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Things I like in Ubuntu

by Julien on December 6th, 2009

Though I haven’t used (and won’t use) Ubuntu, it has a few things I appreciate (as far as I know them):

Ubuntu One: I wish we could have something similar for Debian users (ideally, it should be extended so that we could sync our calendars, contacts, liferea data etc.).

usb-creator: seems the easiest way to create a bootable usb stick containing a complete and customisable environment. I am aware of the existence Debian Live, but I must say I haven’t given it a try yet.

Desktop orientation: Ubuntu users are in a large majority desktop users. Ubuntu is imho desktop-oriented, and I particularly like the artwork coherence (from boot loader to default desktop).

From → Weblog

13 Comments
  1. We’ll have Ubuntu One soon. I just filed the ITPs for it, and will probably upload it tomorrow (if it works with Python 2.5, I haven’t checked it yet; otherwise it may need a bit of porting). The relevant bugs are #559750, #559751 and #559752.

  2. RE: Ubuntu One… there is for debian users…. any OS type of user… it’s called Dropbox. Exact same thing.

    • … and usb-creator… it’s a linux package called ‘unetbootin’.

      This is nothing new either.

    • I didn’t know unetbootin. It doesn’t say if changes made to the distribution are persistent and if a space can be spared to the user’s data.

      Drawback for me is that is is in QT (I use GNOME, but that’s only a personal taste).

      I find this sentence written on the project homepage full of irony:

      If you are having trouble with the Linux version, try the Windows version, it usually works better.

    • I have no problems with Qt anymore since Qt4 applications now render themselves using GTK+ under GNOME.

    • The Dropbox client is non-free; the Ubuntu One client is completely free software.

  3. non-free permalink

    If only Ubuntu One wasn’t non-free, maybe you could have Debian One.

    • Do you mean it is closed source?

      If I understand others’ comments right, the client is free (free speech), but not the server part ?!

    • Yes, Julien, the client is free and consists of part licensed under the BSD license (configglue); AGPL 3 (storageprotocol) and GPL 3 (client).

    • The client is free, the server not.

  4. I am also a strong partisan of Dropbox vs Ubuntu One.
    Dropbox is really marvellous, and its most interesting feature is that it is multi-platform – One can’t stand the comparison for now.

    • But actually, what really interests me in One is contact and notes synchronising (I wish it could also deal with liferea data). Maybe it is easier with Iceweasel bookmarks.

      I tend to work on different computers, and for now, I synchronize my bookmarks via a plugin, my contacts through Google Mail etc. ie various different external providers, which I’d like to replace by one unique and reliable service (I would prefer by far an open-source service).

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