The Toys of Summer

When the weather gets warm, you know one thing is for certain: new stuff is coming out. Movies, books, clothes, and especially...wait for it...the newest version of the linux distro Ubuntu? Apparently, even programmers want to get out in the sun and enjoy themselves at this time of year. That means finishing those projects that have been hanging over their heads for months, years, whatever.

I'm writing this post from the chocolate brown world of Dapper Drake, the newest release of Ubuntu. In the interest of full disclosure: I know next to nothing about linux. And when I say next to nothing I really mean absolutely nothing. Except how to spell linux. And that it magically has created Ubuntu in the same way that chicken and hamburger magically appear on the shelves of my supermarket and in the way that those meats have magically never looked different than they magically do in their magical supermarket packages.

My old version of Ubuntu was called Breezy Badger, for obvious reasons. As I have already said, this newest release is call Dapper Drake, for equally transparent reasons. And by "obvious" and "transparent" I really mean just nod your head and pretend to understand Why We Let Programmers Name Things. If you've ever wanted to put your fist through your monitor because your computer crashed for the tenth time, you might benefit from trying Ubuntu. Also, upgrading to the next version of Ubuntu is as easy as clicking "yes" when the update manager program asks if you want to download and install it. Just don't mistakenly assume that "easy" is a synonym for "fast" as my upgrade took like three hours start to finish. One thoroughly cleaned office and two sets of impeccibly pedicured toenails later (don't ask), I was computing on the bleeding edge of the geek vanguard.

Of all the linux distros, I like Ubuntu best because a) I've never tried any other linux distros, b) I like the word Ubuntu (seriously. look it up.) and c) I'm not entirely sure what distros are. Bottom line: It's free. You can order a bunch of Ubuntu cds in these cool little packages and give them to your friends. It's supposedly more stable than Windows. Less prone to viruses. Did I mention the packages? Or the magic?