Canonical, the Linux distribution maker best known for the Ubuntu Linux desktop operating system, has taken the wraps off a new release of the server edition of its product.

Yet another six months has passed and another Ubuntu Linux release is out the door. April 2008 signals the release of Ubuntu 8.04, or Hardy Heron, and follows the Feisty Fawn and Gutsy Gibbon releases of 2007 with the intention making Linux as desktop friendly as Windows or Mac OS X.

With its release on Monday of its Ubuntu 8.04Long Term Support (LTS) Server Edition, Linux vendor Ubuntu is firmly aiming its long-awaited, enterprise-ready server operating system at the world of business computing.

The public perception of open source software is changing fast, said Mark Shuttleworth, who leads distribution of the Ubuntu operating system (OS).

Early results in a study that aims to track open source installations in business has seen Ubuntu and Firefox race to the top of the charts.

In many ways the Debian GNU/Linux project is unique among all the distributions that dot the Linux landscape. Apart from putting out a high-grade distribution, it has served as the base for a number of others - Ubuntu and Knoppix, to name just two - which have had a big impact on the growth of the Linux ecosystem.

Mandriva last week released the latest version of its distribution of the open source Linux operating system -- and it's hoping some new features will catch the eye of mainstream computer users weaned on Microsoft Windows.

Mandriva is proud to announce the release of its latest distribution, Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring. This new release brings features like full support for the Asus Eee, easy synchronization with Windows Mobile 5 and later, Blackberry, and Nokia devices, a new parental control utility, the Elisa multimedia center, Codeina for easy installation of necessary media codecs, PulseAudio by default and much more. Software updates include KDE 3.5.9 (with 4.0.2 available from the official repositories), GNOME 2.22, OpenOffice.org 2.4, Linux kernel 2.6.24.4, X.org 7.3, Compiz 0.7, and more.

Sun is about to become the first major hardware vendor to certify Ubuntu Linux as compatible with its products—a move that could spark increased competition for Red Hat and Novell.

Open source Fedoraproject.org has released the beta of Fedora 9 signaling the code's readiness for testing by early adopters.

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