Many of you know that I run Ubuntu Linux as my primary operating system. As of a little more than a month ago, I have been running the latest test version (7.10), code named Gutsy Gibbon. Gutsy has proven to be extremely stable, reliable, and relatively quick. When you consider the fact that it isn't even considered to be beta quality, things look pretty bright.
Of course, there is a down side to all of this. Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon will be released on October 18, which means development work has kicked up to a frenzy. All of the different groups responsible for all of the different software that will make it into the latest release have to compile, test, and submit their software for final inclusion. This means most developers are going flat out, and not concerning themselves with what functionality they may be breaking. In the past few weeks, there have been several issues that I've experienced due to installing updates.
This may seem like a bad thing to most people, but in reality it isn't. Microsoft and Apple don't allow their users to interact with their products at such an early stage, which turns out to be a bad thing. What I have found is that with more people actually using and testing your software at a very early stage, you will receive better quality and more significant bug reports. Basically, that is to say if I change one piece of software out of 2500 and a bug crops up, my users can more readily identify what has caused the bug, and I can therefore fix it faster. If I were to just dump 2500 pieces of software onto someone's desk, it would potentially take them months to test every single one.
Anyway, I will be blogging more about Gutsy in the coming weeks leading up to its release. I will also most likely try to find ways to help developers better work with the Dell Vostro series of notebooks. Currently, I have a few issues when suspending and hibernating my new laptop. This is the first time I've had such issues on a Laptop with Linux, and I'd love to be able to assist in solving them.