Hardy Heron was announced for the first time on August, 29 2007 and it will be available on April 24th 2008 as an LTS (Long Term Support) release. The release schedule for Hardy Heron has been made public more than a month ago:

29 November 2007 - Alpha 1 release
20 December 2007 - Alpha 2 release
10 January 2008 - Alpha 3 release
31 January 2008 - Alpha 4 release
21 February 2008 - Alpha 5 release
6 March 2008 - Alpha 6 release
27 March 2008 - Beta release
17 April 2008 - Release Candidate
24 April 2008 - Final release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

Today you can see the first screenshot tour of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) Alpha 1. Enjoy!









As you can see in the screenshots above, there aren't many changes in this first alpha release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, except for an "Gnome-btdownload" entry in the Internet submenu and some extra keyboard layouts in the Installer. Also, the GNOME version is 2.21.2! Let's have a look now at the roadmap for Hardy Heron:

Labeling and formatting of partitions:

A way to format partitions with various file systems, with LUKS encryption support, was proposed. At this moment, there's no GUI to change the label of a Linux filesystem, and for VFAT partitions.

Dial-up Support:

An easy way to configure dial-up and ADSL out of the box was asked for, and Network Manager should be used to at least bring the connections up and down.

The Add/Remove Software application could be changed:

As seen on the Roadmap, this could have user-provided descriptions, feature lists, screenshots and ratings for software. The initial page of this application should have top-rated software, newest versions etc.

Improved Ubuntu Server documentation:

The server team needs to improve interactions with the documentation team, and the possibility to add micro-manuals for configuring complex applications could be added.

The number of duplicate applications and libraries will be reduced:

Extra efforts to get rid of duplications to make maintenance as easy as possible and avoid CD space waste will be made. These things will happen mainly because Hardy Heron will be a Long Term Support release.

Kubuntu Hardy Catchup:

The people from Launchpad want the developers to make sure Kubuntu has the same features as Ubuntu.

The CD boot loader for Hardy reviewed:

Although the boot loader does its job, it needs a review and polish. There are problems with the progress bar, font handling etc.

Bug Statistics:

The bug statistics that will be useful to the Ubuntu team during the cycle to drive quality. The process will be automated, by gathering and disseminating the stats.

About Ubuntu:

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