14 DAY TRIAL // Canonical, through Gerry Carr, announced a few minutes ago (March 9th) that the 'Ubuntu Netbook Edition' of their popular operating system will be folded into Ubuntu for the upcoming April release, Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal).
Canonical thinks that there is no need for separate editions of the Ubuntu operating system. Therefore, starting with Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) there will be no more 'Ubuntu Desktop Edition', 'Ubuntu Server Edition' or 'Ubuntu Netbook Edition'. The core Natty release suitable for all PCs, laptops and netbooks will be simply called Ubuntu.
"‘Ubuntu Desktop Edition’ arose in 2005 as a response to the launch of Ubuntu Server Edition and our desire to distinguish between the two. But desktops are no longer the pre-eminent client platform. [...] User feedback also told us that people thought the edition was not for them as they had a laptop and spent time looking for a ‘Laptop Edition’."
"To be clear, this is the opposite of us withdrawing from the netbook market. In fact looking at the download figures on ubuntu.com interest in netbooks is not only thriving but booming. It’s us recognising that the market has moved on and celebrating that separate images are no longer a requirement as the much anticipated convergence of devices moves closer." - said Gerry Carr, Director Platform marketing at Canonical.
Unity is the reason for this sudden change in all Ubuntu products, as the final release will work equally well on any machine. On the other hand, Ubuntu Server images will be maintained as a different product and it will be simply named, Ubuntu Server 11.04.
"We think this will make things simpler. When we mean Ubuntu for notebooks we will say just that rather than the more confusing, ‘Ubuntu Desktop Edition for notebooks’. We are retaining the concept of ‘remixes’ for community projects and the naming convention therein. And we would love to hear what you think." - said Gerry Carr at the end of the announcement.
Oh, and don't forget to submit some feedback about Unity, for a better Ubuntu 11.04!