Ubuntu MATE 14.04.2 is available for download. This release fixes a few issues that were present in 14.04.1, adds some new features and updates some packages.
It is important to state quite clearly Ubuntu MATE 14.04.2 is not an official Ubuntu flavour! Although we now have official status for 15.04, it is not retroactive. Ubuntu MATE 14.04 will always be an unofficial build.
We would have preferred that this release was made on Februaty 20th when the official flavours shipped 14.04.2. However, we were in the middle of some time critical activities to ensure Ubuntu MATE 15.04 official status, so decided to let 14.04.2 slip until we had time to finish it. We hope you understand.
There are advantages and disadvantages to maintaining an unofficial Ubuntu derivative. The downside is that we have not been able to integrate all of the hardware enablement stack in Ubuntu MATE 14.04.2. We have only integrated the Linux 3.16 kernel, but not the updated Xorg stack. During our testing we found many issues with the Xorg HWE stack, such as Virtualbox Guest Additions and the Ubuntu SDK not being compatible. These issues are not specific to Ubuntu MATE.
The upside of maintaining an unofficial Ubuntu deriative is that we can roll out new features and package updates. So we did, most notably LibreOffice 4.4.1.2.
The advantage of the newer Linux kernel is that it resolves most of the screen tearing issues some people experienced in Ubuntu MATE 14.04.1. The surprise inclusion of Compiz (although it is not enabled by default) is also to help provide tear free video for those with graphics hardware capable of running Compiz. The MATE profile for Compiz also comes with the Enhanced Zoom plugin enabled in order to satisfy visually impaired individuals who require a high quality screen magnifier. The screen zooming keybindings are <Super>m to zoom in and <Super>n to zoom out.
