What’s new on Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot

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With the much-awaited Oneiric Ocelot, Ubuntu 11.10 finally released, the anticipation to install and work with it is quiet palatable in Ubuntu world.

True to their community, the Ubuntu developers have integrated the best of open source capabilities with high performance Linux distribution. This release is on schedule following the Natty Narwhal, Ubuntu 11.04, six months ago. Ubuntu 11.10 comes with updates to the Unity Shell and some routine changes.

Computer usage is increasingly revolving around internet resources and Unity developers believe that the interface too needs to change to offer users features that allow them to access, beyond their own devices. Hence, the introduction, of the new age Unity environment was made, in Ubuntu 11.04. The new environment shifted Ubuntu’s paradigm to internet and increasingly towards cloud-based resources.

It departed largely from the Ubuntu-characteristic desktop Gnome and introduced, a little jarringly, a trendier touch-based feature ecosystem. However, with Ubuntu 11.10 a more

Unity Strengthened

The focal development in Ubuntu 11.10 is the evolution of Unity into a smoother, robust, and enhanced user experience.

Unity Dash is now cleaner with a new music search panel plus playback that is integrated with Banshee audio player. Menus are top-right hand oriented and are easier to navigate.

Except for the application launcher, unity has become an elegant desktop.

Besides, Gnome 3 and a 2D version of Unity are also available with Ubutnu 11.10.

Application changes

The earlier Evolution now makes room for Mozilla’s Thunderbird as default email application on Ubuntu.

Login manager on earlier version is now replaced by LightDM that is more flexible and in tune with Unity.

Gwibber, the social network client, is revamped to meet enhanced features of Unity and has a new look and feel to it.

Typography too is boosted with the official Ubuntu monotype.

Perhaps the greatest factor that will work in favor of Ubuntu 11.10 is the new Ubuntu developer website that Canonical has built for application developers.

Possibilities for Ubuntu App Monetization

This is a unique development platform with a host of app building software, resources for integration to the Ubuntu platform. All necessary details for packaging conventions, application deployment processes, as well as Ubuntu APIs are available at the Software Centre.

The centre has seen a rapid increase in the number of developers, now interested in placing their products at the centre with at least one app being approved for development each day.

Monetization of apps is a possibility being explored through Ubuntu Pay and will likely follow precedence set by Humble Bundle.

However, the long term view of Ubuntu, with the shift towards Unity and related features is indicative of Ubuntu now being able to offer a local user experience on par with cloud-based services.

Coming Soon Precise Pangolin

Following Ubuntu 11.10, Oneiric Oncelot release, work will begin on the next version of Ubuntu. Mark Shuttleworth recently announced the new version named Precise Pangolin, Ubuntu 12.04 – and is slated for release in April 2012. This is a long term support release, with updates going beyond the standard 18 months to five years on servers and up to three years on desktops.

Download Ubuntu 11.10 here, while we will soon be back with updates of the Precise Pangolin.

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