So, after the updates, a few reboots and some additional tweaking later and I have to say, I'm really liking this as an OS. It's fast in a way that is a pleasant surprise. You know how a new install of XP or 98 is lightning-quick for the first few boots - well, it's like that. Kubuntu was certainly faster than a clean 1 year old XP install but wasn't impressive. Sabayon was a little slower to respond than XP, probably similar to my Macbook, but wasn't *totally* solid as an OS. This feels snappy and responsive.
How quick?
Start up Open office after freshly booting XP and it eventually opens up. Do the same in OSX and you might wonder if you actually clicked properly before it finally gets up on screen - probably takes twice as long as word or excel in both those OSs. In oSUSE it takes about 6 seconds, and for me that is quite phenomenal. Firefox and opera are a touch quicker than windows. Other apps and various views are all snappy and crisp in their behaviour too, and it makes the interface a pleasure to use.
On appearance, where Kubuntu was scruffy, half finished looking, this just *feels* crisp and sophisticated, like Sabayon but without the dark moodiness that their artwork brought. Certainly some of that is down to KDE 4.4.4, some down to the team designing the colour schemes etc. The widgets, folder views and various tool bars all work well too. Screen fonts - the eternal bugbear of Linux installations - are quite acceptable, and easily as crisp as any of Cupertino's offerings. Digging around in the various control panels and utilities I keep being impressed by the way the controls all seem to work - is this really Linux?
Obviously time will tell whether it is stable, reliable and manages to stay as fast to use, but I certainly hope so.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Play nice - I will delete anything I don't want associated with this blog and I will delete anonymous comments.