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Canonical has released Ubuntu 13.04, or "Raring Ringtail," as this release is known.
While most of the big new features planned for this release have been pushed back to 13.10, due later this year, Ubuntu 13.04 does have a few new features to tempt those who haven't yet had a sip of the Ubuntu Kool-Aide.
In fact, much of what makes Raring Ringtail a welcome update for Ubuntu fans is the focus on numerous small, but very useful, usability tweaks to Ubuntu's Unity interface.
Assuming you've managed to get past the privacy fiascoes of last year and are comfortable with Canonical sending your data to Amazon and others (or choose to disable those features), Ubuntu 13.04 has a number of new features, both big and small that make it well worth the upgrade for fans of Ubuntu's Unity interface.
Before you get excited about what's new in Raring Ringtail, it's worth noting one thing that isn't part of this release -- the planned <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SmartScopes1304Spec">Smart Scopes</a> feature. Smart Scopes are part of Canonical's long term plan to make the Unity Dash as much a web search interface as application launcher. The goal is to add some 100 different search providers to the Unity Dash, allowing you to search everything from websites like IMDb and DeviantArt to your browser bookmarks, Tomboy notes and more.
Unfortunately, Ubuntu developers have deemed Smart Scopes too unstable for 13.04. The new plan is to ship Smart Scopes with 13.10, due later this year (if you simply must have them, you can install Smart Scopes, but be forewarned, they are indeed buggy and unstable).
The setback for Smart Scopes has a secondary casualty as well -- the planned improvements to Ubuntu's privacy settings. The outcry from privacy advocates about last year's Amazon Search Lens controversy prompted Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth to <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/1111808">promise</a> that future releases would offer more fine-grained privacy control and an easy way to opt-out of individual search tools.
The plan is to add something that's a bit like the private browsing mode available in web browsers, but, like Smart Scopes it too has been pushed back. Like Ubuntu 12.10, Raring Ringtail's privacy panel still only offers the all or nothing "include online search results" toggle.
It's too bad that the new privacy features didn't make the cut for this release because one of the best new features in the Unity dash is the new Photo Search Lens, which taps not just any photos you have in Shotwell, but any images you've uploaded to Flickr, Facebook or Google. To make it work though you'll have to turn on the "show online search results" option, which means you'll also see the much-maligned Amazon results.
It's almost worth it though, because the Photo Lens is the kind of very cool new feature that makes Unity momentarily less annoying and almost convinces you that putting web-based search in the Dash is a good idea. And then you search for something else and suddenly your results are littered with irrelevant Amazon search results. One step forward, two steps back.
The Photo Lens also indirectly showcases a nice new feature in the settings panel -- the Online Accounts pane. The Online Accounts pane makes it easy to keep track of all your accounts in one spot and allows any apps that need access to pull from the same, single source. Among the providers are Flickr, Yahoo, Google, Twitter, AIM and even Windows Live. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be support for self-hosted accounts like OpenPhoto or OwnCloud. Also note that only some apps are connected to this system. That means that when searching the Photo Lens your local results will consist of only those images Shotwell is aware of, not, for example, any photos you've got in more serious photo apps like Darktable.
However, cool as the Photo Lens is, unless you really love Amazon search results in your Dash, you're better off skipping the Photo Lens until the Smart Scopes and better, fine-grained privacy controls land later this year in 13.10 (alternately, you can uninstall the Amazon Lens).
There's another missing feature you may notice in Ubuntu 13.04. The Ubuntu One Music Store has been ripped out of Rhythmbox, Ubuntu's default music player (the plugin is gone from Banshee as well). The music-player based version of the Ubuntu Music Store has been retired in favor of the web-based store, which debuted just before Ubuntu 12.10 was released last year.
The Ubuntu Music Store has a prominent place in the sidebar, so it's really not much more difficult to buy music and this way the store is more useful for those who don't use Rhythmbox (or Banshee). It's also worth noting that the Ubuntu Music Store isn't just disappearing from 13.04, it will also be removed from Ubuntu 12.04 and Ubuntu 12.10 in a future update.
Ubuntu has improved the Ubuntu One experience in this release thanks to the new Sync Menu applet. The new applet makes it easy to see what Ubuntu One is doing on your system, offering links to recently changed files on disk and quick links to your docs online for easy file sharing. The menu is more or less a clone of what Dropbox has long offered on most OSes (including Linux), but open to third-party apps. While one-off downloads like torrents and web files are explicitly outside <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SyncMenu">the Sync Menu scope as defined by Canonical</a>, other third-party apps -- like Dropbox or Box.net, for example -- could use the new Sync Menu.
Perhaps the best part of Unity in 13.04 though is not new features, but the noticeable speed improvement. Like GNOME Shell, Unity has taken its fair share of (deserved) abuse for its high end hardware requirements and sluggish performance. You're still not going to make Unity scream on an old machine, but provided you've got newer hardware, 13.04 is definitely snappier than its predecessors.
There are also plenty of smaller improvements in the release, none of which is earth shattering on its own, but together they add up to a much better overall Unity experience.
For example the Mouse and Trackpad settings panel now offers an integrated testing tool. Want to make sure your third button is registering as a middle mouse click? Just test it right there in the panel. Another example is the improved window snap animation. Unity mimics the Windows 7 Aero Snap feature which allows you to snap windows side by side or maximize a windows by dragging. In Unity the window now animates just before it snaps, giving you a quick visual preview, letting you know what's about to happen.
Another small, but powerful change is fuzzy searching in the Dash search box. Fuzzy searching makes for broader matches, meaning you don't need to type the name of an app exactly right for it to show up in the search results -- extremely useful if you're a sloppy typist.
The Unity Launchbar gets a couple more customization possibilities in this release, like an optional Desktop button to reveal the desktop. You may notice one item missing from the Launcher -- the Workspaces button has been removed by default, though you can turn it back on in the preferences. Despite being relegated to a hidden away preference, the Workspaces button has been improved to show you which workspace you're currently in.
Other small new features include a refined set of icons for the Dash and an easier-to-see focus outline when switching apps with alt tab or looking for a particular window (Unity now outlines the window that's about to get focus with a red glow).
Ubuntu's already well-polished Software Updater has received a slight design makeover that makes it a bit more user-friendly by grouping updates into relevant sections. For example, system updates fall under "Ubuntu Base" while Firefox gets its own section which, when expanded, reveals updates for both the browser and the Unity menu integration for Firefox.
While it may seem a bit like this release is most notable for what's not in it -- Smart Scopes, the coming privacy features, the Music Store in Rhythmbox, Gwibber (removed because the developer is working in a new, similar app) and more -- Ubuntu 13.04 is actually the sort of release that's been missing lately from Ubuntu. It offers a couple new, work-in-progress features like the new Photo Lens and plenty of small incremental improvements that make using Ubuntu on a day-to-day basis more pleasant.
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