Ubuntu is about to release its stable version of 11.04 Natty Narwhal. It is interesting to see how many of the expected features will not be included. Some of these new features seem to have now been postponed for the next release cycle due to delays, security concerns, etc. In this article we will have an overlook at Ubuntu 11.04 new features. We are including some screenshots as well, so you can get a better understanding of how this new version has changed. We are going to take a look at what’s included, what’s not going to be included anymore and why this version is causing so much buzz in the IT community.

 

What’s Included

Ubuntu moved away from having different menus for “Applications”, “Places” and “System” and, resembling Windows, went with a single menu for everything. This has provided more space on the main toolbar, which makes it look more elegant, however, it has added extra steps for reaching the “Places” and “System” menus.

Ubuntu abandons Open Office for Libre Office which provides additional features and improvements (like the possibility to import SVG images into your documents) and it is not tied to any private corporation, which eliminates the risk of the project being scrapped in the future, like Oracle did with OpenSolaris.

OneConf, a small program to synchronize you computer’s configuration data over the network, has been included.

Rhythmbox has been discarded in favor of Banshee.

F-Spot, the photo manager, which users complained of being slow and glitchy, has been replaced with Shotwell.

 

What’s Not

It was said that Evolution had been replaced for Mozilla Thunderbird but it now looks that this is not the case. It seems to have been scrapped due to the lack of a calendar, contacts and integration with appmenu and messaging menu.

It was said that Remmina was replacing TSClient as the default “Remote Desktop” application, however, Remmina’s inclusion seems to have now been postponed. It was certainly not included in the daily release we tested, just 8 days away from the final stable release. If you still want a true fast and reliable RDP (Windows Remote Desktop) connection, read my article: How to Use Windows Remote Desktop In Ubuntu.

Nautilus Elementary has been rejected because its patches are considered “Hacks”.

 

Why has 11.04 Caused so Much Buzz?

Ubuntu 11.40 includes a pretty radical GUI change. Usually when this happens you are going to get people in both sides of the opinion spectrum. It includes the Unity desktop interface by default. This has caused some controversy as some people in the community complain that Unity is still too raw to be released to the public; their main complaints are that it is slow and buggy. Download the Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal daily build and see for yourselves, or wait for the final release due April 28th.