New features coming in Ubuntu 6.06

From the release announcement for Ubuntu 6.06:

On the Desktop

• A new graphical installer is available on the live CD, allowing Ubuntu to be installed quickly and easily to your hard disk
• Faster system startup and login
• Simplified menu organization
• Graphical shutdown process
• Easy access to power management settings with GNOME Power Manager
• Improved support for video playback
• Optional NetworkManager for convenient roaming between different wireless and wired networks
• It is now possible to enable accessibility options from the very first boot screen of the live CD, and thereby use the accessibility features of Ubuntu during installation
• GNOME 2.14.1
• OpenOffice.org 2.0.2
• X.org 7.0

On the Server

• New kernels targeted at server platforms. The server kernels are tuned differently than the desktop kernels (providing better performance for server applications). The “server” kernel is generic, and should work on the same equipment that the desktop kernel does. The “bigiron” server kernel is geared towards systems with greater than 8 CPUs (ES7000/Summit/BIGSMP).
• Turn-key LAMP installation
• Improved support for clusters and SANs
• Numerous thin client enhancements, including faster client startup, graphical boot process, reduced memory requirements, and sound device support

Localization

• Automatic setup of non-Latin input methods
• Menu item translations can now be included in language packs, for faster integration of new and updated translations

Installation and Upgrades

• The text-mode installer now runs in a single stage, rebooting straight into the complete system. This makes it faster, simpler, and more reliable.
• Ubuntu can now be installed to USB devices, such as removable hard drives and flash memory, using the text-mode installer
• A new upgrade tool is available, for simple, clean and reliable upgrades from one Ubuntu release to the next, starting with Ubuntu 5.10

“Under the hood”

• GCC 4.0.3
• glibc 2.3.6
• Linux 2.6.15.6
• New live CD infrastructure for improved performance, usability and space-efficiency
• Greatly improved infrastructure for automatic hardware detection and activation
• The system PATH is now set in exactly one place, /etc/environment, for convenient administration

For screenshots, see http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/flight6 (the previous milestone release, but screenshots won’t have changed much).