After giving away one Ubuntu computer the other week, I’ve been Linuxless throughout my home. I’m in the process of downloading a Gutsy Gibbon VMware Appliance (with OpenOffice 2.3, Firefox 2, Evolution 2.12, Gimp 2.4, GCC 4.2.1, Gnome 2.20, X.Org 7.2, Linux-Kernel 2.6.2). Granted, the eye candy is completely missing in the virtual machine, but at least I can get a good feel for what’s going on with Ubuntu’s latest release.

It’s difficult to compare “Linux” directly to Windows (or even to OS X) – it exists and expands for completely different reasons with completely different licensing strategies. The Con Kolivas departure (-ck) was a major setback for the Linux desktop, IMHO. Linux is still too geeky, and the Linux geeks seem hell-bent on ensuring that it remains geeky – which is going to keep it from ever gaining desktop dominance past technical user communities.

Ubuntu is a step in the right direction, but… until Dell and HP start shipping it on all of their new systems (in lieu of Windows), it’s not going to come close to winning. I’m all for Open Source, but do people like my parents really care?

So, Matt’s swinging in to save the day with his Ubuntu videos. One on wireless, the other on sound cards: