Ubuntu 9.10 Linux creator calls Windows 7 'excellent release'

[dhilipkumar]

Ubuntu 9.10 Linux creator calls Windows 7 'excellent release'

"It's a substantial improvement on the past. Even on netbooks, it's a credible release," Shuttleworth said today during a conference call launching the Ubuntu 9.10 operating system.

Ubuntu 9.10's launch five days after Windows 7's is no coincidence. For the past several years, Ubuntu has carried the Linux community's flag in its valiant-but-so-far-unsuccessful attempts to erode Windows' dominance in the desktop PC market.

Ubuntu and Linux generally continue to be hamstrung by the operating system's technically forbidding image, its smaller selection of applications and games, device compatibility issues, and the reluctance of PC makers to preinstall Linux, due to its lack of popularity and the desire to keep good relations with Microsoft.


But Shuttleworth sees three potential openings for Ubuntu and other desktop alternatives to Microsoft's OS. First, Microsoft is continuing to hawk Windows XP to netbook makers, despite the eight-year-old operating system being a "ghost" of a platform at this point, he said.

Second, Microsoft hopes PC makers will adopt the pricier Windows 7 Starter Edition over XP despite what Shuttleworth describes as "significant restrictions" on its capabilities compared with full-fledged versions of Windows 7.

Finally, Windows "remains a proprietary and relatively expensive piece of technology

computerworld