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Canonical has released Ubuntu 16.04, Xenial Xerus, as this release is nicknamed.
Ubuntu 16.04 is a Long Term Support release, which means Canonical will provide support for 5 years. It also means that this is what the more cautious among us will be using for some time going forward. Fortunately for those who stick with the LTS releases this is an excellent release.
There's still no Mir or Unity 8. There's not going to be any "convergence" in 16.04.
There is however plenty here to get excited about, including some new tools that have the power to change how you get your updates going forward.
Before I dive into what's new in 16.04 though, there's one big thing that <em>isn't</em> in 16.04 -- online search results. The long reviled, Stallman-branded "spyware" has at last been turned off by default. That means no more potentially socially awkward search results when all you really wanted to was to open Brasero (speaking of which, Brasero is gone too). No word yet on whether Stallman will rescind his spyware label, but at least that little nightmare is behind Ubuntu.
If you're making the leap from the last LTS version, 14.04 this will be the first time you encounter systemd. Ubuntu's own effort to build an init system was abandoned several releases ago in favor of what has quickly become the only option in Linux init systems -- systemd. The transition from Upstart to systemd is not as dramatic as moving from older init systems, but there are still a number of "gotchas" to be aware of. The Ubuntu wiki has a page to <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SystemdForUpstartUsers">help Upstart users</a> get up to speed with systemd.
It's a small thing, but this release is the first to allow you to move the Unity launcher to the bottom of the screen. What makes it interesting isn't so much that you can move the launcher, but that most of the work appears to have come from <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/1552630">the Ubuntu Kylin developers</a>. The launcher on the bottom will be the default option for the official Chinese version of Ubuntu and it's definitely one of the most noticeable Unity features to come from outside Canonical.
Whatever the case, if you've always dreamed of moving the launcher to the bottom of the screen, the Ubuntu Kylin developers have you covered. To actually move it you'll need to install the dconf-editor, or use a third-party utility like Ubuntu Tweak.
Ubuntu 16.04 has finally managed to shed the Software Center, which has been little more than abandonware for some time now. Instead this release see Ubuntu adopting the GNOME Software app, which has been somewhat customized to fit into the Unity theme. The move to the upstream software center also means that Ubuntu users now have the ability to apply firmware updates directly through the software center (provided the hardware manufacturer in question makes them available).
Functionally GNOME Software is not much different from Ubuntu's homegrown app, though the user interface is simpler, cleaner and most importantly more reliable. That said, it feels a bit like the old Software Center has been forcibly shoved into GNOME Software. The experience is fine for a 1.0 release, but there is clearly work to be done here. Hopefully this iteration of a software center app will not suffer the same fate as the last.
Perhaps far more significant than the updated software center is 16.04's support for installing "snap" packages alongside traditional deb packages. To understand what Snap packages are and why you want them you first need to understand how packages work now. A package is simply all the code you need to install an application, including, critically, a list of package that the one you want to install depends on. Generally package managers like apt-get are pretty good at dealing with dependencies for you, but sometimes conflicts happen. You want to install something that depends on one version of another package, but another app wants a different version.
Snap packages eliminate this confusion by making packages self-contained and keeping them isolated. Snap packages include all the libraries and other packages they need, so there are no outside dependencies. Ubuntu has done some "duplication" work to make sure that if two Snap packages want to install the same library it isn't installed twice, so Snaps shouldn't take up any more space.
While the main draw of Snaps in, for example, server environments is the ability to pass self-contained environments from one machine to another, on the desktop there's an additional appeal -- easier, safer updates of userland software. Which is to say you can have your LTS release and get your latest and greatest application updates too. Because there's no danger of pulling upgrades that mess up the rest of your system, you can always have the latest software without having to run the bleeding edge of the actual system software.
If that sound amazing, well, it is. Unfortunately it's not quite there yet. But the underlying support is in this release, the main thing missing are the actual snaps. You won't find, for example, a Snap version of GIMP just yet. But since Ubuntu has laid the groundwork for it, you might be able to install a Snap package of GIMP before you upgrade your LTS again.
Another huge new feature in this release is support for the ZFS file system. ZFS is known for its snapshot and backup capabilities, both of which would be handy on the server and desktop. So far though, Ubuntu's support is clearly aimed primarily at the server use case. ZFS is not an option within the installer. In fact you'll need to install the userland parts of ZFS yourself before you can format disks and get everything working. Still, if you're interested in trying Ubuntu atop ZFS, Canonical has a <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/Reference/ZFS">guide to using ZFS</a>.
Other notable new features in this release include updates for all the usual slew of GNOME apps, though as noted above the disc-burning utility Brasero is no longer part of the default install, nor is the instant-messaging client Empathy (fear not, upgrading won't removed them, they're just not part of the install ISO anymore). Also worth noting, Ubuntu finally ships with actual ffmpeg instead of the libav fork that replaced it for a few releases.
Along with Ubuntu's Unity desktop, the various Ubuntu flavors also have LTS releases available though not all of them offer five years support. The Ubuntu Mate flavor, based around the Mate desktop has put together a particularly nice release that's well worth checking out if Unity is not to your liking.
Ubuntu 16.04 still doesn't have Unity, Mir or some of the other things Canonical has been working on for some time, but it is one of the best, if not the best, releases the distro has turned out in a long time. LTS releases always have to find a balance between incorporating the best of what's new with the need to support those features and apps for five years. From the more privacy-friendly defaults to the under the hood support for ZFS and Snap packages Ubuntu 16.04 is not just great today, but lays the foundations for what looks like a bright future.
Screenshots:
ubuntu1604-01.jpg Ubuntu 16.04, now with launchers on the bottom
ubuntu1604-02.jpg By default Unity search no longer queries online sources.
ubuntu1604-03.jpg The new GNOME Software-based Ubuntu Software Center.
ubuntu1604-04.jpg Ubuntu MATE make a nice alternative if Unity isn't to your liking.
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