Every six months Ubuntu releases a new version. October's proposed release includes a few key changes
Ubuntu Lucid was released in April and the next release of the popular Linux operating system is now looming large. Planned for final release in October this year, Ubuntu 10.10, otherwise known as Maverick Meerkat, is already available as an alpha release.
The alpha release doesn't yet include many of the features that are planned for the final version and many of those that are included are still in the dearly development stages.
Better sound management
One of the major things to look forward to in the Maverick Meerkat are better sound controls. Sound on Linux has been a major stumbling block over the past few years with a confusion of tools available to manage sound output from applications.
Ubuntu 10.04, the current release, went some way to improving these issues and included per-application control over sound, but the plans for 10.10 are a little more ambitious.
The plans for 10.10 are not only to enable per-application control for each sound action on the desktop but for the drop-down volume control to act more like a "remote control" for all audio applications. So, for example, the drop-down sound panel will not only display a volume slider but also list the title, run time etc of currently playing songs. This will initially include only support for the Rhythmbox audio player and will also include control buttons (stop, play, skip etc) in the drop down volume box. The drop-down will probably also include a place for album art.
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http://mybroadband.co.za/news/software/12973-Ubuntu-Maverick-changes.html