The first alpha release of Ubuntu 8.10, codenamed Intrepid Ibex, was made available on Saturday. This preliminary Intrepid prerelease includes updated packages, a new version of the Linux kernel, and an experimental new visual style.

Over at arstechnica there is a glimpse at the new Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex. A few screenshots show that Ubuntu is still going dark. The direction they are headed is not very clear. Even by scanning other user’s comments it appears its not a very popular idea, and I agree 100%! Here are 5 reasons a dark theme will only hurt Ubuntu

A distribution occupies a very specific niche in the free software ecosystem. Among other things, we need to accept some responsibility for ALL the software defects (”bugs”) that users actually experience across the entire stack. Most users don’t install their apps from upstream source tarballs, they install them from the packages provided by their distribution.

To use Linux nowadays, you don't have to touch the command line to get going. This may be true.

"Ubuntu community manager Jono Bacon, an independent musician and prominent figure in the open source software community, is starting a new solo music project through which he aims to explore the challenges of distributing music under a Creative Commons license."

…to my wallet... Wandering for the net today, I had the luck/misfortune to follow a Google advertising link about some Ubuntu certification courses. The ad recited something like “Ubuntu Certification Corse for only 3100€ !”. Holy crap, I really had to click.

gestikk provides mouse gestures for you, supporting many linux window managers. With gestikk, you can easily control your PC by drawing gestures with the mouse: mouse gestures. Gestikk allows to define an infinite number of gestures, which start applications or simulate key presses. Versions >= 0.5 uses PyGTK for GUI and python-virtkey for keypresses.