14 DAY TRIAL // After years of hard work, Cassidy James proudly announced a few minutes ago that the first Beta release of the upcoming elementary OS 0.2 Linux distribution is now available for download and testing.
Personally, I'm so excited about this development release of the elementary OS 0.2 that I don't even know where to start.
First of all, it is based on the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) operating system, powered by a significantly improved Linux kernel and a highly modified version of the GNOME 3 desktop environment.
Second of all, the new stuff everybody was waiting for, such as the Pantheon desktop environment, the WingPanel panel, the Slingshot app launcher, the Plank dock, the Switchboard settings app, and of course the amazing elementary theme, which was greatly improved since the previous stable release of the operating system.
elementary OS is all about lightness, so among the applications included in elementary OS 0.2 Beta 1, we can mention the Midori web browser, the Geary email client, the Maya desktop calendar app, the Noise music player, the Scratch text editor, the Files file manager, as well as the Pantheon Terminal.
"Developers and testers, today we are happy to announce the first beta release of elementary OS Luna. We've been working hard the past year and a half to create the next generation of elementary, and it begins with this beta."
"Luna is our greatest undertaking yet, and along with it have come many new apps, features and development libraries. By integrating and innovating with the latest technologies, we’re building a platform that free software developers can be excited about," Cassidy James said in the official release announcement.
elementary OS 0.2 Beta 1 is distributed as Live CD ISO images, supporting both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. And, let's not forget about those eye candy wallpapers! Download elementary OS 0.2 Beta 1 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.