than any version of Windows. I have had no requirement to use the terminal at any time.

 

[sashlon]

Lucky you

 

[MrShowdown]

I wanted to try Ubuntu a while ago, so I installed it on my Dell. Wi Fi was broken, Ubuntu didn't support the wireless drivers. Fail. I tried my wife's newer, better Dell. Same thing. It looks interesting, but its not made to just work. I'm not going through the painful process of using the terminal to manually fix the OSs shortcomings.

I've tried Ubuntu and Mint, and every version has installed perfectly. They've picked up my network (WiFi and LAN), my network printers etc immediately. The setup and installation has been no more, no less, painful than any version of Windows. I have had no requirement to use the terminal at any time.

It is usual for desktops, but not on laptops.
Usually ubuntu doesnt have the drivers built in if you install it on a laptop.

 

[Hopachi]

Lucky you

That perfect install works here as well, but only on one or two PC's from the bunch.

 

[mcnulty]

Don't worry, coming from Canonical, it will never get past the vaporware stage. Remember Ubuntu TV? That's right, no one does either.

 

[msdos622wasfun]

What's with all this competition and promising stuff coming from all these different directions? Makes me a little nervous. I just bought a Surface RT, really like it, and I want to be King of the Hill for as long as possible without all these threats from other platforms. It's an ego thing................

 

[BillWindows]

What's with all this competition and promising stuff coming from all these different directions? Makes me a little nervous. I just bought a Surface RT, really like it, and I want to be King of the Hill for as long as possible without all these threats from other platforms. It's an ego thing................

I feel for you, it's a bit tough coming to a Windows Forum, hoping for some kind of kindred spirit and having all this other stuff going on. I think MS will ride out this media storm, it's just a bit tough at the moment.

if I didn't have so many tablets at the moment I'd have an RT as well, every time I play with one I nearly buy it. I'm still tossing up whether to get the RT or Pro eventually, although I'm not sure when I'll get to see a Pro.

 

[BillWindows]

I wanted to try Ubuntu a while ago, so I installed it on my Dell. Wi Fi was broken, Ubuntu didn't support the wireless drivers. Fail. I tried my wife's newer, better Dell. Same thing. It looks interesting, but its not made to just work. I'm not going through the painful process of using the terminal to manually fix the OSs shortcomings.

I've tried Ubuntu and Mint, and every version has installed perfectly. They've picked up my network (WiFi and LAN), my network printers etc immediately. The setup and installation has been no more, no less, painful than any version of Windows. I have had no requirement to use the terminal at any time.

It is usual for desktops, but not on laptops.
Usually ubuntu doesnt have the drivers built in if you install it on a laptop.

Linux is tough on a Notebook but then so is Windows if you do a clean install, you need to get all the drivers or you're in trouble, but at least you can find the drivers.

 

[msdos622wasfun]

What's with all this competition and promising stuff coming from all these different directions? Makes me a little nervous. I just bought a Surface RT, really like it, and I want to be King of the Hill for as long as possible without all these threats from other platforms. It's an ego thing................

I feel for you, it's a bit tough coming to a Windows Forum, hoping for some kind of kindred spirit and having all this other stuff going on. I think MS will ride out this media storm, it's just a bit tough at the moment.

if I didn't have so many tablets at the moment I'd have an RT as well, every time I play with one I nearly buy it. I'm still tossing up whether to get the RT or Pro eventually, although I'm not sure when I'll get to see a Pro.

Yeah, such is the nature of tech I guess. We all play the game, but the consensus seems to be that all this competition keeps everyone moving forward, otherwise there'd be no innovation at all. I'm fine with that, and of course it goes without saying that my original comment was to a large degree sarcastic. Part of the fun of all of this is watching how the stuff evolves and gets better.

But yeah, I love my Surface RT -- no regrets, although I think it's funny that the device has already displayed an error message box on two separate occasions while it was trying to shut down and/or reboot. But other than that everything is working fine. I guess all computers crash on occasion, no matter how perfect they try to make 'em.

 

[msdos622wasfun]

But anyway, back to the topic at hand, I think what they showed in that video looks very elegant. Ubuntu has really been looking very pretty lately. (I have it installed on my "smaller" 500 GB hard drive, on my main Windows 8 machine.)

 

[BillWindows]

What's with all this competition and promising stuff coming from all these different directions? Makes me a little nervous. I just bought a Surface RT, really like it, and I want to be King of the Hill for as long as possible without all these threats from other platforms. It's an ego thing................

I feel for you, it's a bit tough coming to a Windows Forum, hoping for some kind of kindred spirit and having all this other stuff going on. I think MS will ride out this media storm, it's just a bit tough at the moment.

if I didn't have so many tablets at the moment I'd have an RT as well, every time I play with one I nearly buy it. I'm still tossing up whether to get the RT or Pro eventually, although I'm not sure when I'll get to see a Pro.

Yeah, such is the nature of tech I guess. We all play the game, but the consensus seems to be that all this competition keeps everyone moving forward, otherwise there'd be no innovation at all. I'm fine with that, and of course it goes without saying that my original comment was to a large degree sarcastic. Part of the fun of all of this is watching how the stuff evolves and gets better.

But yeah, I love my Surface RT -- no regrets, although I think it's funny that the device has already displayed an error message box on two separate occasions while it was trying to shut down and/or reboot. But other than that everything is working fine. I guess all computers crash on occasion, no matter how perfect they try to make 'em.

Yeah I've even had numerous App crashes on my iPad and a couple of reboots, such is the nature of the beast.

 

[R0bR]

I find it funny how on one hand tech bloggers slam Microsoft for Windows 8, is it for desktop or Tablets? Why a desktop on Surface RT? Same UI across desktop, phone and Tablets, is Microsoft crazy? Now Ubuntu is basically doing the same thing and tech media are giddy over it. Talk about hypocrisy.

As for my view of it, looks interesting and competition is always good it keeps everyone on their toes. Although they've clearly taken ideas from Windows, Android and Apple and slammed them altogether into their UI.

 

[Ray8]

I find it funny how on one hand tech bloggers slam Microsoft for Windows 8, is it for desktop or Tablets? Why a desktop on Surface RT? Same UI across desktop, phone and Tablets, is Microsoft crazy? Now Ubuntu is basically doing the same thing and tech media are giddy over it. Talk about hypocrisy.

As for my view of it, looks interesting and competition is always good it keeps everyone on their toes. Although they've clearly taken ideas from Windows, Android and Apple and slammed them altogether into their UI.

I'm not sure if what Canonical has shown is quite the same as what Microsoft is doing, some similarities yes, but this unifying of device OSes has been discussed for some time by all the big players. What Canonical has shown is the Ubuntu mobile phone working in parallel with the Ubuntu desktop ie, combining functions.

Windows 8 is either one or the other (app or desktop) at a time, but not both, and no connectivity in a similar manner to a Windows phone. What Microsoft seems to be doing is making the user interface look the same, but everything will still be separate in function.

 

[SIW2]

They have been developing it for quite some time - not sure where this idea of copying comes from.

Unity | Unity

 

[BillWindows]

I find it funny how on one hand tech bloggers slam Microsoft for Windows 8, is it for desktop or Tablets? Why a desktop on Surface RT? Same UI across desktop, phone and Tablets, is Microsoft crazy? Now Ubuntu is basically doing the same thing and tech media are giddy over it. Talk about hypocrisy.

As for my view of it, looks interesting and competition is always good it keeps everyone on their toes. Although they've clearly taken ideas from Windows, Android and Apple and slammed them altogether into their UI.

I'm not sure if what Canonical has shown is quite the same as what Microsoft is doing, some similarities yes, but this unifying of device OSes has been discussed for some time by all the big players. What Canonical has shown is the Ubuntu mobile phone working in parallel with the Ubuntu desktop ie, combining functions.

Windows 8 is either one or the other (app or desktop) at a time, but not both, and no connectivity in a similar manner to a Windows phone. What Microsoft seems to be doing is making the user interface look the same, but everything will still be separate in function.

Which big players have been talking about this for some time Ray.

What do you mean Windows 8 is either one or the other(app or desktop).

And you're saying Microsoft is not trying to bring everything together.

Please explain. (Well known Politician)

 

[Ray8]

I find it funny how on one hand tech bloggers slam Microsoft for Windows 8, is it for desktop or Tablets? Why a desktop on Surface RT? Same UI across desktop, phone and Tablets, is Microsoft crazy? Now Ubuntu is basically doing the same thing and tech media are giddy over it. Talk about hypocrisy.

As for my view of it, looks interesting and competition is always good it keeps everyone on their toes. Although they've clearly taken ideas from Windows, Android and Apple and slammed them altogether into their UI.

I'm not sure if what Canonical has shown is quite the same as what Microsoft is doing, some similarities yes, but this unifying of device OSes has been discussed for some time by all the big players. What Canonical has shown is the Ubuntu mobile phone working in parallel with the Ubuntu desktop ie, combining functions.

Windows 8 is either one or the other (app or desktop) at a time, but not both, and no connectivity in a similar manner to a Windows phone. What Microsoft seems to be doing is making the user interface look the same, but everything will still be separate in function.

Which big players have been talking about this for some time Ray.

What do you mean Windows 8 is either one or the other(app or desktop).

And you're saying Microsoft is not trying to bring everything together.

Please explain.

Apple for one has been considering this for some time, as has Android (or more to the point, Android device manufacturers). As an Android geek, I thought you would have been aware of this: ASUS - Mobile- ASUS PadFone.

You can't run a desktop program and an app at the same time with Windows 8, nor can you connect you mobile phone to your PC/tablet and operate the phone from that PC/Tablet (like the development concept shown in the Ubuntu video).

Again, you assume to much from what I post and always take it in the most negative way possible. Microsoft is trying to bring things together, but clearly in a different way. The Ubuntu video shows some very good potential.

Please comprehend.

 

[pparks1]

I wanted to try Ubuntu a while ago, so I installed it on my Dell. Wi Fi was broken, Ubuntu didn't support the wireless drivers. Fail. I tried my wife's newer, better Dell. Same thing. It looks interesting, but its not made to just work. I'm not going through the painful process of using the terminal to manually fix the OSs shortcomings.

Well, you can place much of that blame on the hardware vendors themselves, who don't provide any driver support. You do realize that hardware doesn't just work in Windows right? The hardware was made for Windows and the drivers were supplied to Microsoft to include in the OS. I would wager a bet that your wireless chip was a broadcom!

 

[BillWindows]

I'm not sure if what Canonical has shown is quite the same as what Microsoft is doing, some similarities yes, but this unifying of device OSes has been discussed for some time by all the big players. What Canonical has shown is the Ubuntu mobile phone working in parallel with the Ubuntu desktop ie, combining functions.

Windows 8 is either one or the other (app or desktop) at a time, but not both, and no connectivity in a similar manner to a Windows phone. What Microsoft seems to be doing is making the user interface look the same, but everything will still be separate in function.

Which big players have been talking about this for some time Ray.

What do you mean Windows 8 is either one or the other(app or desktop).

And you're saying Microsoft is not trying to bring everything together.

Please explain.

Apple for one has been considering this for some time, as has Android (or more to the point, Android device manufacturers). As an Android geek, I thought you would have been aware of this: ASUS - Mobile- ASUS PadFone.

You can't run a desktop program and an app at the same time with Windows 8, nor can you connect you mobile phone to your PC/tablet and operate the phone from that PC/Tablet (like the development concept shown in the Ubuntu video).

Again, you assume to much from what I post and always take it in the most negative way possible. Microsoft is trying to bring things together, but clearly in a different way. The Ubuntu video shows some very good potential.

Please comprehend.

I comprehend okay. Tim Cook,"You can't combine a Fridge and a Toaster" Guess what he was talking about.

Show me an Android PC.

As far as I'm aware only MS is making an effort to bring all three together.

You can snap a desktop and an App together, and they all seem to get along together in the task bar.

Please comprehend.

 

[Coke Robot]

I never really got into Ubuntu. I tried it out for a while and explored it top to bottom, it's just meh at best. It's not offering me anything I'm not already getting, and I found that it would be offering me less than Windows simply due to app support.

If Canonical wants to play in the big league of Windows, they need to get that first.

 

[BillWindows]

I never really got into Ubuntu. I tried it out for a while and explored it top to bottom, it's just meh at best. It's not offering me anything I'm not already getting, and I found that it would be offering me less than Windows simply due to app support.

If Canonical wants to play in the big league of Windows, they need to get that first.

Its not that bad really, I used it for years, but only as an adjunct to Windows. There are some pretty neat Linux variations around, some specially made for entertainment, some for repairs to PC's and others to stick on a small thumb drive like Puppy Linux. I enjoyed playing around with Linux, but they're still not Windows.