After continued success with Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon, the new Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron Linux desktop is sure to make big waves in the Linux distribution pool. As shown in the Ubuntu 8.04 alpha and beta releases, the new Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron release offers many features and enhancements for your desktop including the following and more.

Gnome 2.22 on Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron has a full array of improvements including the new GVFS Back-end Nautilus.

Pulse Audio offers cutting edge sound server technology on Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron.

Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron offers Firefox 3.0 which offers a good collection of new, tested, productive features but is still in beta at the time of this writing.

The Wubi installer allows you to easily install Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron on Windows using an .exe just like any other Windows application.

Along with the new Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron graphic scheme the World Clock Applet is an all around positive for the desktop offering temperature display, location profiles and more.

X.org 7.3 gives Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron users auto-configuration enhancements with the focus placed a minimal configuration file.

Developed by Google during the Summer of Code project and included in the upcoming Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron release, Prefetch will speed up boot-time and common application launching by profiling which files are read in which order and will automatically optimize the order of the data on the hard disk.

A new addition to the Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron application selection is Inkscape, a drawing program that has similar features to popular drawing applications like Illustrator, Freehand, and Corel Draw. Inkscape on Hardy Heron will help complete the graphic design application options on Ubuntu Linux.

Ubuntu 8.04 includes Vinagre which is a useful VNC Client designed for the new GNOME 2.22 desktop.

The Gnome BitTorrent downloader has been replaced by the GTK version of Transmission, a multi-platform BitTorrent client that is light weight and full of features.

Brasero will replace the Serpentine burner on the new Ubuntu desktop. Brasero provides simplicity and a decent set of features

Ubuntu 8.04 includes PolicyKit which is now integrated in the administrative user interface. PolicyKit provides the finest control over permissions while enhancing usability and increasing security.