The first Alpha of the Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx development cycle will be released later on today. This will be the first of 3 Alpha releases, the following of which will arrive January 14th and February 25th respectively.

Whilst I do not recommend installing Lucid Alpha 1 on any machine that you intend to use daily, you will find the relevant download details available at the following link: -

(Note that this link is not live as of yet so comments complaining about wrong link/lies/what’s going on will be deleted/ignored.)

http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/lucid/alpha1

One feature will on the lips of everyone come Lucid: The Ubuntu Music Store.

The Lucid music store project aims to deliver the ability to purchase music from within a desktop music player.

UDS Wednesday kicked off with a super interesting session; a meeting entitled "Application selection in the default install". 


Over three posts I'll present the main ideas and discussions from these meetings: Whittling the defaultgame selection down, removing GIMP from defaultinstalls & what best to use for photo-editing and the decision to potentially include PiTiVi as a default application inLucid Lynx...


Remember that nothing is final and decisions may change over the course of the development cycle.

The decision has been taken, and it seemed pretty final that The GIMP will not be included in Ubuntu Lucid by default.

The decisions behind this are based on a few factors: -

• the general user doesn't use it
• its user-interface is too complex
• it's an application for professionals
• desktop users just want to edit photos and they can do that in F-Spot
• it's a photoshop replacement and photoshop isn't included by default in Windows...
• it takes up room on the disc

Linux likes/needs/wants to show that it can do everything Windows can do, has application replacements just as powerful and feature complete and Joe User shouldn't feel that they'll be missing out by coming over to the FOSS world. Ubuntu does this successfully.



Does removing GIMP reduce the 'allure' that first time users will come across? In place of one of the most powerful adverts for OpenSource software they will find what that will impress them as much? Is it the job of Ubuntu to promote the best that Linux has to offer? Does showing off the power of Linux persuade first-timers? 

Did it impress you?



The logic behind this is sound. Desktop users just do not need something as powerful as The GIMP. It takes up space, it's not widely used outside of designers and a simpler "paint" type programme would better serve the features it provides that don't overlap with F-Spot. 

Cos that is what this is really about: It's used to edit photos, but F-Spot edits photos, too. Two apps doing the same thing in a default install is insanity. Pick your horse and back it. In Lucid this horse will be F-Spot... or will it?


The Solution?
Although GIMP won't be installed by default, there was a short discussion on creating "Staff Picks" for the Ubuntu Software Centre. These would be applications highlighted and, in short, promoted as useful. The idea of creating "suites" was also brought up - such as a "Graphics Suite" which would be a one-click install yet give you GIMP, Inkscape, etc. 


F-Spot Vs gThumb Vs Eog Vs Shotwell

Another issue brought up surrounding image editing was F-Spot. 


Users need to manually import photos into F-Spot before they can edit them. They can't just view a photo in F-Spot and edit it which is the functionality those at the meeting feel is important. 

The Contenders
F-Spot has a photo-viewer, but it lacks the speed and the editing integration. You still need to import photos into F-Spot proper to edit. 



gThumb was suggested as a replacement for both F-Spot AND the current default image viewer in Ubuntu "Eye of Gnome". gThumb is fast, has editing capabilities baked in and can do photo management.  


Shotwell was brought up briefly (we reviewed it a couple of days ago) though it is less an image viewer and more a lighter version of F-Spot. 


The Winner

The consensus was to stick with both EOG and F-Spot. Two avenues will be persued in time for Lucid: -

• Getting F-Spot to edit photos via it's photo viewer 
• Inserting an "edit" entry into EOG that opens the photo in F-Spot for editing. 
  

Lucid may not be getting a new GTK theme but it will still be getting an entirely new look.

Ubuntu’s Ayatana team (most famed for creating those awesome ‘new’ notification balloons that came in Jaunty) are currently testing a super-duper enhanced version of GTK+ that adds RGBA support (think Windows Aero) and client side window decoration.

Only a few months ago we posted a laborious and complex solution for hacking RGBA support in Ubuntu, but thanks to the Ubuntu Ayatana Team it will arrive out-of-the-box in Ubuntu 10.04 and, if suitably tested, will be enabled by default.

It is easier to demonstrate the visual wow factor that comes with RGBA color maps. Witness: -

note: this is not the patch for lucid, but a hacked GTK using RGBA

Let us all hope that this makes it into Lucid (very early in testing stage, has issues with nautilus) but should it be part of Lucid it will undoubtedly help to modernise the look and feel of Ubuntu aside from opening up a whole new realm of possibilities for theme makers and customizers.

There may be gripes and moans about ‘not being individual’ – but I'm firmly of camp “what works, works.”.

Testing

Lucid Alpha testers may wish to test and bug-hunt this shiny newly empowered GTK+ out. You can find the PPA you need for LUCID ONLY @ https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-desktop/+archive/ppa.

Bug reporting to be done @ https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gtk+2.0/+bug/491521

Thanks to John

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