Canonical has released the first beta of Jaunty Jackalope, the latest version of the popular Ubuntu operating system.
Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical's chief executive, has already claimed he wants Jaunty Jackalope to be the fastest version of Ubuntu yet, and is aiming to knock boot times down to around 25 seconds on a netbook.
Although the big visual revamp is being held back until Ubuntu 9.10, dubbed Karmic Koala, Jaunty will not go untended on the looks front.
The operating system includes the Gnome 2.26 desktop environment, bringing the Brasero CD/DVD burning tool, as well as improved notification handling - with a user being able to choose where system, email and instant messages appear.
Gnome 2.26 also brings improvements to Evolution, the default mail client, which can now import Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders and has support for Microsoft Exchange's MAPI protocol.
There's also broader file format support, an option to install the Ext4 filesystem and version 2.6.28 of the Linux kernel, which should provide the usual array of bug fixes and stability improvements.
The final release of Jaunty Jackalope will be available by mid-April. Download the Jaunty Jackalope beta here.
-
US gov makes $2bn investment in domestic quantum firmsNews The Department of Commerce says it wants to strengthen the country's presence in this critical technology sector
-
Data center industry faces ticking power time bombNews Technical and regulatory hurdles make colocation unscalable for most developers, Wood Mackenzie has warned
-
AI is coming to Ubuntu: Canonical exec teases future AI features and agentic workflow capabilities for version 26.10 — but on a ‘strictly opt-in basis’News A range of new AI features are coming to Ubuntu over the next year, according to maintainers, but only providing they’re of “sufficient maturity and quality”.
-
Alert issued over critical vulnerabilities in Linux’s AppArmor security layer – more than 12 million enterprise systems are at risk of root accessNews Researchers have warned Linux flaws allow unprivileged local users to gain root privileges and weaken container isolation
-
Windows 10 extended support costs could top $7 billionNews Enterprises sticking with Windows 10 after the October deadline face huge costs
-
Linux just hit an all-time high share of the global desktop market — and surging popularity in India is driving uptake of the open source operating system
News Linux is still dwarfed by operating systems such as Windows, but it’s making modest gains off the back of growing popularity in emerging markets
-
Linux Blue Screen of Death gives users a taste of the dreaded Windows featureNews The Linux Blue Screen of Death has been added in a recent update
-
Tiny11 review: Windows 11 with only 2GB of RAMReview A version of Windows 11 for older machines that don't meet the full requirements
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux becomes foundational operating system for Cohesity Data CloudNews New strategic partnership between Red Hat and Cohesity aims to drive innovation in the data security and management space
-
Ubuntu shifts to four-week update cycleNews Critical fixes will also come every two weeks, mitigating the issues involved with releasing prompt patches on the old three-week cadence
