Announced by Mark Shuttleworth on the 2nd of April, Ubuntu 10.10 (codename Maverick Meerkat) will be released this year, on October 10th. Once again, it is our duty to inform you about the changes that appeared in the release schedule for the next Ubuntu operating system. Last year, in September, we announced that the release schedule for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) was drastically changed (for the first time in the history of Ubuntu) to three Alphas and two Beta releases. This time, Canonical decided to change it again, to 3 Alpha versions and a single Beta release. Without any further introduction, let's have a look at the release schedule:

June 3rd, 2010 - Alpha 1 release;
July 1st, 2010 - Alpha 2 release;
August 5th, 2010 - Alpha 3 release;
September 2nd, 2010 - Beta release;
September 30th, 2010 - Release Candidate;
October 10th, 2010 - Final release of Ubuntu 10.10.

This release schedule was originally posted by Canonical a month ago, but we decided to wait for Mark Shuttleworth's announcement regarding Ubuntu 10.10's goals and name. The release schedule can be saved in Google Calendar or iCal format, from here.

The work on Ubuntu 10.10 will start in one week after Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) will be released, on April 29th. Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) will be the 13th release of the Ubuntu operating system. Please read our previous article about Ubuntu 10.10, in order to learn what features it will bring!

Make sure that you visit our website regularly, starting with June 3rd, when the first Alpha version will be released, as our hard-working people, here at the Softpedia Labs, will do a full coverage of the Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) development process.

About Ubuntu:

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for your desktop or server with a fast and easy install, regular releases, a tight selection of excellent packages installed by default, every other package you can imagine available from the network, and professional technical support from Canonical Ltd and hundreds of other companies around the world.