One week is left until the final release of Ubuntu 8.10 and, if you are anxious to get your hands on some nice CDs with the Intrepid Ibex, then you should pre-order them right now from Ubuntu's ShipIt service, FREE of charge. They have started taking the orders a few minutes ago, so hurry up!

If you want to count the days until Ubuntu 8.10 is released – which will happen on October 30th – you can get a nice script, to show it on your website. After you get the countdown script from here, you can even modify it to look the way you want. Each day, the image will change, counting the days remaining until the release of Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex).

Although many of you have downloaded the Beta release of Intrepid, I am sure that there will be some more changes until the final product gets on the market. So far, we only know the features that are included in the Beta release. The final release of Ubuntu 8.10 is getting closer and closer, with a lot of changes from the Beta version. At a first glance, you won't notice them, because most are internal, like bug fixes, security updates, etc.

Among the new features in Ubuntu 8.10 is Linux kernel 2.6.27, DKMS, X.Org 7.4, Network Manager 0.7, Samba 3.2, The GIMP 2.6.1, Firefox 3.0.3 and GNOME 2.24 desktop environment, which brings a file manager with tabs, the ability to mount archives, an improved Fast User Switch applet that works in collaboration with Pidgin, a better archive manager that adds support for the ALZ, RZIP, CAB and TAR.7Z file types. Also, features such as encrypted private directory, guest sessions, PAM authentication framework and many more will also be present.

You can download the Beta version of Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) right now from Softpedia, or wait until tomorrow for the Release Candidate!