A few minutes ago, the Ubuntu development team unleashed the Beta release of the upcoming Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) operating system, due for launch in late October this year. As usual, we've downloaded a copy of it in order to keep you up-to-date with the latest changes in the Ubuntu 9.10 development.

What's new in Ubuntu 9.10 Beta? Well, as you probably already know, there is now a revamped Human theme, the Humanity icons and lots of wallpapers! Moreover, the Ubuntu Software Store has been renamed to Ubuntu Software Center and updated several times in the last two weeks. And... in order to improve the boot performance, the Ubuntu developers have now transitioned to Upstart.

Ubuntu Software Center

A lot of the applications in the repository have been compiled using compilation flags that create Position-Independent Executables, which enable them to take advantage of the Address Space Layout Randomization function that is available in the Ubuntu kernel. That way, when the programs load themselves into memory, they don't always use the same layout, so an attacker can't redirect the program's execution in the same way every time to run exploit code.

GNOME 2.28.0

The home folder encryption option in the installer is back, and after the installation, when the desktop appears, you will be prompted by a dialog to set up the encryption passphrase, in case you will ever need to recover your data from the encrypted partition. See the picture below...

What's new in Kubuntu and Xubuntu 9.10 Beta? Kubuntu 9.10 Beta is built on top of the KDE 4.3.1 desktop environment and it includes the following applications and features:

· Konqueror Web Browser; · Amarok 2.2 RC; · KPackageKit 0.4.2; · K3b 2 (Alpha 2); · Userconfig 0.9; · QtCurve 0.68.0; · kcm-gtk 0.5.2; · NetworkManager applet improvements; · KDE microblogging Plasma widget; · OpenOffice KDE integration; · Firefox installer; · Message Indicator.

Kubuntu 9.10 Beta

Xubuntu 9.10 Beta

Xubuntu 9.10 Beta

The Karmic Koala Release Schedule:

May 14th, 2009 - Alpha 1 release June 11th, 2009 - Alpha 2 release July 23rd, 2009 - Alpha 3 release August 13th, 2009 - Alpha 4 release September 3rd, 2009 - Alpha 5 release September 17th, 2009 - Alpha 6 release October 1st, 2009 - Beta release October 22nd, 2009 - Release Candidate October 29th, 2009 - Final release of Ubuntu 9.10

Download Ubuntu 9.10 Beta (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Server 9.10 Beta (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud 9.10 Beta (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 Beta (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.

Download Kubuntu 9.10 Beta (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.

Download Kubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 Beta (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.

Download Xubuntu 9.10 Beta (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.

Download Edubuntu 9.10 Beta (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Studio 9.10 Beta (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.

Download Mythbuntu 9.10 Beta (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.

Remember that this is a beta release and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only. Please report bugs to the Ubuntu Bug Tracker.