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Filed under: OS Updates, Linux, Open Source, Canonical

Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 6 adds software store, improves boot speed

Canonical has some pretty ambitious goals for Karmic Koala: faster startup times, tight cloud integration, an improved experience for netbooks, a Ubuntu software store, and much more. Some of these changes in recent alpha builds and yesterday's 9.10 alpha 6 continues to bring things into focus.

As you can see from the header clip, the old usplash boot animation has been replaced by xsplash which (unsurprisingly) uses X to draw the screens. In the demo, the full desktop is loaded around the 21 second mark - a very respectable time. Don't forget, Canonical hopes to cut that time in half in Ubuntu 10.04.

Also making its debut this go-ground is the Software Store. It's been added to the system menu and brings a more user-friendly program installation experience to Ubuntu. Sure, Synaptic and Ubuntu's own add/remove system are good, but the Software Store is a nice gesture to new Linux converts and less computer-savy users.

The beta release of Ubuntu 9.10 is slated for October 1st and the final release on the 29th. You can upgrade via apt-get or the Ubuntu Update Manager or download the new builds from Canonical. In addition to the flagship distribution, KUbuntu, Xubuntu, EDUbuntu, UbuntuStudio, and Mythbuntu are also available.
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