Ubuntu Karmic Koala has been released on Thursday. The latest version of the open source operating system developed by Canonical—Ubuntu 9.10—comes soon after Microsoft launched Windows 7.

The latest version of Ubuntu focuses a lot on cloud computing or Internet-based computing. It also provides users free 2GB online storage. It should also attract those who play a lot of games on computers. Ubuntu has made installing free games easier. It also promises to make sharing of files between two computers easy.

Canonical has also launched a netbook version of Ubuntu 9.10.

Apart from these, it comes with OpenOffice 3.0, Firefox Web browser 3.5, Evolution email client, Empathy for chatting, etc.

How to get/upgrade/install Ubuntu 9.10?
One can get Ubuntu Karmic Koala free of cost by downloading an .iso image (CD image) of the open source operating system and then burning it on a CD.
One can also buy Ubuntu DVDs from Amazon.If you are willing to wait for 6-10 weeks, you can also request free CDs of Ubuntu 9.10 from its ShipIt website.
All existing Ubuntu users can upgrade to the new version by running Update Manager (System-> Administration-> Update Manager). Before upgrading to the latest version, make sure to update your current Ubuntu version.

Learn about Ubuntu installation, applications and other things in these previous posts aggregated on one page to help you switch to Ubuntu.