For the future, the Ubuntu site contains a wishlist that includes support for the Xen open source virtualisation tool, a centralised user management system, high availability features, network-wide system update management and log analysis tools.

Di Nitto said that he expected the server distro to be ready before the end of April, adding that the group's plans are open. He said that Ubuntu's strategy of releasing a new version every six months would be the same for the server version – which might be rather too often for many IT admins.

Ubuntu recently hit the headlines for its unwillingness to join Debian's DCC Alliance initiative – a plan to bring several Linux distributions together under a common core – because of the lack of flexibility that would ensue.