Ubuntu 8.04 final is almost ready for its scheduled April launch. Canonical, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, has released the Alpha 5 of the popular Linux distribution. A great addition that Alpha 5 offers is a new installation option: Users can either run and install Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 5 using a LiveCD, or they can use Wubi to install Ubuntu to a partition from within Windows.

Updates in the latest Alpha release:

Firefox 3 beta 3 is the default web browser
Xorg 7.3 now included
PulseAudio is used by default
Now uses Linux kernel 2.6.24
Brasero CD/DVD burning application, replaces the Serpentine CD burning utility
Transmission BitTorrent client replaces Gnome BitTorrent
Vinagre VNC client replaces xvnc4viewer

Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 5 is available for download. Go get it. We recommend you back-up your files before upgrading.

Via Ubuntu

Tags: alpha, hardy-heron, pulseaudio, ubuntu, ubuntu-8.04, ubuntu-8.04-alpha-5, wubi