
Canonical has announced that Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop and Server Editions are now available! Its integrate the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.“Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition is a very significant release as it will take Ubuntu squarely into the business environment," said Jane Silber, COO of Canonical Ltd. "Our business and home users have told us that they want a longer support cycle to make Ubuntu a better deployment option. We have responded to that and added a commitment to much broader software and hardware support that we and our partners are excited to deliver. With enhanced commercial support through Landscape, combined with our always excellent community support, expect to see 8.04 LTS drive Ubuntu into new arenas."
"Ubuntu's polished, user focused version of the Linux desktop has built itself a wide enough following to compel significant ISV interest and support,” said Stephen O'Grady, principal analyst at Redmonk. "By coupling a very capable desktop offering with long term support options, Ubuntu is becoming an increasingly viable option for enterprises as well as consumers."
"Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino bring highly scalable messaging and industry-leading collaboration to the Ubuntu desktop,” said Kevin Cavanaugh, vice president of IBM Lotus Software. "We believe the extended multi-year support for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS makes it an excellent desktop solution for corporate users who wish to deploy Lotus Notes on an open platform."
The latest Ubuntu release brings the best of open source together on a platform that is here to stay with 3 years of free updates. With hundreds of improvements and the addition of the latest version of Firefox amongst other outstanding applications, more and more users are assessing why Ubuntu wins more and more converts with every release.
Now, Ubuntu supports all of your favourite web-based mail programs like Yahoo(TM) or Gmail (TM). But for the office, Evolution provides all the calendering, contacts and full function office email you need. Pidgin IM also puts you in instant touch with colleagues and integrates with your personal IM services simply and easily.
The minimum memory requirement for Ubuntu 8.04 is 384MB of memory for desktop CDs, and 256MB for other installation methods. (Note that some of your system's memory may be unavailable due to being used for the graphics card.)
With only the minimum amount of memory available, the installation process will take longer than normal, but will complete successfully, and the system will perform adequately once installed. Low-memory systems may be able to use the desktop CD to install by selecting "Install Ubuntu" from the boot menu to run just the installer, rather than the whole desktop started by selecting "Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer".
You can download this new version of Ubuntu at here. Users of Ubuntu 7.10 or Ubuntu 6.06 LTS can upgrade to Ubuntu 8.04 by a convenient automated process. Users of other Ubuntu releases should upgrade step by step (e.g. 6.10 -> 7.04 -> 7.10 -> 8.04 LTS). Complete instructions may be found at upgrading.
The release of SymphonyOne 2008.1, an Ubuntu-based distribution with Mezzo, an alternative desktop environment, is available now. Symphony OS is a distribution of GNU/Linux based on the Debian GNU/Linux and KNOPPIX operating systems. Symphony will do things a bit differently than other Linux operating systems; making it easier to use and more intuitive than most existing distributions.
SymphonyOne is an almost 100% rewrite of all the Mezzo desktop code taking advantage of more features of fvwm to provide a smaller footprint and more stable environment. Based on Ubuntu 7.10, SymphonyOne provides a complete desktop environment and full Ubuntu compatibility on systems with as little as a 200mhz processor. SymphonyOne also introduces our new WebApps system which allows you to make any website into a program in your programs menu which runs as it’s own process in it’s own window.
Main Features:
- Based on ubuntu 7.10 with all the latest updates.
- Compatible with all Ubuntu packages
- Ubiquity installer (same as ubuntu)
- Completely rewritten Mezzo Desktop (Mezzo v.2) implemented using more features of FVWM giving it a lighter footprint
- System management by Gnome-System-Tools (network, display, users, etc.)
- Web App System (similar to Mozilla Prizm but implemented in Orchestra and fully integrated into the system). Inside firefox there is a button (bookmarklet) that when clicked takes you to a wizard that allows you to make the current page a web app. Web apps are displayed in the programs menu like any other program, using the favicon.ico from the site in question as it’s icon. When launched, the web app is run in it’s own window seperately from firefox.
- With the changes in the Mezzo desktop we have thrown away our old desklet system which was never really adopted by developers and have moved to adesklets in this release.
You can download SymphonyOne at Here.



















