Ubuntu 9.10: hey Microsoft, I'm your worst nightmares

I wanted to write 1st impression about the new Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala.
This version of Ubuntu is just amazing. It's taking the Linux operating systems into a higher level.

- Ubuntu performance is great. Applications are way faster than before.
- It's more user friendly. A beginner with Ubuntu and Linux can easily find his way to the basic functionality of the system.
The User Interface is improved and more organized. They changed almost every icon in the system to a more elegant one.
The Login Window is more elegant even than Ubuntu 9.04.
- The Add/Remove Applications tool is not installed by default now. They replaced it with a new program "Ubuntu Software Center". The new center is more user friendly and shows the applications categories first.
- Good news for me :D (and intel video cards owner), Karmic now supports the intel video cards.
There will be no flickering problems on 3D and compiz. (Used to have when i play a video and rotate the desktop cube, used to have black in the video window)

I have only 2 comments on Karmic:
1- Boot Time is relatively longer than Ubuntu 9.04. Maybe coz i have lots of apps, 2 of them are MySql server and Apache server :D.

2- NTFS partitions behave differently. You need to type your password everytime you mount them (ofcourse this can be changed easily).

Anyway, Karmic is worth trying. It's the Linux distribution you can give it to your non-geeky friends.
I can really say now "Linux for Human Beings" :)

Temet Nosce

To find your favorite movie on TV and watch it may be a coincidence. But, to find again after 16 days on TV , this time that's no coincidence. Each of the two incidents happened before 19 and 3 days of my birthday (both 19 and 3 are prime numbers). And to find it for the third time just 1 day next to my birthday is definitely a serious sign for something.

Anyway i don't believe in coincidences."God does not play with dice." Albert Einstein.
However, such times makes you wander about yourself. The more you understand yourself , the more you understand the whole world.

Watching this movie awakened some old thoughts in my mind. One of these thoughts is about Choice. Do we really have the freedom to choose what we want, or is it just an illusion we sense as we live according to determined events.

"You've already made the choice. Now you have to understand it.". I guess small things we do and decide everyday even if they're unimportant or negligible, are the most role play that frames the vital decisions and choices in our life.

I believe the solution to this dilemma is to follow your intuition. Don't plan much. Leave it happen flawlessly. Rely on remarkable signs in your life that will guide you to your choice. That one you've already made.

Software Freedom Day: Epilogue

A week ago, the Software Freedom Day event in Alexandria University has ended. I had fun and pleasure to participate with the event's organization team. It was really a nice team to work with.
It was also so rewarding seeing the joy and passion in the eyes of the attendees, showing them that Open Source is really a great and reliable solution for their daily life computer usage.

Finally, this will be the last post in my series about the event. Here's a list of the previous ones.

1. Prologue
2. Why should you be interested in Free Open Source Software ??? (Part I)
3. Why should you be interested in Free Open Source Software ??? (Part II)
4. Hello Python
5. Obstacles in the way ...
6. Let The Party Begin ...
7. Middle Of The Journey
8. My Python Session
9. It's Cloudy

Until the next time, i say again , it's time to Take Control Of Your Digital Life. :)

Get A Grip (my new demo track)

Today is one of the great days when i feel very productive and satisfied, coz today i composed a new track and finished it from scratch in about 4.5 hours.
I don't know how i did that :D , all my previous trials and samples were totally screwed.

When you hear it you'll feel the instruments are not quite natural. Yeah they are digital samples created in Fruity Loops 8. I didn't play by myself :D.
Anyway, here's the track, it's called "Get A Grip", and it's still a Demo till i manage to enhance it or play it live.

http://lordm2005.googlepages.com/LORD_M_-_Get_A_Grip_Demo.mp3.zip

Have Fun and tell me your opinion :)

SFD: It's Cloudy

This post is one of the series intended for the Software Freedom Day event in Alexandria University,Egypt ,organized by Software Freedom Day@Alexandria University team.

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During the past two weeks of the events, i've set a small system for me to follow my organizational tasks.
The special thing about it, it was all on the cloud :D.

Maybe it's the best feature i like about Google. That approach of porting the applications to the web.

For mails, i used GMail. And GMail Tasks list to store the task to do just right after i get them by mail.
Google Calendar is good for storing the meetings dates and other stuff.
I used Google Reader to follow my team members' blogs (as we were assigned to post regularly about the event and the open source culture).
And the most important one, Google Docs.
I used Docs to create a form for the study group of Python i have been mentoring.
Also, the organizers team shared the event's program on Docs.

What to say, it's been superb to organize myself around Google web apps. They aided me for more productivity and time saving.

As i always say at the end, "God bless Google" :D