A few minutes ago, the Ubuntu development team unleashed the second and final Beta release of the upcoming Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) operating system, due for launch at the end of this month. As usual, we've downloaded a copy of it in order to keep you up-to-date with the latest changes in the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS development.

What's new in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2? Well, the most important feature of this second beta release is the brand-new GNOME 2.30 desktop environment, which brings lots and lots of new and exciting features that will make Ubuntu 10.04 LTS a good-looking and modern operating system.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2 with GNOME 2.30

Another interesting feature, but one that you will see only once (theoretically), is the new slideshow of the Ubiquity installer. It is really beautiful! See the screenshots below...

The revamped installer slideshow of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2

The revamped installer slideshow of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2

In our last report, we talked about Canonical's switch to the Yahoo! search engine on the default Home Page for the Mozilla Firefox web browser. Yesterday, they announced that the default search engine for Firefox would be Google! "When choosing the best default search provider, we consider factors such as user experience, user preferences, and costs and benefits for Ubuntu and the browsers and other projects that make up Ubuntu. [...] However, for the final release, we will use Google as the default provider. I have asked the Ubuntu Desktop team to change the default back to Google as soon as reasonably possible, but certainly by final freeze on April 15th." - Rick Spencer said in the announcement.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2 is powered by Linux kernel 2.6.32.9 and we think that everyone should definitely test this awesome release!

What's new in Kubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2? The second beta version of the upcoming Kubuntu 10.04 LTS operating system is built on top of the KDE Software Compilation 4.4.2, and it now has Plymouth! Among other applications and functions, we can mention the Amarok 2.3.0 music player, a polished system tray notification, better integration for Mozilla Firefox, Touchpad configuration support in System Settings, integration of GNOME apps in systray, and a good-looking installer!

Kubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2

Xubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2

On April 29th, 2010, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) will become the twelfth release of the Ubuntu operating system. See you again in exactly two weeks (April 22nd), for the Release Candidate version of the upcoming Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx).

The Lucid Lynx Release Schedule:

December 10th, 2009 - Alpha 1 release;
January 14th, 2010 - Alpha 2 release;
February 25th, 2010 - Alpha 3 release;
March 18th, 2010 - Beta 1 release;
April 8th, 2010 - Beta 2 release;
April 22nd, 2010 - Release Candidate;
April 29th, 2010 - Final release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

Download Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04 LTS Beta 2 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS Beta 2 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud 10.04 LTS Beta 2 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Studio 10.04 LTS Beta 2 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Kubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Kubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04 LTS Beta 2 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Xubuntu 10.04 Beta 2 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Edubuntu 10.04 Beta 2 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Download Mythbuntu 10.04 Beta 2 (Lucid Lynx) right now from Softpedia.

Remember that this is a beta release and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only. Please report bugs to the Ubuntu Bug Tracker.