Few days ago latest version of Linux Mint 10 codename Julia was released. This version includes many improvements and other related visual system upgrade, new applications, etc. The new refinements and features included in Julia makes the user experience even more simple and enjoyable.
What’s New in Linux Mint a.k.a. Julia?
The Welcome Screen
No matter what media you’re installing Linux Mint from, the new Welcome Screen will now give you the opportunity to install the missing multimedia codecs and to upgrade to the DVD edition.
The Menu
The Linux Mint Menu received new features and usability improvements.
Highlighted newly installed applications: The menu highlights your newly installed applications and makes them easier to find.
Finding and installing applications: Available applications are easy to find too. The menu is aware of what’s available in your repositories so you can search for software and install packages without opening the software manager.
GTK bookmarks: The menu now supports GTK bookmarks. If you enabled this option in the preferences, it will show the same bookmarks as your Nautilus file explorer.
GTK themes: The menu now supports GTK themes. You can use this feature to make the menu look different than the rest of the desktop.
Other improvements:
–>The menu now registers itself as “mintmenu” in regards to GTK themeability. This means that GTK themes can define style sections that are specific to the menu. The default theme in Linux Mint 10 takes advantage of this by applying brushed metal on the menu.
–>The icon size for place and system items are now configurable.
–>Icon sizes are now expressed in pixels and range from 1 to 128. This makes it easier to customize the menu’s appearance.
The Software Manager
The Software Manager gives you a nicer browsing experience, with a better categorization of software and the use of application icons.
The Update Manager
If you’re not interested in receiving updates for a particular package, simply right click on it and tell the Update Manager to ignore updates for this package. The package will then be added to your “ignore” list and you won’t receive any updates for it in the future.
The Update Manager now also shows you the size of your selected updates, so you know how much data you’re about to download.
The Upload Manager
The Upload Manager isn’t for everybody, but it’s extremely handy for developers and administrators and it received many improvements in Linux Mint 10. If services are defined, the system tray icon is now launched automatically at startup by Linux Mint. The “File Uploader” is also merged with the “Upload Manager”.
You can now test a connection while defining it by pressing the “Check connection” button. Uploads can be cancelled or run in the background. 
The upload dialogs were improved and now look similar to the Firefox download dialogs. They measure the upload speed and calculate an ETA.
New look and feel
After 3 beautiful green/dark Shiki releases, Linux Mint is going back to its traditional liht theme and dark background, but this time, it’s giving the illusion of a metallic looking theme. It’s called Mint-X and it’s based on some of the most beautiful artwork available.
Backgrounds: This release comes with a new set of quality backgrounds.
Brushed metal: The desktop menu and the welcome screen were given brushed metal, to highlight the artistic direction towards which Mint is going and to underline the metallic aspect of the look and feel without impacting on the performance of the system.
Mint-X theme: Based on Clearlooks Revamp, with modifications made to the menu, rhythmbox and some of the widgets, a lighter metal tint and modified toolbars and menu bars.
Source: http://www.linuxmint.com
