Good Things on the Way
There are going to be a lot of good things coming our way over the next few weeks:
- Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala: The Release Candidate should be out today, and the final release is due out next Thursday. In addition to the usual progess to the latest Linux kernel (2.6.31), Gnome desktop (2.28), X.org 1.6 and various other packages, this release also includes the Ubuntu Software Center, the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, and the Ubuntu One file sharing service. Perhaps the best indication of the number and quality of improvements in this release is the lack of whinging about "why bother", at least so far. I've had it running on all of my systems since the early Alpha releases, and in my opinion it is incredibly good.
- Mandriva Linux 2010: Due on 3 November, one week after Ubuntu. This one also goes to Linux kernel 2.6.31, X.org server 1.6.3, and KDE 4.3.2, along with a lot of other package updates. Once again, I have had Mandriva One 2010 running on most of my systems at least since the Beta release, and it looks very good.
- openSuSE 11.2: Due just over a week after Mandriva 2010, on 12 November. Once again, Linux kernel 2.6.31, KDE 4.3 and Gnome 2.28, and a variety of other new packages. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like openSuSE has made some huge strides forward in usability, flexibility, reliability and even cosmetics over the past couple of releases, and this one looks like it will be no exception. I've had it loaded on various of my systems since about Milestone 3, and it has been interesting to watch how the diversity of systems on which it installs and runs easily has improved.
- Fedora 12: Just five days after openSuSE, the final release of Fedora 12. In addition to the usual progress to the latest Linux kernel, Gnome and such, there is new and better video support, an ingenious improvement in Bluetooth support (good news for me, as I use mice and printers this way), and much, much more.
What an interesting and exciting few weeks it is going to be! That is without even mentioning some of the derivative releases which will follow these major releases - I can hardly wait for Linux Mint (based on Ubuntu) and PCLinuxOS (based on Mandriva). There's fun for everyone coming soon!
jw 22/10/2009