In today's open source roundup: Beta 2 of Ubuntu 14.04 is available for download. Plus: A screenshot tour of Fedora 20 3.12, and a review of Makulu Linux 5 Xfce The development of Ubuntu 14.04 is humming right along. OMG! Ubuntu! reports that the second beta of Ubuntu 14.04 has been released, and delves into at what’s new in Ubuntu. According to OMG! Ubuntu!: …the question of whether it’s worth upgrading to is something many of you will be asking. As an LTS, Canonical will be issuing security updates and select app updates (Firefox, Thunderbird and Chromium) for Trusty Tahr the next five years. Not that you have to use it for that long; it’ll be possible to do an in-place upgrade to Ubuntu 14.10 upon its release later this year should you want to, though that release will only be supported for nine months. While I wouldn’t expect anyone to want to upgrade to a beta, this release gives you a chance to evaluate your options. Those of you on Ubuntu 13.10 will want to make the jump. Why? The changes to Unity alone are enough to seal the deal, while the added bonus of extended support means you won’t be faced with upgrade dilemmas in 9 months’ time. More at OMG! Ubuntu! You can download Ubuntu and all of its various spins at the links below. Ubuntu Edubuntu Kubuntu Lubuntu Ubuntu GNOME Ubuntu Studio Xubuntu Fedora GNOME 3.12 screenshot tour GNOME 3.12 has just been released and Linux Screenshots has a tour of it in Fedora 20. According to Linux Screenshots: The GNOME Project has released GNOME 3.12 today. The next milestone release in the GNOME 3 series includes many new features, enhancements and updates, as well as new capabilities and APIs for application developers. The new version continues to improve the GNOME 3 user experience and includes many small bug fixes and enhancements. More at Linux Screenshots Image credit: Linux Screenshots You can also read the GNOME 3.12 release announcement for more details. Makulu Linux 5 Xfce review ZDNet takes a look at Makulu Linux 5 Xfce, a Debian based Linux distribution, and finds it to be a great choice for experienced Linux users. Makulu Linux is the distribution a lot of us think we would like to create, if we had the time, energy and especially the talent to do it. I don’t know anyone in the development team, so this is all speculation on my part, but I would say that it is a group of people who just don’t know when to stop — and I mean that as a compliment, and a very good thing. They’re not satisfied with “enough”, they want more! They aren’t dissuaded by “accepted limits” or bounded by other’s expectations. They do things because they can, because it’s cool and it’s fun and the response to “Why do that” is “Why not?”. More at ZDNet Image credit: ZDNet You can also get more information about Makulu Linux 5 Xfce in the release notes. What’s your take on all this? Tell me in the comments below. The opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the views of ITworld. Open SourceSoftware Development