Three months have passed since the latest version of Ubuntu launched. With its classic desktop gone, Oneiric Ocelot is all Unity. The training wheels are off; no turning back now. Is Ubuntu ready for touchscreens? And how does it compare to Windows 7?

Ubuntu 11.10, code-named 'Oneiric Ocelot', launched last October. Although this is the second version of Ubuntu to employ the Unity graphical user interface (GUI), it is the first that does away with the optional GNOME 2 GUI. Unity was developed in-house by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. While we welcomed a change from the aging GNOME 2 desktop, Unity was not without its kinks.