Ubuntu details next project: 'Jaunty Jackalope'
Summary
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The news comes as the project last week made available an advance testing version of its Linux distribution, Ubuntu 8.10, the "Intrepid Ibex," which is scheduled for release in late October.
"As we approach the launch of Ubuntu 8.10, it's time to create space for future plans... [Jaunty] will be the focus of our efforts from November through to April next year," wrote the project's founder and patron Mark Shuttleworth in an email to developers this morning.
Shuttleworth said Ubuntu 9.04 would focus on improving boot time and blurring the line between desktop applications and the incoming wave of web-based software.
"The Jackalope is known for being so fast that it's extremely hard to catch, and breeds only when lightning flashes," wrote Shuttleworth. "Let's see if we can make booting or resuming Ubuntu blindingly quick." Operating system rival Microsoft has also recently stated it wanted to make boot times one of its priorities for its incoming Windows 7 operating system, which has not yet been formally named.
On web application integration, Shuttleworth wrote: "Is it a deer? Is it a bunny? Or is it a weblication: a desktop application that seamlessly integrates the web? This hare has legs, and horns, and we'll be exploring it in much more detail for Jaunty."
The 9.04 release will also see Ubuntu's entire code repository moved into the project's Bazaar version control system, to make it easier for developers to work with the software. "For the first time, any developer will be able to branch any Ubuntu package with a single bzr command, publish their changes, and perhaps even publish builds of that package in their own package archive," wrote Shuttleworth.
Shuttleworth said the project would be planning the 9.04 release in much more detail at its Ubuntu Developer Summit, to be held in Google's Mountain View campus from 8-12 December this year.
Shuttleworth said 2009 would see Ubuntu compete strongly with its commercial rivals. "The warrior rabbit is our talisman as we move into a year where we can reasonably expect Ubuntu to ship on several million devices, to consumers who can reasonably expect the software experience to be comparable to those of the traditional big [software vendors]: Microsoft and Apple," he wrote.
"The bar is set very high, and we have been given the opportunity to leap over it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to shine, and we want to make sure that the very best thinking across the whole open-source ecosystem is reflected in Ubuntu, because many people will judge free software as a whole by what we do."
Talkback Most Recent of 70 Talkback(s)
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Ubuntu is GREAT, and it has spurred a ton of innovations.
A big thanks to all of the Ubuntu guys.
DonnieBoy9th Sep 2008 -
What tons of innovations?
"Thanks for nothing, guys" would be a better phrase
AllKnowingAllSeeing9th Sep 2008 -
I guess life as a Windows user is pretty booorrring, but, with Ubuntu, we
get very significant updates every 6 months. You have to wait 6 years with an embarrassing Fisher Price toy interface, and then, all you get is a bloated pig!!!DonnieBoy9th Sep 2008 -
Where did he say anything about Microsoft?
This is getting pathetic.
Hallowed are the Ori9th Sep 2008 -
Dear John- About Microsoft
They are fair game for anyone who has been pissed about by them
elderlybloke10th Sep 2008 -
He didn't have to!
It's quite obvious from his comments that he's not an Ubuntu user or he wouldn't have made the comments in the first place! And given that Mac users seem perfectly happy with their OSX, that only leaves one left. QED.
GOTBO24th Feb 2009 -
Here we go again...yawn.
Stooping to the lows of completely off-topic Windows-bashing, eh? How original. How productive. What a winning strategy to take.
lawryll@...9th Sep 2008 -
Yawn?
Productive? Yes. Original? Yes. Microsoft bashing? No not at all, there was no windows bashing in fact he stated that Ubuntu has a lot of work to do to ensure it matches Microsoft/Apple. I dual boot with Ubuntu and Vista and barr the office packages and games I live in an open source world
teambuckfast10th Sep 2008 -
Windows users receive updates via Windows Update every month
Windows users receive updates via Windows Update.
For example, this month we get a Performance and Relialibility pack for Vista
qmlscycrajg10th Sep 2008 -
They aren't version updates....
they are bug fixes and patches. We're talking about regular Ubuntu version updates here not patches!GOTBO10th Sep 2008 -
"We are talking about regular Ubuntu version updates"
So what's the rule? Let's have it be the same for all OS vendors.
What truely constitutes a full version upgrade?
I don't see the qualifications for that in anything since 6.06.
That's my opinion, much like many say Vista is NT 5.2
xuniL_z10th Sep 2008 -
Isn't it obvious?
It's a new version when the vendor says it is. On that basis MS bring out a new version very infrequently compared to Ubuntu. So that's 2 versions of desktop Windows actually released since Ubuntu was released in 2004, and in the same period Ubuntu has released a new version nearly every six months. You do the math?!GOTBO24th Feb 2009 -
tons of applications grabbed from Internet and put in Ubuntu distro
Ubuntu is not an OS, but it's an ammass of copied applications... Ubuntu code name photocopier...qmlscycrajg10th Sep 2008 -
Technically true, but...
Technically your remarks are accurate, because "Linux" is the OS. (GNU/Linux) Ubuntu is a distribution of Linux, which means that it is indeed a collection of various applications. Some are major, like the GNOME Desktop Environment, and some are comparatively minor, like Transmission, the bittorrent application.
GNU/Linux itself is derived from Unix...
None of which prevents me from having fun with Ubuntu, which is, after all, the point.
barence77310th Sep 2008 -
He was replying to DB's "tons of innovations"
And while Ubuntu is a great distro. Donnie Boy is going over the edge with the "tons of innovation" comment. What innovations are there? If all these changes are "innovations" then no one can say that Microsoft doesn't innovate! When just add pre-existing stuff, how is that innovation?
DevGuy_z23rd Feb 2009
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