Ubuntu 13.10 Finally Released, Big Yawner

Ubuntu 13.10 is officially released. Of course, it's been in the news so much that the official announcement today feels like old news. But at least news of 14.04 will replace 13.10 next week. Until then, though, Ubuntu 13.10 is released for "Desktop, Server, Cloud, Phone, and Core products."

The announcement says this is the first release for phones and arm64 chips, but two reviews led with Mir not being ready yet. Terry Relph-Knight at ZDNet says this release feels "obligatory," in fact he said, "rather than being a stepping-stone on the way to form-factor convergence with 14.04, seems more like an obligatory release." Ryan Paul from arstechnica titled his review, "The Linux OS of the future remains a year away." He elaborates:

Although Saucy Salamander offers some useful improvements, it’s a relatively thin update. XMir, the most noteworthy item on the 13.10 roadmap, was ultimately deferred for inclusion in a future release. Canonical’s efforts during the Saucy development cycle were largely focused on the company’s new display server and upcoming Unity overhaul, but neither is yet ready for the desktop.

Of Dash Paul said, "The new Dash concept is intriguing, but its usefulness is a bit limited. The results are hit and miss and tend to be organized in a really haphazard way." On the privacy issues associated with Dash he added, "Although I think that a universal Web search has the potential to be useful, I’m not really comfortable with the way Canonical tacks it on to local system searches. In its current form, it strikes me as a bit too invasive." He concludes, "It’s hard to get excited about the 13.10 release, but there are some major changes on the horizon that should make the next few major Ubuntu releases a lot more interesting." See Paul's full review at arstechnica.com.

Jim Lynch of Desktop Linux Reviews and Itworld.com said, "Ubuntu has become a bit boring to review. I had hoped that Ubuntu 13.10 would fix that, and that there would be some terrific new features to comment on. Alas, Ubuntu 13.10 follows in the footsteps of Ubuntu 13.04. Canonical really should rename this release to 'Snoozing Salamander.'"

See Canonical's official announcement for download links and more information.