The newly-renamed Ubuntu Netbook Edition won’t include OpenOffice, the free office suite.

Discussions on the software set the official netbook spin will use includes a proposal to drop applications that either don’t suit typical netbook usage or aren’t compatible or optimised for the hardware.

OpenOffice doesn’t neatly fall into either of this, but its removal was proposed and as of the current Ubuntu 10.04 daily builds, is gone. Clicking on any document files now opens the web-based Google Docs suite.

Other applications removed in Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Edition (as of this the date this was written):

  • Tomboy
  • Graphics applications
  • PalmOS Pilot

Apps still installed but hidden:

  • Brasero/CD Creator
  • Dictionary
  • ‘Take Screenshot’ tool

A suite of ‘netbook friendly’ applications have been added, though:

  • Gwibber (microblogging client)
  • Cheese (web cam tool)
  • SimpleScan (document scanning utility)

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS is under active development. Plans can and do change – keep an eye on the blog for updates on any other changes to the software selected to ship in the netbook edition this spring.

Thanks to om26er