Natty Narwhal, as we know it, is going to be the most awaited Ubuntu release ever. Introduction of Unity in the desktop version of Ubuntu could also be a 'make or break' situation for loyal Ubuntu users.

If the transition and expectations are not met, a huge chunk of user-base might move to Linux Mint, which has made clear in an exclusive statement to Muktware that they are neither going for Gnome Shell or Unity.

However, I am positive about Canonical's move. Ubuntu needs to improve, innovate on top of what it takes from the Debian community. Unity and Wayland are the right steps at right time.

That makes us curious what Natty looks like. At this point of time, you can only speculate; there is not much to see. The ISO images are available for download and install and we are running it in a virtual machine.

As I said earlier, there is nothing much from look and feel point of view and there are almost 6 more months to go. By installing this version all you get is to help developers in bug tracking and to monitor how the distro is shaping up.

The first Alpha will be released on December7, 2010 and the final release is scheduled for April 28, 2011.

You can download the iso files here. I would not  recommend using this version on your main machine. Things can and will break as developers build this Natty Narwal.

Here are some screen-shots from the Natty Narwhal.

~ Cult of Ubuntu