Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Will Have ‘Blindingly Quick’ Boot Times, Float on the Cloud

If you rock Ubuntu, you’ve probably already got your engines revved for the more immediately imminent Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release next month. But that’s not stopping Canonical—Ubuntu’s main developer—from jibber-jabbering about Jaunty Jackalope, the next major Ubuntu release, which is due in April. Ubuntu 9.04’s code name stems from its focus on zip-zoominess, with a goal of making “booting or resuming Ubuntu blindingly quick” and a “blurring of web services and desktop applications.” So it’ll be a fast hybrid, just like an, uh, real jackalope.

While it’s not entirely certain how Jaunty will float on the cloud, Bits notes that Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth says they’re after “weblications.” Either way, it’s surely not coincidental that Jaunty’s two major goals—a light, snappy OS with serious web app/cloud computing integration—converge to accelerate the death of the traditional Microsoft-dominated desktop. We’ll know how well it succeeds in just a few months. [Ars Technica]