Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolian is now available for downloads.

The now long awaited Ubuntu 12.04 LTS has finally arrived and is now available for download. Don't let the term LTS confuse much, it just means Long Term Support. Open source software are released more frequently then commercial ones and because of this if you have an old version of open source software you are less likely to get support for it. Hence Ubuntu releases the LTS versions which help them provide support for the OS for a long term, in this case 5 years. So if you install Ubuntu 12.04 ( which I strongly recommend), then you can get support for any trouble for at least the next five years.

You can download Ubuntu 12.04 from the downloads page and install it from a USB or a CD. But if you already have Ubuntu 11.10 installed then you can directly upgrade to Ubuntu12.04 from the Update manager. For more information on the update manager go here. If you don't get the anticipated download speed its because of tremendous response. You can definitely try a mirror.

Ubuntu has Unity as its default UI which introduces the Heads Up Display(HUD). Its basically a search feature from where you can search practically for any thing on your hard disk or on the internet. Ubuntu 12.04 will have the updated version of LibreOffice as its default office suite. The version that is pre-installed is 3.5.2. The default media player has changed from Banshee to RhythmBox. But if you are a Banshee fan you can easily get it from the Ubuntu software center which kind of acts like an app store.

Firefox is still the default web browser and as am a big fan of Firefox I like it. You can download Chrome if you want to from the Ubuntu software center. Thunderbird is still the default mailing client and it will sure disappoint Evolution users.

Ubuntu 12.04 looks good hasn't had any glitches since installed and I recommend that you install it too.