Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition Released.

Integrates the Latest Stable Applications with Long Term Support.

LONDON, April 21, 2008 – Canonical Ltd. announced the upcoming availability of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition for free download on Thursday 24 April. In related news, Canonical also announced the simultaneous release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server Edition.
Ubuntu 8.04 Long Term Support (LTS) provides a stable platform for software and hardware vendors, developers and users. With three years of support and maintenance on the desktop, 8.04 LTS is a great choice for large-scale deployment. A substantial and growing ecosystem of free and commercial software built for Ubuntu provides a rich set of choices for desktop users. This is the eighth desktop release of Ubuntu. Ubuntu’s track record in delivering – on a precise schedule every six months – a commercial operating system that is free, stable, secure and fully supported, remains unique.
“Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition is a very significant release as it will take Ubuntu squarely into the business environment,” said Jane Silber, COO of Canonical Ltd. “Our business and home users have told us that they want a longer support cycle to make Ubuntu a better deployment option. We have responded to that and added a commitment to much broader software and hardware support that we and our partners are excited to deliver. With enhanced commercial support through Landscape, combined with our always excellent community support, expect to see 8.04 LTS drive Ubuntu into new arenas.”
“Ubuntu’s polished, user focused version of the Linux desktop has built itself a wide enough following to compel significant ISV interest and support,” said Stephen O’Grady, principal analyst at Redmonk. “By coupling a very capable desktop offering with long term support options, Ubuntu is becoming an increasingly viable option for enterprises as well as consumers.”
“Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino bring highly scalable messaging and industry-leading collaboration to the Ubuntu desktop,” said Kevin Cavanaugh, vice president of IBM Lotus Software. “We believe the extended multi-year support for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS makes it an excellent desktop solution for corporate users who wish to deploy Lotus Notes on an open platform.” (…) More.

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Latest Server Release Expands Ubuntu Enterprise Profile.

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server Edition Combines Advanced Functionality With Five Years of Maintenance and Support.

LONDON, April 21, 2008 – Canonical Ltd. announced the upcoming availability of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server Edition for free download on Thursday 24 April. In related news, Canonical also announced the simultaneous release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition.
Ubuntu 8.04 Long Term Support (LTS) Server Edition adds new features to enhance the performance, stability and security of this fully supported general platform. The LTS release sees further expansion of the commercial ecosystem of software, hardware and services vendors supporting Ubuntu Server.
The extended maintenance period meets demand from business users to deploy Ubuntu widely over a period of years. It also positions Ubuntu Server as a platform on which hardware and software vendors can build commercial solutions. A wide range of vendors have declared support for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, and more are currently testing and certifying the release.
“Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server Edition is built for business,” said Jane Silber, COO of Canonical Ltd. “This release brings together significant feature and stability improvements to a free and open platform. Ubuntu 8.04 LTS is at the centre of a growing ecosystem of applications that serve businesses of all sizes extremely well. We look forward to seeing its adoption grow across the five years we will support it.”
As part of its news today, Canonical also announced that Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server Edition is certified on several high performance, energy efficient Sun x64 server platforms, including the Sun Fire X2100 M2, X2200 M2 and Sun Fire X4150 servers. Lisa Sieker, vice president of Systems Marketing, Sun Microsystems says, “Sun is committed to providing customers a choice of operating systems on our x64 servers. Sun has worked closely with Canonical since early 2006 and we continue to see growing interest in Ubuntu on Sun platforms.” (…) More.