Introduction
Xubuntu 9.04, codenamed the "Jaunty Jackalope", is the next release of Xubuntu, scheduled to be released in April, 2009. It integrates the latest Xfce-desktop releases with the high-quality and feature-rich core of Ubuntu, resulting in a light-weight and easy-to-use Linux distribution.
Desktop highlights
Faster Boot Times
Benefiting from the Ubuntu core developer team's improvements to boot-time code, the Xubuntu 9.04 desktop boots more quickly than ever. This means you can spend less time waiting, and more time being productive with your Xubuntu desktop.
The Xfce 4.6 Desktop
Once the desktop loads, you'll see even more improvements in Xubuntu. The biggest improvements in this version of Xubuntu are the result of our transition to Xfce version 4.6. Xfce 4.6 has a number of improvements and new features. Some of the more notable features or improvements include:
- A network-share mounting application, Gigolo, and a panel-based fast-user switching applet
- A new Xfce Settings Manager dialog, with better integration of each of the settings modules
- A new configuration system, Xconf, which replaces the prior system that had been in use since the 4.0 release. Desktop users can now manage many of the more advanced settings from a single desktop application, the "Settings Editor," and advanced users can even use the new configuration system to apply desktop changes via scripts.
- A new desktop menu that follows the freedesktop.org menu standards. While the menu does not fulfil the entire freedesktop.org standard, it fulfills a portion of the standard. It is expected that the menu will be in full-compliance with the freedesktop.org specification for the Xfce 4.8 release.
- A number of bugfixes and improvements to xfdesktop, including monitor hot plugging support.
Additional features relevant to Xfce 4.6 can be found on the Xfce website
New Xubuntu Artwork
The Xubuntu team has given great care to our artwork for this release. The fruits of these efforts are visible as part of the 9.04 Beta release. The Xubuntu artwork for this release includes:
- Custom bootsplash, login, and desktop wallpaper themes,
- the Murrina Storm Cloud GTK theme,
- the freshly-updated XFWM4 window manager theme,
- and the GNOME-Brave icon set
Improvements to Desktop Applications
Of course, Xubuntu is more than just the Xfce desktop on top of a GNU/Linux core. And it's certainly more than just a pretty wallpaper. 
Part of what makes Xubuntu a great operating system is how the core operating system and the Xfce desktop are integrated with the default application choices, and for the 9.04 release, the default applications include some noteworthy improvements. For example:
- Brasero, the cd-burning application, has received a major overhaul, adding support for video and several other features.
- A new version of Abiword, the word processor, provides a number of bugfixes and also offers new features such as:
- Support for Office 2007 file formats
- Ability to open files on remote shares, ie. samba, ftp or ssh shares
- A new GNOME Office plugin that allows embedding Gnumeric spreadsheet charts into documents
- The Mozilla Thunderbird mail/news client now includes the Lightning calendar extension by default
Other
- Available server software on Xubuntu: Apache 2.2, PostgreSQL 8.3, PHP 5.2.6, LTSP 5.1
- "Under the hood": GCC 4.3.3, glibc 2.9, Linux 2.6.28.8, Python 2.6.1
To Get Xubuntu 9.04 Beta
Upgrading from Xubuntu 8.10
To upgrade to Xubuntu 9.04 Beta from Xubuntu 8.10, follow these instructions.
Downloading Xubuntu 9.04 Beta
You may obtain Xubuntu 9.04's Beta release here: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/jaunty/beta
- Please download using Bittorrent if possible.
- The final version of Xubuntu 9.04 is expected to be released in April 2009.
For information about support, visit http://www.xubuntu.org/help
Feedback and Participation
If you would like to help shape Xubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at
Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help turn this Beta into the best release of Xubuntu ever. Please report bugs through the Launchpad bug tracker:
If you have a question, or if you think you may have found a bug but are not sure, first try asking on the #xubuntu IRC channel on FreeNode, on the Xubuntu-Users mailing list, or on the Ubuntu forums:
More Information
You can find out more about Xubuntu and about this preview release on our website, IRC channel and wiki. If you are new to Xubuntu, please visit: