Ubuntu’s Lucid plans

“With the focus on long-term stability, Lucid Lynx will err on
the conservative side when it comes to new features. One of the
things that will disappoint desktop users is that Gnome 3 won’t be
included in Lucid Lynx. Although Gnome 3 is due to be released in
early 2010, and Ubuntu traditionally includes the latest Gnome
release, this time around it won’t. The obvious thinking behind
this is that Gnome 3, which is a substantial change from Gnome 2,
will have a few rough edges on launch. So instead of rolling out a
LTS release with brand new software, Lucid will hold off. So the
default desktop for Ubuntu Lucid will be Gnome 2.28.

“Naturally faster boot times can be expected in Lucid Lynx,
although the talk about boot times in the region of 10 seconds is
perhaps too optimistic. Ubuntu’s current Karmic Koala release takes
well over 30 seconds to go from startup to a login screen. Either
way Lucid Lynx is likely to start pushing the barriers of how fast
a PC can boot up.

“Ubuntu will also look at improving general speed, which will
include tricks to speed up software installation by performing some
of the installation while the remaining files are downloaded.”

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