Ubuntu’s next 9.10 release is just around the corner with it’s final release due for late next month. The heat is building up and many people are gearing up to try the latest Alpha that was release last week. But before Karmic Koala comes out, the version that comes after that is already making news.

People at the Atlanta Linux Fest got the news first. Mark Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu’s next version, 10.04, scheduled to be released in April 2010, will be named Lucid Lynx. The name for the next version is usually decided months before it’s release, and this happens mostly in conferences held amongst avid linux enthusiasts or through mailing lists, like it happened last time. Ubuntu names are typical of alliteration, in fact they follows a particular scheme of Adjective + Animal Name. It all started with Warty Warthog way back in 2004 and since then, we’ve had nine more releases with zany names.

Lucid Lynx will be a long term support release (LTS) with updates that will last for 5 years. So, organizations that still run Hardy Heron 8.04 (LTS) should consider upgrading to this updated version as it releases next year. The Omg Ubuntu Blog quite excitedly points out that Ubuntu 10.04 will ship with Gnome 3 as default, a newer X server and aim for an even faster boot time. The Kubuntu variant will also sport a newer KDE 4.4

So what do you say? Does Lucid Lynx’ delight you?

A lynx is a short-tailed wildcat with usually tufted ears. They are valued for their fur. (Image: Wikipedia)