Previously know as "Feisty Fawn", the latest release of Ubuntu Linux, Ubuntu 7.04, is of interest for two reasons: a handful of useful new features, plus it's been chosen by Dell for its first foray into the Linux desktop market.

Like the previous release, the new Ubuntu comes as a bootable Live CD which can be used to check out the OS before installing to hard disk - a plus point for those thinking of changing to Linux from Windows. Moreover, for those switching from Windows or setting up a dual-boot machine, a new migration tool has been added to import things like desktop wallpapers, Internet Explorer bookmarks, Firefox favourites and so on, all automatically.

You also get the usual clutch of point updates for the open source components including a 2.6.20 Linux kernel and a Gnome 2.18 desktop with the usual KDE implementation (Kubuntu) also available for those who want it.

Apart from new artwork, however, the desktop itself doesn't look all that that different, although it does feel a little nippier with the same kind of fancy graphical effects to be found in Windows Vista.

Mozilla Firefox 2 is the default browser with OpenOffice.org 2.2 to handle things like word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. There's also a new codec wizard which means that when you open an MP3 or other multimedia file for the first time you don't have to spend hours searching for and installing a suitable plug-in. Instead the wizard does it all for you, although there are still a few rough edges to the multimedia support which have yet to be addressed.

A restricted driver tool is another new feature, to download and install proprietary (i.e. non-open source) drivers for use with, for example, graphics and sound cards. Plus there's a new Avahi network tool to make life easier for those wanting to share data and use a wireless network.

The server version, in comparison, feels like a completely different product and installs without a GUI, although adding a Gnome desktop isn't that hard. You can also opt for a pre-configured LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) setup to configure these otherwise optional components automatically, the new release shipping with Apache 2.2.3, MySQL 5.0.38 and PHP 5.2.1.

Again, point updates to other open source server components are the order of the day, along with integrated support for thin clients. You can also count on 64-bit optimisations and better performance from multicore processors. Administrators can also securely install Ubuntu using a remote SSH session.

The biggest server enhancements, however, are in virtualisation, with added support for hardware facilities that speed up the use of virtual machines (VMs). In particular, there's support for kernel-based virtual machines (KVMs) which, on processors with Intel-VT or AMD-V extensions, let you configure multiple VMs running unmodified implementations of Linux. VMI support, to optimise performance for para-virtualised Linux guests under VMware, has also been added.

It all works as expected and is the best Ubuntu yet. Whether it's ready for the big time, however, has yet to be proven. As for the Dell connection, the company has announced four desktop models to ship with Ubuntu 7.04 pre-installed. But that's only in the US, with no announcements yet as far as this side of the Atlantic is concerned.

A logical next step in the development of this popular Linux distribution, Ubuntu 7.04 offers a number of worthwhile new features including a Windows migration tool in the desktop version and additional virtualisation support in the server product. It's also the distro chosen by Dell for its first desktop deployment, although still something of an acquired taste for those more used to the Microsoft OS.