oneiric ocelot

Ubuntu 11.10's Compiz has been updated to 0.9.5 version bringing bug fixes and a new refinement to the Grid plugin (aero snap-like effect).

Compared to its Natty's version, now, when one push a window against the edge of the screen there is a fade effect (no more progressive zoom-like) and the color is brighter, making it very easy to observe and work with.

The shape of the expanded future window covers now the whole desktop (if you want to go fullscreen) and even the active window.

Oneiric Ocelot has received recently Compiz's Modal Dialog plugin and, although it is a gorgeous plugin, it has a bit of humor in it: the plugin itself was working only on Unity 3D (based on Compiz) but the modal dialog theming was working only on Unity-2D.

A just now update has landed in Oneiric bringing a modified shadowed fancy theming for the modal dialogs on Unity 3D making the plugin complete (however this is a work in progress, so we can aspect further development).

The latest updates in Oneiric Ocelot clearly show a step forward in terms of consistency and minimalism (totally different from lack of features/removal of features).
The Me Menu is now part of the new enhanced Messaging Menu (Indicator Status Provider) which contains now "everything" in terms of chat (Empathy), email (Thunderbird), broadcast (Gwibber), Ubuntu One, etc.

Probably new "stuff" will be added in the near future, possibly different colors for different service notifications.

Gbrainy is a sharp brain-focused game, one of Ubuntu's default games that provides mental calculation, memory trainers, verbal analogies and logic puzzles.

Gbrainy 2.0 has just landed in Oneiric Ocelot (via the Update Manager) with major changes in UI and overall game experience, as well as bug fixes.

What is new in Gbrainy 2.0?

Along with the new GNOME 3's arrival in Ubuntu 11.10, some important options such as changing the GTK theme, selecting a desired font, etc have, at least until now, disappeared forcing the user to use tools like dconf-editor (we should keep in mind, Oneiric is just an ALPHA stage at the moment).

Ubuntu's default note-taking application, Tomboy, has been until now (starting two weeks ago) surrounded by a cloud of misunderstanding about its default removal from Oneiric Ocelot.

According to its official Twitter account "Tomboy is not being dropped from Ubuntu Oneiric. We just need to make a tiny fix in our dependency chain" (June 16th 2011).

Ayatana Overlay Scrollbars are really starting not only to mature but to become awesome.
This gorgeous space-aware scrollbars have just been updated to 0.2.4 version, bringing the "real deal":

Labeled as "Get excited and make things!", Oneiric Ocelot's wallpaper submission has begun and, just like in Natty Narwhal, the Flickr group is open and ready for both photos and rendered/ illustrated wallpapers.

Oneiric Ocelot ALPHA 2 has just been released adding new features, improvements and consistency.

What is new in Oneiric ALPHA 2?

• Mozilla Firefox 5

There are often small but quite important aspects that can make a difference and, if we look at last days' Oneiric (this applies in general, too) we can definitely observe a progressive work on details.

Not only rumors but also official statements tell us about Ubuntu Software Center 5 to land in Oneiric with a completely new look, feel and structure.