The Ubuntu project is planning to release a new variant of its distribution which would appeal ‘Free Software’ purist which want no more than a 100% completely free operating system that works out from the box.

This intention has be made known by Mark Shuttleworth himself in the Ubuntu mailing list few days ago (12 April 2007).

However the unnamed release is not intended to be a ‘variant’ of the main Ubuntu release, putting it inline with the Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu project.

The new variant of the distro will only feature software which only come with source code and that have full rights of modification and redistribution. Mark Shuttleworth also notes that works on the new variant will involve the folks from gNewsense team, an unofficial distro based on Ubuntu, which puts a possibility that the gNewsense distro will be completely integrated into the Official Ubuntu project.

The variant is estimated to be ready on the next cycle of Ubuntu release (Gutsy Gibbon) due on
October 2007. It unclear if the new Ubuntu variant will support playing mp3 or mpeg4 files as codecs for both for format are licensed under a GNU GPL compatible free software license despite their patented status.

p/s: If this plan works, I think you might be seeing FSF (or even Stallman) himself use Ubuntu on their computers anytime soon.

[tags]ubuntu,gnewsense,debian,linux,gutsy gibbon,gutsy,linux,opensource,open source[/tags]

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