Less than 13 days and Kubuntu 9.10 will be released. It is based on Ubuntu 9.10 packages which means it will get: Linux kernel 2.6.31, ext4 filesystem by default,GRUB 2 boot loader and a lot more. In this post I will try to list five things that make Kubuntu 9.10 special in compare to other KDE distributions. (warning: special could mean good or bad )

1- Plasma Netbook Technical Preview

Kubutnu is the first distribution will ship Plasma Netbook desktop under the name "Kubuntu Netbook Edition 9.10". From the name you can guess it is not the final product. Kubuntu took an early snapshot from plasma netbook shell and packaged them for 9.10 release. The first official release of Plasma Netbook desktop will be in KDE 4.4 which will be released in February 2010.

From beta release notes: "Kubuntu Netbook Edition 9.10 will be useful for many, but is not for everyone. It provides an early look at the plasma shell that will enable people to interact with standard KDE applications in a way optimized for netbook systems. It is useful, functional, and reliable. It does have a few rough edges, but should be usable by many people without problems."

Many users report it is useful and pretty good.

2-Message Indicator

From beta release note:" A new message indicator has been added which currently has a plugins for Konversation, Quassel, Kopete and Kontact. No need to be distracted by IRC pings, instant message chats, or new emails when you don't want to be, but easy to find out who has been leaving messages for you when you want to."

This applet is home made for Kubuntu specially and most likely it will not go upstream due to  the conflict between plasma developers and kubutnu developers on how the notification should be .

3- KPackageKit

"Kubuntu 9.10 will include the latest release of KPackageKit. Key features added since Kubuntu 9.04 are new notifications, sweet animations, a history feature, usability fixes and a more robust overall experience with fewer bugs."

keep in mind that "KPackageKit does not install software " (at least till beta stage). Many users reported  issues in KPackageKit. I wonder why kubuntu team insist about it?

4- GTK+ Integration

GTK+ widget style configuration tool

"QtCurve 0.68.0 brings a refinement of the Oxygen-like widget style so that your GNOME apps will look more at home in KDE.
GTK+ widget style and fonts can now be configured from KDE. "

5- Userconfig 0.9

New user managment tool

"Everybody's favorite user management tool from the KDE3 days has been resurrected for Kubuntu 9.10. Userconfig offers a simple user interface as well as integration with System Settings." Userconfig will be moved to the upstream in near future hopefully.