12.04 really got me excited and when the beta came out I enthusiastically installed it via wubi. (I find dual boots to be too problematic with one OS or the other playing "king of the hill"). It was everything you complimented them for above.

Problem is the LTS release is wayyyyyy slower than the beta? The load is a little slower...the updates are wayyyy slower...what happened? Is Ubuntu now to mimic Windows where its best to wait until they get the bugs ironed out? (tried both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions)

Also, the details window for the updates is weak (too small, scrolls badly and doesn't display the update itself...only the update.source? I'll be following Ubunyu's progress but...

It is a step forward but not a giant leap.