Ubuntu 9.10 Will Have Slicker Boot-Up, Software Store

Lifehacker - Ubuntu has released the sixth alpha of its Linux distribution, and it firms up two of the five features we want to see in Ubuntu: a faster, graphical boot-up sequence, and an integrated software store.

They're both still in somewhat early shape, but their inclusion in the last Karmic Koala alpha before beta indicates they're here to stay. The new xplash bootup will transition directly from a BIOS boot-up screen—and a newer GRUB chooser, if it's a dual-boot setup—to a graphical loader with a progress indicator, and then straight to the desktop if the user doesn't select a username chooser or password protection. It's not a complete design-forward rethinking of the interface, but it does remove the unsettling experience of watching indecipherable text scroll past as the system boots

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