Ubuntu 12.10 review

UBUNTU ONE MAC

Ubuntu One, the cloud storage system now has a client for OS X, so you can share data across your Linux, Ubuntu and Windows computers. As with the other clients, the OS X version is a little restrictive, as you can only share folders that sit within your User folder and don’t have the same name as a folder that’s already backed up. This is the same as for the Linux version.

In terms of simplicity we prefer SugarSync, which lets you synchronise any folder, although it’s only available for Windows and Mac, and there’s currently no Linux version.

PERFORMANCE

We’re pleased to say that there’s very little difference in performance moving from Ubuntu 12.04 to Ubuntu 12.10. Running our benchmarks, which run ImageMagick for image editing, HandBrake for video encoding, and both of the previous tests combined with video playback for our multi-tasking tests, we saw very similar scores from both operating systems. All scores are compared to that of a Core i5-2500k, which scores 100 in each test. Our Ubuntu test system runs a Core i7-975 Extreme Edition processor with 4GB of RAM.

Performance remains steady between Ubuntu 12.04 and Ubuntu 12.10, which is always good to see

CONCLUSION

We quite like the way that Ubuntu’s going with its cloud and Web App integration, but there are a few things to iron out to make sure it all works properly. It’s disappointing that Amazon should take such pride of place in this free OS, and this should really be an optional install rather than forced upon people.

Ubuntu still remains an excellent operating system, but for us the stability of Ubuntu 12.04 is preferable to the new features on show here.