Moving the Window Control Buttons Back to the Right Side in Ubuntu 10.04

One of the most annoying new features to some people in Ubuntu 10.04 is the decision to switch the default window control button layout to be on the left side of the window. After installing it on my girlfriends laptop yesterday (I'll also mention that she is loving Ubuntu), it was the first change I had to make at her request.

How-To Geek already has an excellent guide on how to make this change here:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/13535/move-window-buttons-back-to-the-right-in-ubuntu-10.04/

I will give you a quick rundown on how to do it.

Use Alt+F2 to bring up the Run Application window. Type gconf-editor into the field and press Run. This will bring up the Configuration Editor window. Navigate to apps>metacity>general in the left pane. In the right pane, find the button_layout key and double click it to open a window which allows you to edit its value. Change the value to "menu:maximize,minimize,close" (minus the quotes) and click OK. The change should occur immediately.

First Three Weeks with 10.04

I've been running 10.04 as the primary OS on my Samsung NC10 netbook for three weeks and so far have had no issues.  Improvements and changes are subtle for the most part.  Every six months when I move to a newer Ubuntu I am reminded that I need to understand more about the brass tacks of the OS in order to really understand where the improvements are being made.

The boot time and shutdown times are both improved, although improvements in those categories are becoming harder to recognize since 9.10 was fast as well.  10.04 is faster but by a matter of only a few seconds.  I guess keeping up with those stats is a matter of following the increments until it is instant on both actions.  Sooner than later you'll push your power button and be up and running instantly and you'll shut down just as quickly.  Improvements in hardware (like SSD's) and software (like removing a redundant HAL) categories at the same time will speed the course to instantaneous start and shut-down.  Then we'll all have a few more seconds in our life to...?

Changes to Gnome and the GUI are noticeable as well, especially the fact that you are faced with the color purple now instead of earth tones.  With Linux based desktop operating systems though there is so much customization available that really you can only talk about differences in the default settings.   And when you like to start adjusting those immediately defaults don't last long.  Not long ago I learned how to change the splash screen so I'm going to get to work on that now with the Lynx.