Any Windows fans out there will be pleased to hear that ext4 includes an online defragmentation tool, . However, this doesn't appear to be installed on Ubuntu 9.04 (or perhaps it resides under a different command-name; if you know the situation, post a comment below.)

Visual Refresh

There's a new boot progress graphic (i.e. usplash), which I can't say looks better or worse than previous efforts. Additionally, there's a new wallpaper that takes as a starting point the swirly lines seen in virtually every operating system wallpaper since 1998. The only different here is that the color scheme is orange and brown, in the usual Ubuntu style. My advice: install the gnome-backgrounds package, which includes a terrific sample of images.

Some of the community themes that were optional in 8.10 are now default (Dust, Dust Sand, New Wave), and this helps mitigate the fact that the whole Ubuntu desktop experience is starting to stagnate. It hasn't changed significantly for quite a few years now.

It's now possible to set transparency effects for the panels, provided the Compiz visual effects system is activated (it is by default). This is kinda cool, and brings Ubuntu into line with , which introduced a similar feature.