Today sees the release of the latest version of Ubuntu Linux. Code named Hardy Heron, the 8.04 release (meaning April 2008) hit the servers this morning.

New Features since Ubuntu 7.10 include:

• GNOME 2.22 – The Ubuntu 8.04 release candidate brings you the latest and greatest GNOME 2.22.1 with lots of new features and improvements, such as a new version of the Nautilus file manager that uses the faster and more reliable GVFS backend and shows a list of possible actions upon insertion of removable media, an international clock applet that can show time and weather information for multiple locations around the world, the new Seahorse keyring manager, and Google Calendar support in Evolution.
• PulseAudio – The release candidate comes preinstalled with the PulseAudio sound server, which makes it possible to mix audio from multiple applications together, assign audio from individual applications to specific sound cards, adjust volume levels of each individual application, and perform advanced operations on audio streams such as transferring the audio to another computer or changing sample formats and channel counts.
• Xorg 7.3 – The latest version of the X window system, Xorg 7.3, is used in the release candidate, with an emphasis on better autoconfiguration with a minimal configuration file.
• Firefox 3 – Firefox 3 Beta 5 is the default browser, bringing much better system integration including GTK form buttons in web pages, a native GTK print dialog, file chooser dialogs with image previews, and icon theming that matches the desktop environment.
• Brasero – The Brasero CD/DVD burning application, which complements the CD/DVD burning functions of Nautilus and replaces the Serpentine audio CD burning utility, is installed by default in the release candidate.
  Vinagre – The new Vinagre remote desktop (VNC) client is installed by default, replacing xvnc4viewer.