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Ubuntu 9.10, the user-friendly, free, Linux-based operating system, is to be released tomorrow (the 29th of October 2009). Canonical, Ubuntu’s corporate sponsor, states that Ubuntu 9.10, codenamed Karmic Koala, ‘puts the user at the heart of its new design’, and being an Ubuntu user myself for about three years and a Linux user for significantly longer, I can certainly agree.

Having been a tester of Ubuntu 9.10 during its development, I can tell you that Ubuntu 9.10 will feature the following upon its release.

• E-mail and Chat Features – Ubuntu 9.10 will feature a built-in instant messenging client, Empathy, which can connect to many of the most popular instant messaging services, including Yahoo, Gmail (Google Talk), MSN (Windows Live), Jabber, AOL, QQ and many more. In addition to instant messaging, the latest version of the e-mail and personal information management program, Evolution, is included. Evolution can manage your contacts, e-mail, schedule, tasks and memos – all for free.

• Internet – Ubuntu 9.10 ships will the very latest version of Mozilla Firefox, which is much faster and excellent for browsing modern websites and web applications which are heavy on dynamic client-side content, such as Javascript. Complex web pages such as Facebook, Google Maps and others will load and work lightning fast.

• Music and videos – Music and videos are managed with ease in Ubuntu 9.10. Simply plug in your iPod, PSP, MP3 or MP4 player and use the built-in media player, Rhytmbox, to download, store, buy and play your music collection. Ubuntu 9.10 can play many video formats with no problems and anything it can not play it will offer to download and install the required codecs automatically, and for free.

• Office and productivity – Word processing, spreadsheets or presentations can all be handled by the latest version of OpenOffice.org which is including in the latest version of Ubuntu. OpenOffice is compatible with all other office applications including, but not limited to, Microsoft Office.

• Store, share and synchronise – Ubuntu 9.10 features integrated ‘Ubuntu One’ service, which allows you to easily and seamlessly synchronise your contacts, notes, files and folders between all your Ubuntu computers. Even if you are on a computer running Mac or Windows you can still access all your files online, meaning you’ll never be at computer without your files.

• Software centre – The brand new software centre for this version of Ubuntu allows you to download and install thousands of free and open-source applications automatically with only 2 or 3 clicks.

• Gaming – Linux-based systems are generally not well known for their gaming prowess. However, Ubuntu 9.10 ships with the ability to download over 400 fun games directly from the built-in software centre. All these games are still completely free and installable with only a few clicks.

This latest version of Ubuntu provides advantages for both business workstations and home user desktops. Although not mentioned in this article so far, for enterprises and small home/offices, the server edition of Ubuntu 9.10 is also released tomorrow alongside the desktop edition.

For more information about Ubuntu, visit the official Ubuntu website.

When was the last time you turned your phone off for the day or didn’t go online to send that all important Email, post up a status update on Facebook or Twitter? Been a while eh? In a survey carried out for Virgin Media by the analysts Future Laboratory apparently identified a type of consumer who “switched on to switch off”

A psychologist named James Brook said; “…These people know that, the modern world waits for no one and that taking a break from technology means potentially missing out…”

Hhmmm I thought sounds a little fantastic but then when you actually think about it, he’s got a point. Like I said when was the last time you actually turned your phone off? What with the advent of aeroplane mode and now being able to put your phone on silent why would you turn it off? If you come out of the cinema or step off a plane for most of us the first thing we do is check if we have any texts or Emails.

The same can be said about the internet. With social networking growing by the day it was a natural progression to integrate them into phones, Bebo on the move or MySpace on the train without need of a laptop, do we just love to chat or is it a compulsion? I’m sure there are lots of us who prefer to send 20 txt messages as opposed to just calling and chatting for a while, it’s possibly even cheaper to call after all if you work it out most texts are 10p so if you send 20 that’s £2 and it’s also 10p a minute average to call so you could have a 20 min chat. I know kids who live next door to each other but still prefer to sit at home on MSN chatting to each other. So should the question be does it cause anxiety not being able to use these social portals or would it suggest that we’re actually becoming less social because we think a short Email is a good way to communicate once a week?

“…As many as 85 per cent of full-time mothers always have the internet turned on at home, while a third of people said they no longer felt any sense of guilt about always being “connected” either by having their mobile phone or computer turned on…”

Now this is an interesting statement. Potentially 85% of full time mothers continually have the internet on? What are they doing? Does this suggest that the internet gives the majority of single mums a gateway to a social life in the day?

James Brook continues; “…At any time we might miss an important email or a phone call, an old friend may try to get in touch via Facebook or breaking news may come in. If they feel that they cannot keep up with these things because they are not connected, it will naturally have a negative impact on their emotional wellbeing and peace of mind…” – we sure do live in interesting times…