Canonical is pleased to announce today the official release of Launchpad 2.0, a major hosting platform for open source projects. Those who spend a significant amount of time on Launchpad must have noticed the new interface a few days ago, which, by the way, is easier to use and more intuitive. The new version makes the collaborative development faster and more flexible than ever, allowing users to integrate their projects more easily. Among the major features brought by Launchpad 2.0, we notice:

• A simpler and easier to use web interface
• Code reviews
• Mailing lists
• Integration with Trac and Bugzilla

"Launchpad was conceived as a nexus of collaboration for Open Source projects to make them more efficient to build, easier to collaborate on and more open to innovation from community participation," - said Mark Shuttleworth, CEO, Canonical.

Launchpad 2.0 also includes a newer Bazaar version and an Internet services API, which allows external programs to authenticate, query, and modify the data stored in the Launchpad's databases. Therefore, developers can start creating graphical or command-line user interfaces for Launchpad!

"Launchpad 2.0 marks the culmination of months of work and a series of incremental releases that have smoothed the workflows for all projects using the service. A comprehensive set of API's, and the ability to reach out to other excellent development tools like Bugzilla and Trac, now make Launchpad even more useful to the entire community, blurring the line between projects that use Launchpad directly and projects that can now exchange information productively while still maintaining control of their own infrastructure."

The Launchpad community now includes over 7,000 projects, 7,000 code branches, 10,000 registered translators and 265 languages. Take the Launchpad tour here.