So it’s been two weeks since I started using Ubuntu 7.04. I have to say that it has been a very interesting experience so far. To say that it has been easy and seamless would be a lie. However, I have to say that I’ve been able to do 99% of the things that I set out to do. Now that I’ve spent some time digging into the system I wanted to write a follow-up piece to my initial review. The goal isn’t to trash or gush over Ubuntu in any way. The goal is to point out things that I’ve run across in trying to make the transition from a polished, commercial package like Windows XP\Vista to a polished, open-source package like Ubuntu 7.04.

1. Look and Feel

My initial impression of Ubuntu 7.04 was that it had a clean, nondescript look. The tan background and big blocky icons were a throwback to Windows 95 days to my eyes. It wasn’t that it was bad, it just wasn’t flashy or fun. Note to the world - I understand that flashy and fun are not needed. I get that flashy and fun get in the way of actually doing work. Still, I like eye candy as much as the next guy. I can only guess the minimalistic look has to do with making sure the system actually will load on most peoples machine instead of pulling a Vista (though truth be told the non-Aero UI in Vista is still nicer than the default Ubuntu settings). That’s a smart choice, but a boring one.

Well thanks to several readers who pointed out that unlike Windows, I didn’t have to live with the standard look and feel of the OS if I didn’t want to - I started to tweak things a bit. Everyone told me to check out Beryl and hold onto my socks. Well I did, and I held and well, I couldn’t understand what the fuss was about. Nothing looked any prettier. There was no cool themes I could switch to, the icons still sucked. (Note: I have switched to compiz-fusion and do like it better).

More Here.