TechieMoe.com

Introduction:

Gnewsense 1.0 was neither especially good nor especially bad. It was a mediocre Ubuntu-clone with a questionable philosophy of "freedom" rather than "usefulness". I was more than ready to let it fade into obscurity when I found that the maintainers have released another version, this time in KDE *and* Gnome flavors. My interest was piqued. What improvements were added? What features (if any) were taken out as last vestiges of Ubuntu's "non-free" software? Would it still be mediocre? I endeavored to find out.

I had originally set forth to rant about only the KDE version, but about halfway through my perusal of it I realized just how dreadful the default package selection was and decided to give it more of a chance. Everyone knows the flagship desktop of Ubuntu (and gNewSense by proxy) is GNOME, and the KDE version (like Kubuntu) is mostly just lip-service. I don't necessarily *like* it, but that's the way it is.

Install:

If you've installed Ubuntu from the default LiveCD, you know what to expect. The installer was nothing special but it wasn't bad either. It did the same as the last version of Ubuntu I tried; which shouldn't be surprising considering this distro's roots.

KDE Version: The boot splash and logon screen look like something someone pulled off in about 15 minutes in Photoshop (GIMP if you prefer). I've seen better artwork on the angst-filled, eye-raping pages of MySpace. I suppose since this is essentially a two-man project I should be more forgiving. Average users will not be, so neither will I.

GNOME Version: The login screen for the GNOME version is much better, albeit a bit sparse. Better a plain looking desktop background that's still a photo than the poor excuse they slapped on the KDE version. In fact, I think the plain shot of an empty sky and a desolate country road fits in with the plain, featureless distribution it introduces.

MPG/WMV and MP3 support were not present, but that's not exactly surprising. It's just icing on the cake for a distribution that prides itself at being less useful than its parent. My scanner was detected, as was my USB thumb drive. At least *some* useful parts of Ubuntu weren't stripped out.

Software Selection:

KDE Version: OpenOffice was present, but GAIM, GIMP, and Firefox were not. Why must distributions that are KDE-centric only provide K-branded apps? Konqueror and Kopete are okay, I guess, but why not include the *industry standard* Linux web browser? Needless to say the default set of software left much to be desired.

GNOME Version: Firefox was present, sort of. Apparently the maintainers bought into the assinine argument that Mozilla wasn't being GNU-friendly when they copyrighted their logo and asked that any changes be given back to them for verification. Whatever, you can call it "Burning Dog" and strip out all the logos but it's still Firefox.

I see no improvement whatsoever. In fact, the icon for Burning Dog is nothing but an uppercase letter B. Need I also mention that the creators of gNewSense were quoted as saying they created this homonculus in order to "prevent non-free add-ons"? That's a *detriment* in my opinion. This rip-off browser is brought to you by the letter B. You know, like bastardized, balkanized, or banal.

Interestingly enough, the auto-update program for gNewSense told me there was a newer version of my web browser available, and the package was called "firefox". Apparently the gNewSense guys haven't yet fully-propogated their bastardization.

Most Annoying Feature:

Much like the first version, gNewSense 1.1 suffers from its own artificial limitations. The maintainers are idealists, and in my mind that's synonymous with idiots. Sure, in an ideal world I might be able to do everything I want in a completely GNU-sanitized environment. In an ideal world I might also live in Florida in a hurricane-proof mansion with a harem of classically educated, nyphomaniac ex-Playboy playmates who were also nuclear physicists. Get the drift? The world just doesn't work like that. It's a distro for idealists, and a pretty mediocre one at that.

Who's it best for?

GNewSense doesn't do anything Ubuntu hasn't done before, and much better. It does less, by design. If that's your cup of tea, I hope you choke on it. The real world won't mourn the loss of another starry-eyed software hippie.