13.04 (Raring Ringtail) Alpha 2 Released

[Jonathan Riddell]

Welcome to the Raring Ringtail Alpha 2 release, which will in time
become the 13.04 release.

This alpha features images for Kubuntu and Ubuntu Cloud.

At the end of the 12.10 development cycle, the Ubuntu flavour decided
that it would reduce the number of milestone images going forward and
the focus would concentrate on daily quality and fortnightly testing
rounds known as cadence testing.  Based on that change, the Ubuntu
product itself will not have an Alpha 2 release. Its first milestone
release will be the FinalBetaRelease on the 28th of March 2013.
Other Ubuntu flavours have the option to release using the usual
milestone schedule.

Pre-releases of Raring Ringtail are *not* encouraged for anyone 
needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running 
into occasional, even frequent breakage.  They are, however, 
recommended for Ubuntu developers and those who want to help in 
testing, reporting, and fixing bugs as we work towards getting 
this release ready.    

Alpha 2 is the second in a series of milestone images that will be
released throughout the Raring development cycle, in addition to
our daily development images.  The Alpha images are known to be 
reasonably free of showstopper CD build or installer bugs, while 
representing a very recent snapshot of Raring.  You can download 
them here:

   http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/raring/alpha-2/ 
   (Kubuntu)
   http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/raring/alpha-2/ 
   (Ubuntu Server Cloud)

Alpha 2 includes a number of software updates that are ready for wider
testing.  This is an early set of images, so you should expect
some bugs.  For a more detailed description of the changes in the Alpha
2 release and the known bugs (which can save you the effort of reporting
a duplicate bug, or help you find proven workarounds), please see:

  http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/

If you're interested in following the changes as we further develop
Raring, we suggest that you subscribe initially to the
ubuntu-devel-announce list. This is a low-traffic list (a few posts a
week) carrying announcements of approved specifications, policy changes,
alpha releases, and other interesting events.

  http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-announce

Jonathan Riddell, on behalf of the Ubuntu release team