Edubuntu "Hardy" release almost ready for prime time

Recent discussions on the Edubuntu users' list suggest that Edubuntu's Hardy Heron (Version 8.4) release scheduled for April will bring solutions to a few long-standing problems, as well as long-term support. While Version 7.10 was quite stable and worked very well, 8.4 may be just the ticket for summer installs of new computer labs.

Hardy Heron offers the usual rash of enhancements and improvements (a Remote Desktop utility, allowing users to connect to your X session either locally or over the web; improved administration interfaces, allowing highly granular control of user privileges; and Xorg 7.3, which provides vastly superior support for multiple monitors and easy detection of hardware, among others).

However, for Edubuntu users, Hardy allows clients to use removable drives, such as USB thumb drives (a feature previously buggy at best). More importantly, it represents the LTS (long-term support release) from Canonical, meaning that once organizations have an implementation in place, they can receive support and updates from the company for 3 years, corresponding better to product lifecycles.

As soon as it is released, a full review will be forthcoming. For now, download the alpha 5 version and start testing it yourself. Talk back below with any thoughts.