Ubuntu goes after the Lynx effect

Ubuntu patron and founder Mark Shuttleworth has detailed plans for the distribution's April 2010 release, code-named Lucid Lynx.

In a video message to attendees of UbuCon Atlanta, Shuttleworth said that 10.04 would be based on the Gnome 2.0 desktop and would extend the horizontal server scalability of Debian into cloud computing. Releases after Lucid Lynx would include the Gnome 3.0, which works on the desktop.

Lucid Lynx is the third biannual long-term support (LTS) release by Ubuntu; LTS releases are supported for three years for desktops and five years for servers.

"This is something that we get by virtue of the fact that we work with free software, you just couldn't do this with proprietary software because you don't have the visibility on the planning horizon," Shuttleworth said.

"Delivering Ubuntu 10.04 as an LTS, is the definitive proof that that two-year cadence works."

Citing the Lynx deodorant namesake, Shuttleworth said: "This year's Ubuntu Developer Summit is going to be the sweetest smelling Ubuntu Developer Summit ever, despite the fact that it's happening in Dallas."