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Canonical has unveiled the final alpha of Ubuntu Karmic Koala, which is slated for release in October. The most evident change in the new alpha is the removal of the boot-splash screen. While this may not sound a significant alteration, the fact that it's no longer required indicates the team is making good on its promise to reduce boot times. The current version of Ubuntu, version 9.04, boots in around 25 seconds on a netbook, and the team aims to significantly reduce that on Karmic Koala. Alpha 6 also introduces the Software Store application, which presents the wealth of free open-source software for Ubuntu in an app store format - hopefully making it easier for new users of the OS to understand what's on offer. Canonical is grooming the Software Store to ultimately replace the Synaptic package manager "and possibly Update Manager", and its introduction to the release marks a major step in its development. The heavily touted user-interface overhaul is still absent, and it's expected to make an appearance much later in development
Also included in the release is Canonical's file synchronisation service, which was quietly slipped into beta in May. Dubbed Ubuntu One, the service mimics Live Mesh and Dropbox by allowing people to synchronise files between multiple machines. Another subtle, but potentially useful feature, affects the Indicator Applet, which can now open the Empathy instant messaging software and Evolution email client. Elsewhere, the Gnome desktop environment has been updated to version 2.28 RC1, with the Linux kernel hitting version 2.6.31-9.29. The heavily touted user-interface overhaul is still absent, and it's expected to make an appearance much later in development. The sixth alpha release is available in Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Xubuntu versions. The stable version of Karmic Koala is scheduled for release on 29 October, with a beta slated for 1 October.
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/alpha-6/