For those not in the know, every edition of the increasingly popular Ubuntu Linux has an alliterative, animal-based codename. Thus, Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala replaces 9.04 Jaunty Jackelope, which displaced Hardy Heron and Gutsy Gibbon before it.

Canonical's chief, Mark Shuttleworth, has been outspoken of late in his opinion that making a dent in the desktop operating system market requires a cohesive effort to produce an OS with an attractive, usable interface. He's succeeded to some extent, with Koala's revamped Human look and feel, opting for the reserved, flat look adopted by Microsoft a few years back. Nonetheless it still looks like a catch-up effort, not groundbreaking advance.