A few minutes ago, the Ubuntu development team unleashed the third and last alpha version of the upcoming Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) operating system, due for release in late April 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 10.04 LTS development.

What's new in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 3? First of all, you should know that this is the last alpha release, and the next development version will by Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 1, available in three weeks from today. For the Alpha 3, Nouveau has been assigned as the default video driver for Nvidia graphics cards, instead of the old nv one, and the popular Mozilla Thunderbird 3 e-mail and rss/news client has been included in the default software repository, replacing the old 2.x release. No, it's not (yet) the default mail client for Ubuntu, but we sure hope that it will replace Novell's Evolution soon!

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 is powered by the GNOME 2.30 Beta 1 (2.29.91) desktop environment and the kernel packages have been updated to version 2.6.32-14.20, based on Linux kernel 2.6.32.8.

The Indicator Applet Session received major features, and the volume applet has been redesigned a little bit. Looks like Ubuntu is getting ready for social networking activities, and it has built in support for Facebook, Twitter, identi.ca and many other similar services. The Gwibber microblogging client has been also added to complement the aforementioned social networking services. Take a look at the screenshots below to see the new features...

The revamped volume applet includes "Sound Preferences" option

The redesigned Indicator Applet Session has features for social networking

Gwibber is now included in the Indicator Applet

Editor's note: Gwibber did not start with our copy of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 3!

What's new in Kubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 3? The third alpha version of the upcoming Kubuntu 10.04 LTS operating system is built on top of the KDE Software Compilation 4.4.0, and includes Amarok 2.2.90, GNOME applications systray integration, better integration for Mozilla Firefox, touchpad configuration support in System Settings, and many more!

Kubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 3

Xubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 3

The Lucid Lynx Release Schedule:

December 10th, 2009 - Alpha 1 release; January 14th, 2010 - Alpha 2 release; February 25th, 2010 - Alpha 3 release; March 18th, 2010 - Beta 1 release; April 8th, 2010 - Beta 2 release; April 22nd, 2010 - Release Candidate; April 29th, 2010 - Final release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

Download Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Studio 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Kubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Kubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Xubuntu 10.04 Alpha 3 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Edubuntu 10.04 Alpha 3 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Mythbuntu 10.04 Alpha 3 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Lubuntu 10.04 Alpha 3 right now from Softpedia.

Remember that this is an alpha 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.