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Next Ubuntu, 'Feisty Fawn,' due April 19

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
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Stephen Shankland

Canonical, having just released the Edgy Eft version of Ubuntu, has named its sequel Feisty Fawn.

The company plans to stick to its six-month update schedule for the software project, with an anticipated release date of April 19, Canonical Chief Executive Mark Shuttleworth said in a mailing list posting in October.

"The main themes for feature development in this release will be improvements to hardware support in the laptop, desktop and high-end server market, and aggressive adoption of emerging desktop technologies," Shuttleworth said in the posting.

Among the features contemplated for Feisty are: Telepathy, a program to unify voice and instant-message communications; a user interface with fancy 3D graphics; easier roaming from one network to another; simpler installation of support for various audio and video formats; and a notification discouraging users from using hardware that requires proprietary software support.