Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron goes beta

Chomping at the bit for a new Ubuntu release? Well, here you go: The beta of Ubuntu version 8.04, colloquially known as "Hardy Heron," has officially been released to the waiting masses. Onboard you'll find GNOME 2.22, Linux Kernel version 2.6.24 and even that hot new Firefox 3 beta 4 that you've been hearing so much about. If you're a Windows user who's looking to dual-boot, you'll be happy to hear that Hardy Heron plays even nicer with Windows than previous versions of Ubutnu. A new feature called "Wubi" allows Ubuntu to be installed and uninstalled like any native Windows app. What's more, it doesn't require a dedicated partition or affect the existing bootloader while running in a dual-boot configuration.

For more on the latest release:
- see this Slashdot article