Tomorrow Ubuntu 7.10 launches, and with it a whole new era in Open Source operating systems. Sure, it may be just another Linux distribution but, make no mistake, 7.10 is the tipping point.

After 7 releases, Ubuntu's track record remains stellar. Maintaining a rigorous release schedule, the Ubuntu team have managed to "slip" less than one day per release cycle, putting other commercial closed source vendors to shame. Try that, Microsoft.

While impressive, Ubuntu's dead-on release strategy is nothing compared to the level of innovation contained within those cycles. Giving users and developers what they want is a big piece of Ubuntu's core strategy, and it's starting to pay off in spades.

The Ubuntu team has released Gutsy Gibbon Tribe5. Essentially that means this is the 5th Alpha release of the next version of Ubuntu.

This is an Alpha release, so it's recommended for curious early adopters, not for people who need a fully functional bug-free system. But if you can't wait to see some of the features that will included in Ubuntu 7.10, here's some of what Tribe5 has to offer:

• New graphics configuration utility for X that let you easily set up dual monitors, change the default resolution for all users, or change your monitor's refresh rate
• Ubuntu's version of Firefox includes a new Apt-Enabled plugin finder wizard and extension manager
• Ubuntu automatically creates a virtual PDF printer that lets you "print" files to PDF

The printer management system has also been changed to make it easier to configure printers.

[via Digg]

Oh sweet Ubuntu with your rapid development cycle and sexy logo, will you ever slow down? The third alpha release of Ubuntu 7.10 (due out for real in October) is ready and available for download.

The new version includes the super rap Compiz Fusion 3d desktop, which should make the Gutsy Gibbon rather attractive indeed. A whole slew of other improvements come along for the ride as well.

Be warned, it's alpha software. Still, it's some exciting news for the Ubuntu addicted.

It seems like just yesterday that the Ubuntu team released Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn. But Ubuntu has a 6 month release schedule, so you can expect a new version in October. Last night, a message was sent to the Ubuntu development mailing list outlining the planned feature set for Gutsy Gibbon.

In a nutshell, Ubuntu 7.10 will use the 2.6.22 kernel, and include GNOME desktop 2.2 or KDE 3.5.7 for Kubuntu (with packages for KDE 4.0 release candidate two for anyone who wants to check it out). This should be the first Ubuntu distribution to include the recently merged Compiz and Beryl 3D desktop manager.

Ubuntu 7.10 will also be the first release to include a mobile/embedded distribution for mobile phones and handheld devices. We'll be interested to see how it stacks up against the existing Linux ports for PDAs and handheld computers.

Since Ubuntu is released on a time-based schedule, rather than a feature-based one, it's possible that some of these features might not make it into Gutsy Gibbon. But it's also possible that the final release will include features not mentioned in the plan.

[via eHomeUpgrade]

Those crazy developer kids with their cheeky prototype names. Mark Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu's next release will carry the development code name Gutsy Gibbon, following in the footsteps of Feisty Fawn, Edgy Eft and Dapper Drake (see a pattern?)

Gutsy Gibbon is scheduled for release in October of 2007, following Ubuntu's rigid and rapid release cycle. To be known in production as 7.10, Gutsy Gibbon will also take "an ultra-orthodox view of licensing: no firmware, drivers, imagery, sounds, applications, or other content which do not include full source materials and come with full rights of modification, remixing and redistribution"

For those of us that still want to get our non-GNU on, Automatix will no doubt be available for the new platform but, we're forced to wonder what code in the current;y circulating Ubuntu might get the heave-ho under a renewed focus on open and transparent source code.

What else is on the table for this next cycle of the fastest growing Linux distribution? An unattended, enterprise-geared installation package named Ubiquity which should make Ubuntu even more attractive to large corporate clients. Shuttleworth is also pushing -- third time is the charm -- for "composite by default", using the somewhat revolutionary Compiz 3D desktop environment. Although he's pushed for a default composite desktop before, he seems more realistic this time around, "There's a reasonable chance that Gutsy will deliver where those others have not. I remain convinced that malleable, transparent and extra-dimensional GUI's are a real opportunity for the free software community to take a lead in the field of desktop innovation "

[via Digg]