Ubuntu: the change is coming - April 29th.

The new version of Ubuntu, 10.04, is almost near the corner. On April 22nd the last step before the final release in coming, the Release Candidate. This represents usually about 90-95% of the final release, and soon after, on 29th, the final release is going to be available.

This is a LTS update, or Long Term Support. This means that this version will be supported for 3 years on Desktop version, and it is launched every two years (while normal releases are supported for 18 months and are launched every 6 months). Thousands of updates are coming daily for those who are using Beta 2 at this moment, so this is an evidence that the community is seriously working for 10.04 LTS.

This is a list of the most important updates that Ubuntu 10.04 has so far and what is supposed to come in the final release:

• Much better hardware support
• Improved speed
• 2 new default themes
• By default, Ubuntu has windows buttons on the left
• Splash and login screens are now modified
• Gwibber is installed by default (social client - Twitter is included)
• Boot time under 10 seconds (for the final release)

Regarding the themes, an article can be found by clicking here. However, articles about Ubuntu can be found on the entire blog. You must only find them by typing "Ubuntu" in the search box.

Ubuntu is still under full development, so the many applications and even the system can get serious errors, so if you need a stable system it is not recommended to update yet.

The stable version (9.10) and 10.04 beta 2 are both available from the official site: http://www.ubuntu.com/ .

Firefox 3.6 launches tomorrow, 21 January.

The new version of Firefox, the browser developed by Mozilla, will be available for download tomorrow, January 21st, at 9:30 am Pacific Standard Time, says Mozilla. Currently, release candidate is the latest version available, which is generally about 90-95% of the final release.

A new feature is "Personas", which is nothing more than many themes for Firefox. Other feature implemented in Firefox 3.6 is a mechanism which will check for newer updates for your plug-ins, in order to keep you updated and make the navigation as safe as possible. Mozilla also claims that their browser is now 25% faster than the previous version, which makes it the fastest browser (any company says that when they launch a new version). But there is nothing surprising, that could attract me in order to leave Chrome...

If you want to see more (and video): http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/comingsoon/ (I don't know what is with that video, but it runs like the hell, even on Firefox 3.5.7)

Download link: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html

Update: Download link for 3.6 final version: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html