Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
For years, we’ve had a bit of a giggle, poking fun at Microsoft whenever they’ve done something even remotely bad, like collecting usage data. With the release of Ubuntu 12.10, it’s Canonical’s turn to do something shockingly bad, by sending your keystrokes to Facebook, Amazon, and other partners. It’s a feature that’s turned on by default. Even worse, there’s no consent window warning you Canonical is going to record your Unity dash search keystrokes, only a tiny info button at the bottom-right of the dash which leads to a quite scary looking notice (right).
This “feature” can be turned off via the Privacy panel in System Settings, but it’s on by default and not very obvious unless you happen to click on that small info button.
If you can get past that, there’s a lot going on in this new release.
I tested Ubuntu 12.10 on an HP Compaq 6710b notebook which has a Core 2 Duo T7100 1.8 GHz CPU (2 cores), 2 GB RAM, Intel GM965 graphics (256 MB), and an 80 GB hard drive.
The installation went off without a hitch, and no work was required to get the wireless working. The only feature on the notebook which didn’t work out-of-the-box was the integrated fingerprint reader. Unity performance is good with 2GB of RAM. It feels a bit snappier than 12.04 did, and I rarely get application crashes, though they do happen sometimes.
The first obvious change is the addition of the ability to remotely log in to another machine via RDP, directly from the login screen. This means you don’t actually have to be logged in to the computer sitting in front of you to remotely log into another computer, a handy feature in mixed networks where you have to log into Windows machines.
The next obvious change is the addition of the Amazon store to the Unity panel, which lead me to finding out about Unity’s new web application integration. Popular websites like Gmail, Facebook, and OMGUbuntu are better integrated into Unity: a pop-up appears asking if you want to install. Integration adds features like being able to access your messages from the mail drop down at the top of the screen.
Social networks are also integrated better in Ubuntu 12.10. Not only do networks appear in the top panel, but they’re searchable through the Unity lens, if you have the network configured. This is a really handy feature when you’re trying to remember who tweeted a particular message hundreds of tweets ago. I tested searching identi.ca messages.
Perhaps the coolest feature that’s been added is the ability to preview certain content in Unity, music for example. Right clicking on search results brings up information about the music, and sometimes a preview of the music. Occasionally, parts of entire albums can be previewed before paying to download the music.
Preview also works for movies, pictures, and documents, though previews for movies actually open up Firefox and run on Youtube. Picture preview allows you to email the previewed picture, but here’s where some of that web application integration falls down. Picture/Document attachments default to Thunderbird (which I didn’t have set up) rather than Google Mail.
The Ubuntu Software Centre has video previews for some programs. The video previews I checked out were all through Vimeo, a strange mix using Youtube in the Unity lens and Vimeo in USC. Software Centre video previews can be expanded to full-screen. I spoke with friends using Ubuntu 12.04 and Ubuntu 12.10, and the few who have been buying apps said they haven’t had any problems so far.
Ubuntu 12.10 is an improvement from a performance standpoint. Canonical has introduced a few new features, but the features need work before they are really useful. And, for some of those features, sending keystrokes to Amazon/Facebook/etc, Canonical should get a slap on the wrist.