The Best and Worst About Ubuntu Karmic

I've been living with with Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" for more than few days, and I'm very happy over all...but there are still a few things that disappointed me about this release. Here are my top 5 best things about Karmic, followed my top 5 things that really should've been addressed prior to release date.

Top 5 Best Things About Ubuntu Karmic
Performance increases. Boot is faster than ever, and I can actually (for the first time ever) run stock Ubuntu on my Eee PC 701 while underclocked and it feels downright snappy. This is awesome for me.

Best theme yet. Although it's still brown, I still haven't changed the default GTK theme. It looks nice. Ubuntu has always looked...unique...out of the box, but now it really looks nice and modern with no modifications needed (except to may change the default background). The icons are sophisticated and appealing.

Empathy as IM client. Empathy is lightweight, userfriendly, and integrates fantastically into the desktop. Although I've found a few small bugs, Empathy really works better for me in the context of the Ubuntu desktop than Pidgin did.

Ubuntu One included by default. I don't really use Ubuntu One much, but 2 gigs of free online storage and sync is nothing to laugh at. Especially when it comes with a free operating system.

Consolidated sound preferences. As somebody that listens to lots of music and does a lot of recording on my machine, it's nice to have all the sound preferences now consolidated into the main mixer control. This is an excellent usability enhancement.

Top 5 Worst Things About Ubuntu Karmic
The new boot sequence. I know this is a stepping stone to better things in another 6 months, but the whole new boot sequence (while visually appealing, for the most part) feels very beta-ish. There are too many different screens...first the Ubuntu logo, then a new progress bar, then a login, then another progresss bar...it's all just a little confusing. It's certainly not any more smooth in my opinion than the Jaunty boot experience.

Graphics issues. I'm not the only one experiencing some graphics issues in Karmic. Although not a deal breaking for me, I had to unplug one of the heads in my dual-monitor setup just to get graphical environment on my first boot. After I installed the proprietary Nvidia driver, I was good to go, but still. This isn't the polished install I was looking for, and these kinds of issues will no doubt drive away some potential new users.

Wireless issues. What's up with this? Tons of people are reporting that wireless drivers that worked great in Jaunty just aren't performing as well in Karmic. The wireless card I use to connect my primary workstation to my home network used to get 80%-100% signal in its current location. After my Karmic install, I get 50% signal strength...after I added a homemade parabolic reflector antenna to my router!! This should be addressed immediately and updates pushed out ASAP. Flawless wireless support is essential in this day and age.

No video editor installed by default. Why? I know none of them are the best apps in the world, but Ubuntu should adopt a project and give it some love. We need better video editors on Linux, and Ubuntu could really help in this area by giving a solid project some more momentum.

The same boring games. Linux has some great looking and fun games that should be installed by default in Ubuntu. Robots, Nibbles, and Same GNOME again? Seriously? Come on, give some good stuff!

That's it ladies and gentlemen: the best and worst of Ubuntu Karmic.