On the other hand, I have a fully updated Ubuntu 12.04 and I can Alt-Tab between Firefox and LibreOffice just fine (I just checked).

Sounds like a very annoying bug, but not a design decision. I wish I had a solution but because I can't reproduce it I don't have anything to offer. You may want to report the bug in the Unity bugtracker on Launchpad.

They haven't. The Unity desktop manager works just as it is designed to do, with a simple elegance that maxmizes screen space for your applications and a very useful Alt-` and Alt-Tab switcher. In addition, new users understand and can use the system quickly. When giving presentations to college students and other non-Linux users, the reaction has been "Oh wow, that looks great" every single time. Even my dad said "wow, they've really been polishing Ubuntu, haven't they?" the first time he saw Unity.

This is a feature, not a bug.

Good news! There's no way an astronomy app would ever use the camera to identify what you're seeing.

They use GPS to determine your location and then the on-board accelerometers to determine device orientation, and then they show you what's on the other side of the phone based on that.

Sure, until God rats you out again. ;)

You boot into a Live CD first and install from there for two reasons:

1. This is a computer that has never has Linux installed on it and you can find out really quickly if it's likely to have its hardware supported.
2. You can use the computer while installing. Especially when older machines can take 45-60 minutes, it can be really nice to have a Web browser or music player available.

I remember my old Slackware CD from 1995 having ctetris on VT2 and how fascinating that was since Windows had no similar concept and how convenient it was for a 15yo, considering installs took a good 90 minutes. Having the Ubuntu Desktop CD be a live CD also makes it a very powerful system recovery tool, and that's worth it too.

I don't agree with the complaints that the alternate install CD is "too hard", although I definitely appreciate the considerably higher user experience provided by the current graphical installer. This is especially important now that Windows Vista and 7 do the same.

This is the definition of support.

Okay, those are all important things but nothing you described has to do with the kernel.

And did you not want to download your email client as a third-party application along with that? But the graphical framework, the desktop manager, and the widgets framework will all be third-party apps as well.

The kernel takes care of hardware support and basic I/O such as file systems and things. Everything else is a "third-party" app.

My favorite thing about buying a Kindle book, for example, is that I can then read it on any of my computers, either of my Android phones, or my Kindle e-reader. That convenience has been very enjoyable--especially since I don't bring my Kindle to a lot of places but I always have my phone.

Not everything you wrote makes sense, but I'd like to address some of your concerns. :)

I'm not sure what you mean by the GUI for apt-get. Ubuntu doesn't strictly have one of these although it has a few programs which fill the role: Ubuntu Software Center, Update Manager, and Synaptic. Ubuntu Software Center doesn't have a way to update the repository listings but Ubuntu will check for updates once a day if you're on the Internet so this should be automatic. That's not to say the feature wouldn't be useful. The other two programs have fairly clear methods for updates. I'd argue that Synaptic is the true front end for apt-get, and it's very comprehensive.

This has nothing to do with the package manager but with the Ubuntu repositories. This is probably something that can be fixed in in Debian and Ubuntu. It is annoying how some software lags behind. Sometimes PPAs (personal package archives) that individuals add can help with this but these can be risky as they aren't vetted like the rest of the OS.

As for sshd, it doesn't enable remote root access by password as Ubuntu ships with no root password.

GUIs for server daemons aren't unified because you can pick your favorite software package and use it. This gives you more power and choice with the drawback of needing to know how each package works. I disagree with your premise that a [system services configuration] GUI that doesn't support every possible package just shouldn't be shipped. I think it makes more sense to start with core functionality that's stable, ship what you have, and improve it rather than not ship or work on something at all. If the GUI tool proves unsuitable for your purposes, then it's easily ignored until such time as it is.

The "Ubuntu GUI" is more of a way to use the standard desktop stuff, not to administer a server. So unless you're referring to server administration tools specifically, I'm not sure I agree with your opinion that Ubuntu would be better off as a CLI-only OS.

First vote!

I love paper books but ebooks are so handy... I keep reference books in print and light reads electronic.

The WD TV Live HD Media Player does not contain the necessary hardware to support Netflix and some other commercial content providers, unfortunately. Happily, most of the other features of the WD TV Live Plus and even the WD TV Live Hub in many cases have been brought back to the WD TV Live where possible. As for Netflix Canada support on the WD TV Live Plus and WD TV Live Hub, this is supported and should be fully operational.

Western Digital KB 6612: NetFlix support in Canada for the WD TV Live Plus and Live Hub

Disclaimer: I am a technical support auditor for Western Digital.

Actually, there's an Ubuntu 6.06.1 LTS and 6.06.2 LTS, and 10.04.1 LTS and 10.04.2 LTS as well. Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS comes out on July 28th.

The LTS releases are supported for 3 years/5 years on the desktop/server, so the CD images are rerolled with updates every 6 months.

It does take a little getting used to. I still tap Super to bring up the Dash and then start typing away, but for casual browsing, well, I'm hoping there are improvements to be made. :) I don't think Unity is confusing at all. In fact, after using it for about two months I really enjoy it--although I really did have to give it a try and it's only been the last 3 weeks where it's really felt solid.

I don't see anything wrong with the GNOME 2 desktop with panels, but between Unity and GNOME Shell I definitely greatly prefer Unity. But what I'm most grateful for in Linux is that the desktop environment and window managers are all decoupled from each other and the OS itself so that we really do have as much choice as we're willing to configure.

That'd be the Applications Lens that comes up when you press Super+A or click on the application lens icon in the Launcher?

I never had the pleasure of using it. However, making things easier in Linux isn't "dumbing down" the operating system. It's simply making things more accessible. Done properly, the fancy GUI stuff just snaps together with the existing CLI and config file stuff and then you get to choose the most appropriate way to manage and configure your system. That's a win for absolutely everyone.

And that's what will keep Linux competitive--the ability to meet novice computer users alongside having the power and the efficiency for die-hard CLI lovers.