The folks at Canonical have decided to get a bit cute with the launch of the latest version of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat is due out on October 10th… also known as 10/10/10. Right on schedule, Canonical took the penultimate step toward delivering Meerkat on time by pushing out a release candidate last night.
Unless any major bugs are discovered in the release candidate, the version launched last night will effectively be the full release, so if you’re willing to push your luck just a little bit you can go ahead and install Ubuntu 10.10 today and start using the OS 10 days early.
Ubuntu 10.10 RC should look pretty familiar to anyone who has been using the beta since last month. There are a few updates including a newer kernel version and a newer version of the GNOME desktop environment. There are some major changes since Ubuntu 10.04 though, including the new Unity desktop environment for Ubuntu Netbook edition.
Ubuntu 10.10 RC is available as a free download from Canonical.
I wonder if this will not suck on SSD Aspire Ones – 10.04 would pause every few seconds, even with all the usual noatime, elevator etc tweaks applied. Unfortunately the only way of finding out is installing, which is a bit irreversible – a live USB image won’t put the SSD through its paces properly.
>”Unless any major bugs are discovered in the release candidate, the version launched last night will effectively be the full release”
What’s your source for this? I know a pedantic reading of the traditional software release lifecycle could lead brave one to make an assertion like this, it’s certainly not practical advice to be giving here.
Believe me, nobody close to Ubuntu is expecting zero bug fixes between now and the 10th. You could have stated that a simple update *might* be all it takes to get your release candidate up to release status on Oct 10th but you didn’t even try to be that cagey. Anyone who has tried the Netbook respin knows it’s going to take more than that.
It’s impractical to be giving advice like this. Linux coverage on Liliputing tends to be quite shoddy.
I don’t know, I think there’s something about the words “release candidate,” that would seem to imply that this *could* be the final release. I’m not the only one who thinks so.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Release_candidate
Like I said, a pedantic reading. Not practical.
Dude, you need to look up the definition of “release candidate”. It is what it is, and Brad just gives the standard take on a RC.
I am officially appending “use of word ‘penultimate'” to the list of reasons that Brad is the best tech journalist around.