Ubuntu has just released another update to its popular operating system for the Pingu Army Republic, which is 11.04. This version is also known as Natty Narwhal for the penguin tribes. It’s a usual exercise that the Canonical folks update the operating system around twice per year, which is usually in April and October.

Anyway, this version has a significant change, which is the introduction of Unity desktop environment, which was previously relegated only to netbooks. It’s got integrated search, a combination launcher and taskbar, and app menus that have been moved to the top of the screen, similar to OS X. What you see here is probably the combination of the best elements from Apple and Microsoft, with a different UI skin of course.

The new UI is not without its detractors and reportedly has some stability issues, but you can always choose “Ubuntu Classic” to stick with Gnome. The update also makes Firefox 4 the default browser and replaces the Rhythmbox music manager with the sleeker and more functional Banshee.

The ISO is 700MB in size, and is already available for download. As usual, it’s gratis.

SOURCE via Ubuntu