Exciting Parts:

> Cloud computing (mimics AWS)

> Faster boot up (always yay)

> Easy mail servers (big hassle addressed)

things I liked: (been using an alpha for a couple of weeks now)

* the new notification 'bubbles' in the top right hand corner look good

* coming out of hibernate/suspend mode reconnects me to my wifi connection (never seemed to work in the past)

On Bubbles: It looks cool indeed. Here is a short demo: http://www.markshuttleworth.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/j...

It looks better than the infamous Windows bubble notification.

I just installed the beta in a VM. Looks like they still haven't replaced the hideous default theme (Human). If Ubuntu is going to go head-to-head with Snow Leopard and Windows 7 it needs to be more appealing out of the box.

On a positive note, nice to see Ext4 available. I think the next release will enable it by default.

While I am certain that Snow Leopard is going to look pretty sleek, I personally find that Ubuntu looks a lot better than Windows Vista/7. I could be biased because I am sick of Windows as an operating system. However, I think font and color rendering and overall interface looks a lot better in Ubuntu.

Ditto, I use both and I much prefer Ubuntu's look to Vista's.

Completely agreed. Go with a universal color like blue. And install awn/metacity by default with a good theme.

I use ubuntu as my primary os and can't stand the default look. It looks like a "toy".

Direct link for downloads:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/9.04/

Eucalyptus seems like the most interesting piece of this. I'm looking forward to playing with it.

Do you have to wait 'til the release date to order the 9.04 CD/DVD?

Has it really been that long? Seems like I was on Edgy Eft (6.10) yesterday.

And please look up and post the official link in the future: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/jaunty/beta