Mid-August is upon us, and that can only mean one thing (corn on the cob and the Saint-Napoleon notwithstanding): the next release of Ubuntu is inching ever closer to maturity. With the debut late last week of the third alpha of Ubuntu 10.10, it’s time to take a look at how Maverick Meerkat is shaping up.

If you visit this site frequently, you may have noticed that our coverage of Ubuntu 10.10 thus far has been sparse. We’ve discussed the btrfs file system and new cloud-init features, but there haven’t been many changes to report on the desktop.

With the appearance late last week of Ubuntu 10.10 alpha 3, however, some tangible new features have finally debuted for desktop users. Here’s a look at a few of the most significant changes.