This shouldn't come as a huge surprise. Jonathan Riddell, lead developer of the Kubuntu project and the only person paid by Canonical to work on the KDE variant of the popular distribution, has announced that after the 12.04 release, Canonical will no longer be funding him, effectively putting Kubuntu on the same level as other Ubuntu variants like Xubuntu.

Kubuntu has always been an afterthought within Canonical, and it showed - as far as KDE distributions go, it certainly wasn't among the best. Worse yet, despite being the only Ubuntu variant with financial support from Canonical, it wasn't even the best variant; Xubuntu always seemed like a more stable release than Kubuntu, for instance (in all fairness, Kubuntu has seen major strides forward recently).

Now, with the focus on Unity, tablets, mobile, and heck, even televisions, it seems Canonical really hasn't a single reason to invest in Kubuntu. Furthermore, Qt has been added to the default Ubuntu installation as well.

OS News has the details HERE!

Over the last few years, we’ve seen radical changes to the Linux desktop. Some, despite initial opposition, such as the KDE 4.x re-start, took a while to gain favor, but eventually became popular. Others, such as GNOME 3.x have alienated many users and first Ubuntu’s Unity and now it’s Head-Up Display (HUD) have not been greeted with overwhelming approval even by hard-core Ubuntu Linux users. So, Linux Mint’s developers have decided to go back to the past with a GNOME 2.x style desktop: Cinnamon. So, how well have they done? I give them an “A” for effort, but only a “B” for execution.

To put Cinnamon to the test, I used my faithful old Lenovo ThinkPad R61. This 2008-vintage notebook is powered by a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7500 and has 2GBs of RAM. I also used it on my Dell Inspiron 530S powered by a 2.2-GHz Intel Pentium E2200 dual-core processor with an 800-MHz front-side bus. This PC has 4GBs of RAM, a 500GB SATA (Serial ATA) drive, and an Integrated Intel 3100 GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) chip set.

Read the Editorial HERE!

Are you fed up with Microsoft Windows and ready to give Linux a try? Here's how to get started. This guide for Linux discusses who the Linux OS is right for, what you need to get started, and how to turn your Windows PC into a dual-boot computer so you can have the best of both worlds--Linux and Windows.

Why Try Linux?

Linux will never be as popular a desktop operating system as Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X, but there are some good reasons to give Linux a try.

For starters, you can download and install Linux for free. Applications that run on Linux machines tend to be free as well, and they include PC essentials such as office productivity suites, image editing software, and video editing tools. Though Linux is not immune to viruses, malware is rarely a concern in the Linux world, especially for home users. And because Linux is less of a PC resource hog than Windows and the Mac OS, it's ideal for use with a laptop, a netbook, or an older desktop.

Read the full story HERE!

HUD – Heads UP Display – uses an intelligent search-based approach to finding and accessing menu items you need. It’s smart too; HUD is capable of remembering what items you use most often and prioritising them in the results.

The video below shows HUD in action, and demos many of its unique features.

More about HUD

The announcement of HUD goes some way to explaining the more “controversial” decisions made inregards to Ubuntu’s Application Menus.

John Lea, who leads the Ubuntu Desktop and TV design teams, took some time out to tell us more about the genesis, design and purpose of the feature.

For those of our readers who don’t know what this new feature is, what is it?

A new way of interacting with applications!

Instead of hunting through menus to find a command, just type what you want (express your intent) and let the HUD show you exactly what you need. We see this as the future replacement for the traditional application menu, and it will be a major area of research and development for us and the community in the coming four releases of Ubuntu.

Read the full story HERE!

How-To install directions HERE!