I have talked before how important the Natty cycle is for Ubuntu, particularly with the move to Unity on the desktop. This is an important cycle for us to pull together and hammer on Unity and make sure that all bugs are (a) logged, (b) triaged, and (c) fixed. Fortunately *everyone* can help with either (a), (b), or (c).

Today we [released Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha 1](https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/natty/alpha-1/). For those of you unfamiliar with Alpha releases, they are very early snapshots of the new version of Ubuntu as it matures. This first alpha is the first to have Unity switched on by default, and as such now it is ripe for testing, triaging and fixing. As with every Alpha, remember this is in-development software and is not production ready, but it is an ideal time for testing and reporting bugs so we can make sure that we see steady progress as it matures.

Fortunately this is really easy, and you can test with no risk to your current stable installation of Ubuntu (or whatever other Operating System you have installed), and instead run Ubuntu 11.04 live form a USB keyring. I wrote instructions on how to do this [here](https://archivedblog.jonobacon.com/2010/11/30/testing-natty-and-unity-safely-with-a-usb-stick/). You should then report bugs you find, and instructions for that are [here](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity).

If you good folks can install Alpha 1 to your USB stick and test it and report bugs, that would be an awesome contribution! In addition to this, Jorge will be announcing very soon our Bitesize Bugs campaign to highlight simple bugs that those of you with a coding streak can contribute to fixing. All in all, lots of fun ahead in this cycle! 🙂

So, in summary:

1. [Download Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha 1](https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/natty/alpha-1/)
2. [Install to your USB stick](https://archivedblog.jonobacon.com/2010/11/30/testing-natty-and-unity-safely-with-a-usb-stick/) and report bugs!
3. [Report bugs](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity)!
3. Rock and roll!

🙂