Well, it is announced. Mark [delivered the news](https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2008-February/025136.html):

> With Hardy now past feature-freeze it’s time to start to plan features that are being lined up for inclusion after Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
is released in April.

> And so I’d like to introduce you to the Intrepid Ibex, the release which is planned for October 2008, and which is likely to have the
version number 8.10.

> During the 8.10 cycle we will be venturing into interesting new territory, and we’ll need the rugged adventurousness of a mountain goat to navigate tricky terrain. Our desktop offering will once again be a focal point as we re-engineer the user interaction model so that Ubuntu works as well on a high-end workstation as it does on a feisty little subnotebook. We’ll also be reaching new peaks of performance – aiming to make the mobile desktop as productive as possible.

> A particular focus for us will be pervasive internet access, the ability to tap into bandwidth whenever and wherever you happen to be. No longer will you need to be a tethered, domesticated animal – you’ll be able to roam (and goats do roam!) the wild lands and access the web through a variety of wireless technologies. We want you to be able to move from the office, to the train, and home, staying connected all the way.

> The Intrepid Ibex will take shape at our next Ubuntu Developer Summit, an open event to which members of the Ubuntu community, upstream communities, corporate developers and other distributions are all invited. That summit takes place in beautiful Prague, in the Czech Republic from 19th – 23rd May 2008. Together we will draw up detailed blueprints for Ubuntu 8.10. Please join us there to help define the Intrepid Ibex:

> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDS-Intrepid

> Ubuntu 8.10 will be our ninth release, and the fourth anniversary of the first release – 4.10. In those four years, Ubuntu has grown as a project, an ethos and a community. The Ubuntu community have worked to set the benchmark for open, inclusive, and collaborative development processes. We have open specifications, open governance structures and a willingness to empower everyone to make their unique contribution to the success of the project.

> This has created an extraordinary diversity in participation; a depth of talent including packagers, programmers, translators, writers, testers, advocates, technical support, artists and many others. Those contributions come as much from the corporate world – Canonical and other companies that have embraced Ubuntu as a core of their offering – as from a huge number of individual professionals. It is this combination of expertise and perspectives that makes it
such a pleasure for me to be part of this project, and I thank all of you for your continued passion, participation, and energy.

> Hardy is our best development cycle yet, delivering on our promise of reliability and stability for the Heron. We must stay focused on that goal. To the extent that you have a brilliant idea for the future, you now have a peg to hang it on – the Intrepid Ibex. When the Hardy Heron has taken flight we will engage fully with the Ibex. Give it horns!

The Intrepid Ibex is coming, and I am extremely excited about it, and so should all of you.

This leads me onto the [Ubuntu Developer Summit](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDS-Intrepid) that Mark outlined in his post – this event is critical in the Ubuntu release cycle, and is open to everyone to attend. It should be stressed that a UDS is a technical discussion event, it is not a conference with presentations and people waving their hands around – it is rooms full of Ubuntu developers discussing the next release, community processes, plans and direction for the Intrepid Ibex. If you want to attend, you are more than welcome, and make sure you add yourself as an atendee to the [Launchpad page](https://edge.launchpad.net/sprints/uds-intrepid).

As usual, we (Canonical) will be sponsoring a number of community members to the next UDS, and this group of community members has been decided and will be hearing from us in the next few days. I look forward to seeing you all there! 🙂

*Trying to look fly.*

> 5 (five) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the natural number following 4 and preceding 6.

> Five is between 4 and 6 and is the third prime number, after 2 and 3, and before 7. Because it can be written as 2^(2^1)+1, five is classified as a Fermat prime. 5 is the third Sophie Germain prime, the first safe prime, and the third Mersenne prime exponent. Five is the first Wilson prime and the third factorial prime, also an alternating factorial. It is an Eisenstein prime with no imaginary part and real part of the form 3n − 1. It is also the only number that is part of more than one pair of twin primes.

> Five is conjectured to be the only odd untouchable number.

Surely [these](https://daniel.holba.ch/blog/?p=86) [wonderful](https://daniel.holba.ch/blog/?p=89) [people](https://stompbox.typepad.com/blog/2008/02/the-number-five.html) can’t be wrong?

Today I had a meeting with [Ashley Highfield](https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/ashley_highfield/); Director of Future Media & Technology at the BBC. The meeting had been scheduled so we could talk about Ubuntu, discuss Open Source and discuss the BBC.

It was an excellent, productive session, and we discussed a range of issues, including Ubuntu, Open Source, the Open Source development model, community, free culture and other issues. The meeting has been written up on a [few](https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/02/pic_of_the_day_ubuntu_installf.html) [blogs](https://backstage.bbc.co.uk/news/archives/2008/02/ashley_highfiel.html).

Today marks the beginning of…wait for it…[Ubuntu Developer Week](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek)!

The week is crammed full of incredible sessions, covering many aspects of Ubuntu development – it provides an excellent opportunity to get involved. The action takes place from 4pm UTC each day in `#ubuntu-classroom` and `#ubuntu-classroom-chat` on Freenode, and the schedule is [here](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek).

Bring it on! Look forward to seeing you all there! 🙂