Oops! Did I just kill my Hardy Heron???

( I was having a good time learning and exploring what Ubuntu Hardy Heron has to offer when I craved for the newly-released OpenOffice 3.0... and found a show-stopper!!!)

All I wanted to do was to install OpenOffice 3.0... but now my Hardy Heron is dying... and I don't even have a clue how to revive it!

I love Linux.. in fact I introduced it to my class way back in 1999 discussing its potentials as well as its imminent impact to software technology in general. I've read a lot about it too for years at Linuxtoday (and I still do). But I have to humbly admit, I am a Linux newbie and I haven't used it on a regular basis till I met Hardy Heron, the latest LTS release of Ubuntu -- probably the reigning rockstar desktop Linux distro.

Installing Hardy Heron is quite a breeze, which is very common among Linux distros today. Had a few bumps during my first few days of using it but I managed to get through. Day after day, I tried to use Ubuntu to do the things I usually do in my old pal Windows -- web surfing, writing docs and spreadsheets, watching movies, listening to MP3s, emailing, chatting, "pidging", mind-mapping. From time to time, I've been switching back-and-forth in my dual-boot PC to get back to Windows to do some stuff that I can't easily do (yet) in Ubuntu. Letting-go you know is still a hard thing to do. However, I have to admit that gradually, I've learned to love the Heron.

One day, I found myself googling the web for cool Ubuntu stuffs... some little eye-candies that bring back those "whoahs"... "wows!" of the olden days. Those days of green monitors, dining-plate-sized hard drives (when 20MB disk drive was cutting-edge!!! a luxury!!!), techni-color floppy 5-1/4 diskettes, and huge server-like desktop boxes with tiny turbo buttons. Days when word processors and spreadsheets come with a few diskettes.. and carrying such boxes of diskettes was too geeky!!! (If you know what I'm saying... we probably belong to the same age-group of techies ;-))

After sometime, I found myself downloading and installing Netbeans, Aptana, Geany, and began to configure Apache, PHP, MySQL. I also had plans to install and start playing around with Python, Ruby and maybe get my hands a little bit dirty with CakePhp, CodeIgniter, Rails and Merb. I also started to install a few programs like Scribus, GimPhoto, Inkscape and Freemind (this is cool stuff believe me!) for a little project I'm working on. Slowly, it was like packing my stuff into a U-Haul truck to move to my new and shiny home. Indeed, it was really getting more and more exciting! Honestly, I sometimes feel so sorry with my old flame (Windows) because I've been spending more and more of my precious time with my new buddy (Linux).

Then came out OpenOffice 3. It was fast, slick, solid! No doubt, I wanted it inside my new lair, not just in my old pal Windows. Unfortunately, my Hardy Heron comes with OOo 2.4 and upgrading to OOo 3.0 is not straight-forward as I wanted it to be. The sources I found say that the best thing to upgrade is to wait for the official package from Ubuntu repository since OOo 3 is not yet fully tested/integrated neither with Hardy Heron nor with Intrepid Ibex.

However, my desire lead me to google for a number of howtos until I found a page saying that I have to remove 2.4 first before I could install 3.0. Then, " next... do this.. because of this... then do that... because of that... Yada, yada, yada...." Whoa! Why does a simple task like upgrading to a new OOo version becomes a bit complicated with my Heron? Then, suddenly I miss my old pal... Point and click really has a point! Life is too short and precious to spend reading geeky howtos. I really prefer something that “just works!”, just like Ubuntu?

Though uneasy, I tried to follow the steps because I really want OOo3 in my new toy that I was slowly building. I used Synaptic to remove OpenOffice-core and some possible remnants of 2.4. Heron proceeded and started removing the OOo files as I anxiously wait. After sometime, OOo was gone!!! So far so good. Then I look for my Firefox... it was gone too!!! Holy Cow!!! What did I just do???

Panic was all over me. I did not want to break my Ubuntu. I wanted to get to Linux 911.. I mean... to google the web for some help from Ubuntu forums and whatever sources I can find but... wait... I didn't have my Firefox anymore!?! ;-) Oh yeah! I can get it back again. I'll just go re-download Firefox and OOo 2.4 and re-install them. So I did, and after sometime I felt relieved. My OOo is back... and my friendly Firefox too. I checked my OOo to make sure that it still works just like before. I did the same with Firefox and I managed to surf the web just like before... well... kinda... wait... I noticed that something was wrong. My Heron was not as fast and as snappy as before. It now looks and feels like it was sick. Maybe a reboot will help. Maybe? Perhaps?

Quisas...quisas..quisas?

So I did reboot my Heron... with fingers crossed.

Too bad! My worst fear just happened.

I could not get to the GNOME desktop like before. I could log-in but all I can see is my lonely and helpless mouse-pointer. I had to manually switch off my PC. What did I do? What happened? Maybe another reboot could help. Maybe? Perhaps? (hey! I'm a newbie.)

Quisas...quisas..quisas?

Same thing happened. May be I could try the “recovery mode” start-up or something. Maybe? Perhaps?

Quisas...quisas..quisas?

Then the geeky boot mode followed. I saw a menu showing options to fix my Hardy Heron... I tried them one by one... but... they did no good. I can't get my Heron desktop back to its glory, just like the way it was before. All I can do now is to boot it as a root user and do some command line stuff. I asked a friend and he told me I could just copy my files and re-install and re-build my Heron... from scratch! Whhaaattt?!? I can't believe it!! Did I just kill my Hardy Heron? Is it really dead? Still dying? Can I still revive it?

Well... Intrepid Ibex is here. If I need to rebuild Heron from scratch, maybe installing Intrepid Ibex makes more sense. On the contrary, it also does not come with OOo 3. The techy department of Ubuntu has not tested and integrated it yet so I have to wait probably a few weeks or months to do a “safer” upgrade. Certainly I can follow a nicer and simpler howtos for Intrepid Ibex to have OOo 3 in it but I'm having second thoughts after what had happened with my Heron. I simply don't want to accidentally kill an Ibex ;-).

Linux indeed is making a significant progress in terms of mainstream adoption because of improved desktop usability. It has grown by leaps and bounds and there is no question about it. However, the people in the Linux-side of the world should pay attention to the little (maybe not-so-significant) nice-to-haves that the people in the Windows-side of the world already enjoy, that is, if they really want to "win those" Windows guys and possibly ignite massive migration to Linux and FOSS.

Easy installation and upgrading of software is one of these nice-to-haves and I believe coming up with a robust and easy-to-use install/uninstall utility is a lot easier and simpler than building a rock-solid OS like Linux. PC-BSD has done it and it's getting nice reviews and credits for its PBI files.

Too bad for me, I have no other choice but to work with my old pal Windows -- at least for the time being as I ponder what to do best with my new-found friend Ubuntu. Should I keep my Hardy Heron and give it another chance? Or should I ditch it for Intrepid Ibex?