The latest release of Ubuntu linux (Ubuntu 9.04 - Jaunty Jackalope) was released a couple of days ago. In case you were wondering, this is a jackalope (by "Albrecht Durer" - published here on April 1st, 2008):
The jackalope - also called an antelabbit, aunt benny, "Rabbicorn", Wyoming thistled hare or stagbunny - is an imaginary animal of folklore and a supposed cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope, goat, or deer, which is usually portrayed as a rabbit with antlers.
And here's another rendition of a jackalope:
Anyway, I usually leave Ubuntu upgrades a couple of days after release, mosly because of server load. I've always found upgrades to work very well on my machines (two desktop PCs and two notebooks) - I know many observers advocate fresh installs in preference to upgrades, but really I have so many settings and additional applications that reassembling my preferred setups is a bit too much hassle.
Linux has been my preferred OS for a number of years now, and Ubuntu's been my preferred distro since 2004. In fact I work almost exclusively with Ubuntu in an otherwise Windows XP-based work environment, with surprisingly few problems.
Usually, it takes me some time to discover where all the changes are, and how they affect me as a user. As I write this, I've upgraded the first laptop (a venerable IBM ThinkPad R52 of quite modest specs), apparently with complete success, and I'm upgrading my main work computer, a 2 year old Sony Vaio notebook. I'll make a follow-up post to relate any issues I come up against (and indeed, any significant improvements!).
Find out more about Ubuntu 9.04 here
Download Ubuntu 9.04 here