My first Ubuntu install was 8.04 and I loved it. Then, I made the mistake of "upgrading" to 8.10. Broke my video drivers, broke Compiz desktop, broke my sound, and buggered my GRUB so I couldn't even boot into Windows. This caused me to spend hours and hours on the internet (on another computer) trying to figure out how to get my system to work again. I finally got back to a reasonable functionality, and was happy. Then I "upgraded" to 9.04, and I loved it. No problems, no issues, just a really slick OS that I would have totally switched to if I was not an avid PC gamer. Having "learned" from my upgrading experiences, I decided to install 9.10 on a separate partition on one of my drives. I use Windows 7 for my main OS (cuzz I am a gamer), and didn't want to mess with a GRUB overinstall of my MBR on Win7, in case 9.10 was crap and I wanted to delete it. This would cause problems with booting into Win7. So, i chose to use EasyBCD2.0beta as my boot installer. While I can easily boot into 9.04 using EasyBCD2.0, I can't even boot into my 9.10 install because GRUB2.0 causes problems. There is NO FRIGGIN WAY I am going to allow 9.10 to install GRUB over my Win7 bootloader, so, because EasyBCD2.0beta can't load 9.10, I am not able to assess 9.10 as a totally installed OS. Not willing to be deterred by this, I installed 9.10 in VirtualBox, so I could at least take a look at it. Unfortunately, when installed inside VirtualBox, I cannot access all the cool functions of Compiz, and the fancier aspects of Ubuntu. However, it is still really nice to be able to use Ubuntu 9.10 in a window of my main OS. I can surf, email, and do online banking with no security worries. I can also access the multiple desktop features of Ubuntu, which I really love when doing complex emailing, scheduling, and surfing jobs, while listening to music, downloading TV programs, and updating MP3 playlists all at the same time.
As for Empathy, wtf? Where is my Xfire?? With Pidgin, I can download Gfire, and chat with all my Xfire buddies. So, I installed Pidgin.
And wtf with Pimpsest or whatever the heck it is called???? I liked Gparted because I could easily change partition sizes on any drive, at any time. I have an external drive dock, and use Gparted to partition new drives for computers I am building for clients.
Also, ALL, my previous Ubuntu systems were 64 bit. I absolutely could NOT install 64 bit 9.10 on my system. WTF? I have a 64 bit computer, and have been using 64 bit OS for a while. Why can I not install 9.10 64 bit???
I am disappointed with 9.10, and would agree that it is an EPIC FAIL! And, with only 1% of the market share, Ubuntu cannot afford to have 10 million Windows zombies spreading the word that Ubuntu has lots and lots of problems, and should be avoided. Go back to the drawing board, and make 10.04 the best OS available.