LONDON, October 15, 2007 – Canonical Ltd. announced today the upcoming availability of version 7.10 of the Ubuntu Server, Desktop, Kubuntu and Edubuntu Editions. All will be available for free download on Thursday 18 October. Canonical is the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu.

Ubuntu makes no distinction between community and enterprise editions, Ubuntu 7.10 is our best work and is available freely to all. Ubuntu has consistently ranked #1 in reviews of security update responsiveness and effectiveness. The Ubuntu platform is fully certified and supported, making it a secure choice for users looking to explore, deploy and enjoy Linux. Ubuntu 7.10 brings together the best open source and free software available in a stable, robust environment that 'just works'.

'We are privileged to have millions of users running Ubuntu every day". commented Jane Silber, COO of Canonical UK. 'This gives us great insight into what they want from a free, Linux-based platform. Ubuntu 7.10 is another milestone in delivering on these requirements on the desktop and server.'

Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop Edition adds an enhanced user interface, improved hardware support, multiple monitor support and integrated desktop search. Additional information is available at http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu-desktop710.

Ubuntu 7.10 Server Edition features improved functionality, manageability, pro-active security and hardware compatibility and delivers a rapid deployment platform for developers and businesses. Additional information is available at http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu-server710.

New versions of Kubuntu and Edubuntu, derivatives of Ubuntu aimed at KDE enthusiasts and the education community respectively, are also being released at the same time. Additional information is available at http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu-family710.

Ubuntu Gusty Gibbon(7.10) will be released soon.It's a good news for those who wants to upgrade their ubuntu feisty fawn(7.04) to Gusty.

If you dont mine abount the risk, you can just follow this url and upgrade your system to Gusty beta version.But, since Gusty is still under development process, i personally do not recommend you to upgrade it now.We have to wait until the stable version of Gusty is out.

Thousands of reason to upgrade to Gusty!

Gusty Gibbon promised you a greatest software that the open source and free software ever offer.

Desktop

Ubuntu 7.10 will ship with the latest version of the GNOME desktop (2.20), which will be released a few weeks before the final version of Gutsy Gibbon. On the other hand, Kubuntu will ship with the latest version of the KDE desktop (3.5.7). Moreover, Kubuntu users will have the possibility of installing KDE 4.0 RC2 packages.

Ubuntu 7.10 will be the first distribution to include the newly merged Beryl and Compiz projects, which will be the default window manager on systems that will support it.

Hardware Support

The Linux kernel 2.6.22 with the usual selection of updated and additional drivers will be part of the Ubuntu 7.10 release.

Ubuntu 7.10 will include the most awaited release of Xorg, version 7.3, which brings bleeding-edge features such as:

• better graphics hardware support;
• hotplug monitors and input devices;
• easier configuration;
• hotplugging-supported drivers (no xorg.conf).

You should also expect improvements to the Restricted Driver Manager, and the "winmodem" chips will be supported out of the box (where drivers are available).

Mobile

Ubuntu 7.10 will be the first release available for hand-held devices and other
mobile/embedded form factors, through the Mobile and Embedded edition.

Server

Ubuntu 7.10 Server Edition aims to attract more and more server administrators and it will bring attractive features for small businesses and organizations. Novel's AppArmor security framework will also be available for those that want it.

Stability and Performance

Last but not least, Ubuntu 7.10 is promised to be more stable and powerful than the previous releases were. The system should work much better when the filesystem is full, allowing the user to make room and continue his work without interruption.

Moreover, Upstart 0.5 will be on board of Ubuntu 7.10 to provide flexible and reliable service supervision. Also, the boot process will "suffer" improvements and reduce start-up time.

Three Features Most Wanted in Gusty Gibbon

• Graphical configuration tool for X

You can now configure what driver you want to use for your graphic card, set up dual monitors, change the default resolution for all users or change your monitor’s refresh rate without having to turn to the terminal. A new GUI has been added making it trivial to adjust your video and monitor settings.

• New Features for Firefox

Ubufox ships two new, hot Ubuntu Firefox features - Apt-Enabled Plugin Finder Wizard and Extension Manager integration.

• New Printing System

A lot of effort has gone into the printing system. Ubuntu now creates a virtual “PDF printer” by default, which you can use to generate PDF files from all applications that do not have native PDF output support, like GIMP, Firefox, and other non-Gnome applications.

The old, unmaintained gnome-cups-manager has been replaced with system-config-printer, a printer management application from Fedora. We now have a well maintained piece of software, and good collaboration with Tim Waugh, assisted by Till Kamppeter who has been doing an amazing job, and has made big improvements on it.