Lucid Lynx release paves way for Ubuntu shake-up

The release of the final version on Thursday came two weeks after the beta version was made available for public testing. The operating system update is now more or less complete, Canonical said.

"We consider this release candidate to be complete, stable and suitable for testing by any user," said Ubuntu release manager Steve Langasek in a statement.

As a long-term support (LTS) edition of Ubuntu, Lucid Lynx will be supported for three years on the desktop or five years for the server version, in contrast to the 18 months of support for standard releases. It is intended as a significant update, putting into place new features the company intends to develop in coming releases, according to Canonical.

The release of a new LTS will leave Canonical free to aim for more radical changes with the Ubuntu version scheduled for completion in October - called Maverick Meerkat - the company has said.

Earlier this month, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth said changes with Maverick Meerkat will include the updating of the desktop from the Gnome 2.x series to Gnome 3.0. It will also include a revamp of the interface for netbooks, designed to integrate social-networking features into applications.

For more on this story, read Lucid Lynx paves way for Ubuntu shake-up on ZDNet UK.