Ubuntu 13.04 shaping up to be one of the best in my opinion

[Roasted]

That is true, however, everything (including the extended shopping sources) is shut off when you hit that "off" button in your privacy settings...

@Roasted: I actually make very little use of the dash...i find that with unity, it is best to put all your favorites as well as frequently used apps on it, for quick and easy "1 click access"...
The only time i use dash (search) is for a rarely used app (like the terminal) and then it's just a matter of typing a few letters and there it is...using it much like you would use the search on say, a kde "kick off" (slab) menu...I don't bother with the various lenses for accessing apps or files...i go directly to my home folder for anything i need (videos, mp3 files, photos, etc)...

Using unity in that manner makes it very easy to use...

Right, and I happen to agree with you. The curve ball is just because you and I don't use it, it doesn't make that dash menu any less cluttered. It's still a headache for mouse centric users. I'm a very keyboard centric user, but I saw immediately how obnoxious it was to explain to my mother and my wife how to find applications in Unity. I found it significantly easier to have them TYPE the application to bring it up, which is undoubtedly exponentially nicer than navigating to the applications via clicking. That said, their DE's may be changing for the next upgrade, as both have expressed interest in "whatever you have running on your laptop."

There's the Drawers PPA that lets users organize their stuff better in the Launcher. So there may not be need to visit the Dash. Of course, one has to take the initial steps of organizing things correctly.

That sounds pretty promising actually. Taking the initial steps to organize things in accordance to how the user wants is an inevitable step regardless of what OS you use. No OS comes out of the box 110% with the icons placed where you want them, shortcuts arranged accordingly, etc. I'm thankful for PPAs that enable users to have extended access to things, just like how I'm using a different launcher that's not yet integrated to KDE. I hope someday that functionality is baked into Unity. Needing a series of 3rd party applications just to customize simple parameters of my interface feels like my Windows days.

[BenyaminL]

Quantum Pretzel (LOL)

What a name, pretty good! But i wanna know, when 13.xx version will provide LTS like 12.04, i'm still using 12.04, and then can i know, how much team increased that when booting? can you give a specific time? i think if ubuntu 13.04 much better then 12.04, i'll switch, i have look the UI, but not to much, i hope so in the new version gwibber fixed facebook and add google+ and opera be the defaulft browser on ubuntu, because in indonesia many user run in slow connection only opera turbo (in opera 14 will called off-road mode) that can increase the time to acessed the site. i hope so opera mail become the default ubuntu mail client, because it's intergrated in one on opera browser, quiet good and fast, also low bandwith. thx

[cariboo]

Quantum Pretzel (LOL)

What a name, pretty good! But i wanna know, when 13.xx version will provide LTS like 12.04, i'm still using 12.04, and then can i know, how much team increased that when booting? can you give a specific time? i think if ubuntu 13.04 much better then 12.04, i'll switch, i have look the UI, but not to much, i hope so in the new version gwibber fixed facebook and add google+ and opera be the defaulft browser on ubuntu, because in indonesia many user run in slow connection only opera turbo (in opera 14 will called off-road mode) that can increase the time to acessed the site. i hope so opera mail become the default ubuntu mail client, because it's intergrated in one on opera browser, quiet good and fast, also low bandwith. thx

Ubuntu only releases an LTS version every two years, so the next one will be released in April of 2014. If you have problems with any programs/packages, please create bug reports on bugs.launchpad.net.

As far as seeing Opera as the default browser, it's not going to happen, as now that Opera will be based on Chromium, we'll just see a duplication of effort, you could just as well use Chromium and bypass any extras the Opera developers add.

[3rdalbum]

Unfortunately, no matter how good the testers think it is, on release we'll see the usual flood of complaints about "buggiest Ubuntu ever" and "change for the sake of change" and "Ubuntu is selling out and becoming commercial".

Not to mention the storm that will arise over the smart Scopes...

[iamkuriouspurpleoranj]

^Yes and no. I think some people will have already decided not to like 13.04 regardless, e.g. people who claim that 12.04 is buggy and unstable, which it isn't at all.

However, that doesn't change the fact that 12.10 was released with imperfections that could have and should have been spotted and ironed out.

You can't do anything about unfair criticism. It is by its nature unfair. On the other hand, if 13.04 isn't released as polished as the developers can make it, then they should expect and be prepared to answer legitimate criticism from disappointed users.

From Dedoimedo's Kubuntu 12.10 review:

...whenever a release like Quetzal comes, you get sobered up instantly, thrown back six or seven years or so. You must hate the people making these stupid business decisions. Amazon search yes, stability no. Get your sh*tty priorities sorted out. If I can't use my desktop, everything else is meaningless.

[kaldor]

Ubuntu only releases an LTS version every two years, so the next one will be released in April of 2014. If you have problems with any programs/packages, please create bug reports on bugs.launchpad.net.

As far as seeing Opera as the default browser, it's not going to happen, as now that Opera will be based on Chromium, we'll just see a duplication of effort, you could just as well use Chromium and bypass any extras the Opera developers add.

Opera is *not* based on Chromium. Where did you hear this?

My understanding is that Opera ditched Presto for WebKit. Switching the rendering engine for another is not the same as rebasing the browser on something else. There are already some examples of this in the FOSS community with Epiphany/Web (Gecko replaced by WebKit) and Konqueror (KHTML replaced by WebKit).

[craig10x]

Yes...re-branded Chromium with a few modifications...here is an article from softpedia about it....the Opera developers stated that it is indeed, chromium based...
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Opera...s-329082.shtml

[Paqman]

And indeed direct from the horse's mouth:

It's built using the open-source Chromium browser as one of its components.

I thought it was just a switch to Webkit too, but it turns out they've gone all in.

[rk0n]

I've got hopes for 13.04, and Ubuntu in general. I'm one of those users that first used Linux for something different, totally configurable, and that I had a lot more control over. But, after reading WHY the launcher is on the left the way it is, and the reasons behind it.. I'm inclined to agree. It still bothers me on this laptop, since it's only a 15" screen, but on a 19" or larger screen I think the launcher on the left is a great idea.

[kaldor]

Wow, I guess I was wrong. Pretty surprising change for Opera.