If all goes according to plan, Ubuntu 10.10 will sport Gnome 3, which represents a radical overhaul of Ubuntu’s default graphical user interface in the form of Gnome Shell, when it debuts a year from now.  In order to get a taste of what this desktop of the future will look like, I’ve spent the last few days using the development version.  Here’s what I’ve found.

NetworkManager, the default wired- and wireless-connection client in Ubuntu, has received a substantial aesthetic makeover for Ubuntu 9.10.  Here’s a look.

Gnome is a great desktop environment.  But it’s not perfect.  If I could pick five things for the Gnome developers to change or improve, here’s what they’d be.

WorksWithU reported a couple weeks ago on new features in Ubuntu 9.10, like kernel mode setting and GRUB 2, that are likely to please geeks.  But Ubunti 9.10 (codenamed Karmic Koala) will also sport changes aimed at traditional users.  Here’s a look at a few of them.

I’ve used Evolution, the default email client in Ubuntu, for a couple of years to manage numerous mail accounts.  In general, I think it’s a great application.  But as with everything in life, there’s always room for improvement.  Below, I consider the most chronically frustrating and poorly designed aspects of Evolution, and how they could be fixed.

With Ubuntu 9.04, otherwise known as the Jaunty Jackalope, set to be released in less than three weeks, WorksWithU will be publishing some posts about what the latest and greatest version of Ubuntu will mean to different groups of users.  Today, we begin with a look at the new features that Jaunty brings to traditional desktops.

People often say certain software is “not ready for prime time.” But in reality, those people actually have a fear of the unfamiliar. Take my wife. for instance. When I started using Ubuntu, she was dead-set against me installing it as the lone system on our laptop.  She couldn’t bear the thought of being without Windows because “it’s what I know!” But she finally came around to Ubuntu. Here’s how.

Installing Ubuntu Linux onto a laptop ranges from simple to challenging, depending on the hardware you choose. What is that experience like? Here is how it went for me and where I found the support to do it.

Having multiple computers can be a blessing when trying to multi-task, but trying to control them all at once can take a lot of room. Hardware options are available. They are called KVMs, which is short for keyboard, video, and mouse switches. However these hardware options require a constant hardware connection. This makes it impractical for laptops, or when substituting the KVM for the real keyboard/mouse/screen set up is not desired.

A few hours after setting up my new Dell Ubuntu PC, my wife jumped onto the system. You know her kind: She is an Apple Mac OS fan who uses Windows — but doesn’t really like Windows. So, how did she do with Linux?