As of today, the latest version of Ubuntu is available for download. If you alreadyhave Ubuntu runing, the update manager will give youthe option to upgrade your existing installation.
If you want to perform a clean install, simply download and burn the ISO file for Ubuntu 11.04 (with the code name Natty Narwhal) from www.ubuntu.com. As always, you can install the new operating system next to Windows, keeping your existing operating system working.
When I tried the update from within Ubuntu 10.10, I was told it would take about 7 hours for it to finish. To download the ISO will take about one hour on the same internet connection… This is of course unusual slow, and can most probably be contributed to everyone downloading the new version today.
One of the biggest changes in this release is the new desktop enviromnet called Unity, replacing the traditional Gnome shell. As soon as I have been playing around some more with it, I will report back on what I think about it. The main difference is that commonly used programs can be docked on the left side of the screen. It seems like Ubuntu users either love it or hate it…
Michael Brown blogged about how to install Lotus Notes in the (as yet) unsupported Ubuntu 11.04 this morning,so I will not repeat that here. Go read his instructions.