| The next 'business' Ubuntu is on its way |
Aug. 30, 2007
The next Ubuntu Linux distribution with long-term support, "Hardy Heron," Ubuntu 8.04, will be released in April 2008.
Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, like Red Hat with Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Novell with openSUSE and SUSE Linux, releases both a community version and a version for businesses or individuals who want to rely on a distribution with long-term technical support. Unlike Red Hat and Novell, though, Canonical doesn't separate the two versions with different names.
So while the next version of Ubuntu, Gutsy Gibbon, Ubuntu 7.10 is still due for release in October, this version is a "community" distribution. The next business version, according to Jono Bacon, Canonical's Ubuntu community manager, will be Hardy Heron Ubuntu 8.04.
The first Ubuntu with this kind of support was Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Long Term Support) in June 2006. As an LTS, this, and in 2008 Ubuntu 8.04, will be supported with server security updates for five years for three years on the desktop after each version's release. So, 6.06 desktop security support will end in June 2009 and the server support will come to a close in June 2011. This next version, 8.04, will have desktop support until 2011 and server support until 2013.
"This release will proudly wear the badge of Long Term Support (LTS) and be supported with security updates for five years on the server and three years on the desktop. We look forward to releasing the Hardy Heron in April 2008," wrote Bacon.
Bacon continued, "Most people only ever see the end-user view of Ubuntu, running it on their desktops, servers and mobile devices around the world. For these users, Ubuntu provides a simple, convenient means to do what they want to do easily, effectively and without unnecessary complexity. For many of us, though, we want to open up the hood and understand how the system works and how to extend and grow it. Thousands of us get out of bed every day, united behind Ubuntu, ready to make a difference, working together to make our
vision happen."
He then went on to invite, "Everyone is welcome to think of and develop ideas for features that could be present in the Hardy Heron release. These ideas are written as specifications (detailed documents outlining how the idea would work and be implemented). You are welcome to add your specifications to" the Ubuntu blueprints.
Even at this very early stage, the first suggestions have already arrived for Heron. These include making deploying LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) across multiple servers and a tool to make it possible to switch Linux desktop environments in mid-session. So, for example, a user could switch from GNOME to the 3D Beryl and back again.
Canonical will also be holding the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Cambridge, Mass., in October. There, developers and would-be developers will "generate a schedule of sessions to discuss these specifications. The sessions provide a means for interested parties to help scope out the proposed feature and determine methods and plans to implement it. The Ubuntu Developer Summit is a semi-virtual event in which those who cannot attend can dial in with VOIP and use IRC and collaborative editing with Gobby [an open-source collaborative document editing program] to take part in the summit."
Steven J. Vaughan Nichols
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