20 years of Ubuntu: Canonical celebrates with upcoming 24.10 – and it's outstanding as usual

Ah, Ubuntu. I remember those early days well. Back in 2004, I made the switch from Red Hat Linux (before there was Fedora and after using it since 1997) to this upstart distribution and never looked back. Since then, I’ve used only Ubuntu or a Ubuntu-based distribution for my primary OS.

With good reason.

Ubuntu is as stable and user-friendly as an OS can be. And with a clockwork-like release scheduled, I can always count on when a new version is about to hit. 

Also: 10 things I always do after installing Linux – and why you should too

Well, it’s nearly October, and that means there is yet another new release. This time around it’s something special because it’s the 20th anniversary of Ubuntu’s first release (Warty Warthog – version 4.10). There have been plenty of ups and downs along the way (think Ubuntu Unity) but the rough spots have been well smoothed over, and, for the most part, Ubuntu releases can be counted on to be reliable and enjoyable.

As soon as I installed a test version of Ubuntu 24.10 (Oracular Oriole), I nodded my head and smiled in recognition of all that is familiar and good about this open-source operating system.

But what’s new with the latest release from Canonical?

GNOME 47

Linux distributions live and die by the desktop environment. Without an outstanding UI, a distribution doesn’t stand a chance of surviving in this hyper-competitive world that is inundated with enough choices as to induce apoplectic fits of indecision.

GNOME 47 is here and it includes plenty of polish. No, there aren’t any game-changing features to be found but what the developers have added improves an already brilliant desktop. The new additions include:

• Native accent color support
• New dialogs look with floating buttons and changes to improve the look on narrow displays.
• Improved interface for low-resolution monitors.
• Hardware-encoded screen recording.
• Persistent remote login sessions
• Improved Nautilus sidebar (with rearranged shortcuts for easier access to Trash, Network, and more; easier bookmark management; internal drives now appear in the sidebar; and bookmarks can be rearranged via drag-and-drop).
• Improved UI for Disk Usage Analyzer.
• More settings options including “activate windows on hover” and improved online accounts.
• Progress bars in Dock launchers for snap apps are used when an app is updating in the background.

GNOME isn’t the only change coming to Ubuntu 24.10. There are also improvements to the App Center, an homage to the color scheme of the first Ubuntu release (with the addition of the original 4.10 startup sound that plays when you log in), new wallpapers, a new Security Center app (which is somewhat limited in features, but this is its initial launch), Nvidia GPUs now automatically default to Wayland, improved fingerprint biometric support, and much more.

But what is it like?

Also: 5 things to consider before leaping from one Linux distribution to another

My impression of Ubuntu 24.10

I’ve grown accustomed to Canonical not doing show-stopping releases. For years now, every Ubuntu release seems like a polished version of what came before. With 24.10, that is very much the case. Yes, there are plenty of small bits of note here and there but nothing will blow you away.

Unless you really enjoy a remarkably stable OS that performs like a champ and looks as good as any previous release.

For me, one thing that stands out with Ubuntu 24.10 is the performance. I believe this to be a combination of GNOME 47 and kernel 6.11. Either way, this latest release (even the beta version) is one of the best-performing iterations Canonical has released. I installed Ubuntu 24.10 as a virtual machine (using VirtualBox) with only 3GB of RAM and 2 CPU cores and it amazed me with its performance. Apps opened instantly, updates happened very quickly (much quicker than I’m accustomed to for Ubuntu), and reboots are fast.

Also: How to create a bootable Linux USB drive

Speaking of updates, Ubuntu 24.10 ships with APT 3.0, which includes an improved layout for better readability. I’m not 100% certain if APT 3.0 contributes to the speed of Ubuntu updates, but I’m sure it helps.

If you’re looking for a Linux distribution that offers a full-blown desktop environment but performs like it’s running something much lighter (such as Fluxbox or Window Maker), Ubuntu 24.10 is what you want.

It’s been a long time since a release from Canonical was a disappointment, and 24.10 continues that trend. Oracular Oriole proves that you don’t have to throw in the kitchen sink to create an outstanding operating system upgrade because 24.10 will “wow” you with its subtle improvements and performance gains.

You can download the beta of Ubuntu 24.10 or wait until October 13th, which is the official release date.