If there was ever a bit of software in dramatic need of a little bit of sexing up, it'd be Linux. For some time, the open-source OS has had a little bit of an image problem - seen as the operating system of choice for beardy coding types. That image wasn't helped by a succession of releases with a defiantly brown colour scheme.

But that could all change, with the release of Ubuntu 10.04 - the next version of the platform to be released to the public. Codenamed Lucid Lynx, the follow-up to Karmic Koala, the release will dump the brown in favour of "an aubergine shade of purple". There'll still be a little bit of orange, too.

The new style was developed by Ubuntu's founder, Mark Shuttleworth, and the thematic concept behind it is "light". Alongside the colour scheme changes, there's also a new logo with a thinner font and smaller icon.

The design documents say: "We're drawn to Light because it denotes both warmth and clarity, and intrigued by the idea that 'light' is a good value in software. Good software is 'light' in the sense that it uses your resources efficiently, runs quickly, and can easily be reshaped as needed. Visually, light is beautiful, light is ethereal, light brings clarity and comfort".

The changes will also be applied to the website. If you'd like to see more, there's plenty of sample screenshots in Ubuntu's Wiki.