Canonical Ltd. announced the upcoming availability of version 7.10 of the Ubuntu Server, Desktop, Kubuntu and Edubuntu Editions. Ubuntu has become one of the most highly regarded Linux distributions with millions of users around the world. Ubuntu will always be free to download, free to use and free to distribute to others. With these goals in mind, Ubuntu aims to be the most widely used Linux system, and is the centre of a global open source software ecosystem.

    All will be available for free download on Thursday 18 October. Canonical is the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu. Ubuntu makes no distinction between community and enterprise editions, Ubuntu 7.10 is our best work and is available freely to all. Ubuntu has consistently ranked #1 in reviews of security update responsiveness and effectiveness.

    The Ubuntu platform is fully certified and supported, making it a secure choice for users looking to explore, deploy and enjoy Linux. Ubuntu 7.10 brings together the best open source and free software available in a stable, robust environment that 'just works'. Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop Edition adds an enhanced user interface, improved hardware support, multiple monitor support and integrated desktop search.

    "We are privileged to have millions of users running Ubuntu every day," commented Jane Silber, Chief Operating Officer of Canonical UK. "This gives us great insight into what they want from a free, Linux-based platform. Ubuntu 7.10 is another milestone in delivering on these requirements on the desktop and server."

    Ubuntu 7.10 Server Edition features improved functionality, manageability, pro-active security and hardware compatibility and delivers a rapid deployment platform for developers and businesses. New versions of Kubuntu and Edubuntu, derivatives of Ubuntu aimed at KDE enthusiasts and the education community respectively, are also being released at the same time.

New Functionality
    - Messaging - Deployments of large mail servers benefit from significant improvements to Postfix's performance. The new stable release of Postfix takes advantage of the kernel's epoll functionality to reduce load and improve performance.
    - Enhanced security – AppArmor provides significantly enhanced security which protects the server from intrusion. Common server applications such as Apache and Postfix are protected with default policies. Administrators can easily lock down programs and resources and add policies for their specific requirements.
    - Programming - A new release of Python allows for a faster and more reliable interpreter. Additionally OpenMP is now supported in gcc 4.2, which gives shared-memory programmers a simple and flexible interface for developing parallel application.
    - Virtualized kernel - A tailored kernel optimized for use in virtualized environments. This smaller and simpler kernel is particularly suited for virtual appliances. This new kernel includes many improvements for paravirtualization, one of which is VMI (Virtual Machine Interface), a new independent way for hypervisors to relate to the kernel.
    - Tickless kernel - A new "tickless" idle mode resulting in reduced power consumption/heat emission - This feature results in significant energy and cost savings on machines running several virtualised instances.
    - Printing - Improved interoperability with CUPS now supporting automatic discovery and authentication for many more protocols, including LDAP with SSL, Kerberos, MacOSX Bonjour and Zeroconf.