None other than the father of the popular Ubuntu operating system, Mark Shuttleworth, officially announced a few minutes ago the goals for the next version of Ubuntu. Yes, we are talking about Ubuntu 10.10, dubbed Maverick Meerkat and scheduled for release on October 28th, 2010. "It’s time to put our heads together to envision "the perfect 10". This is a time of great innovation and change in the Linux world, with major new initiatives from powerful groups bringing lots of new ideas, new energy and new code. [...] We want to put Ubuntu and free software on every single consumer PC that ships from a major manufacturer, the ultimate maverick move. We will deliver on time, but we have huge scope for innovation in what we deliver this cycle." - Mark Shuttleworth said on his blog.

For the Maverick Meerkat, the development team will focus their efforts on lightness and fastness! The main plans are to make Ubuntu 10.10 a lightweight and mobile operating system, bringing quality improvements to the user interface of the Netbook Edition. Another goal is to make the boot experience and web experience in Ubuntu 10.10 as lightweight and fast as possible. The development team will concentrate on making Ubuntu Netbook Edition by far the best solution for mobile computing! Implementing social networking in the Ubuntu operating system started with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) and it will definitely continue in Ubuntu 10.10, making the synchronization between your mobile phone, netbook or desktop a breeze. The GNOME 3.0 desktop environment will also be part of Ubuntu 10.10, and probably with the GNOME Shell!

Explaining why Ubuntu 10.10 was named Maverick Meerkat, Mark Shuttleworth said, "Meerkats are, of course, light, fast and social – everything we want in a Perfect 10. [...] Meerkats are family-oriented, and we aspire to having Ubuntu being the safe and efficient solution for all the family netbooks. They are also clever – meerkats teach one another new skills. And that’s what makes this such a great community."

Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) will be the 13th release of the Ubuntu operating system. But, until then, we have another version that should catch our attention and invade our computers, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (dubbed Lucid Lynx), which will be released on April 29th.

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.