As noted by Mads and Nico, two new wallpapers just got uploaded to Jaunty ‘s repositories.
As noted by Mads, the result isn’t exactly pretty. Of course, this may just be work in progress, so stay cool 
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Another thing to be said, we really can’t know if any of these is going to be default wallpaper (even if Canonical sets any of those as default in the beta things can change – that already happened with a dark theme in one of the previous versions).
Since we’re on the topic, I’d like to highlight the wallpaper Mads is working on himself, which is actually quite nice.
Being so bright, and contrastful, I can’t see it being the default wallpaper, at least as it is now, but would be nice to have some alternative wallpaper shipped with Jaunty. Sadly, the LiveCd space is limited, so it’s unlikely we’ll see more than one or (maximum) two wallpapers shipped by default.
Having the Ubuntu installer download some fancy graphic package in the background while it reads the data from the cd rom – during the install process – would be quite nice, though. All that graphic goodness wouldn’t be available to everyone, but it’s an acceptable degrade for those installing without Internet connection and a nice plus for the rest of us 
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I wonder why brown again..
It is so boring!
@Ge: branding. Even if I really would like they just kept orange as their brand color, and get rid of the brown in most places.
[...] New wallpapers for Jaunty. Don’t hold your breath. Being so bright, and contrastful, I can’t see it being the default wallpaper, at least as it is now, but would be nice to have some alternative wallpaper shipped with Jaunty. Sadly, the LiveCd space is limited, so it’s unlikely we’ll see more than one or (maximum) two wallpapers shipped by default. [...]
Hi All,
I’ve found few, if any, Linux distros ship with “killier” Desktops. When I change distros I dive into my Art collection. I’ve been saving stuff from http://www.gnome-look.org and http://www.kde-look.org. for years.
It is a pity that some of this stuff isn’t available straight “out of the box”. IMHO
My favourite source of wallpapers is InterfaceLift.
Thanks – I’ve bookmarked it!
Another way to look at this:
The background pictures for Ubuntu 9.04 are quite simple and neutral and I believe this is good! The graphical form of a successful GNU/Linux distribution should INCLUDE as many groups of users as possible and exclude as few as possible.
We know that Ubuntu, at its best, can adress a very wide scope of users and organizations. Thus a rather neutral desktop art on the standard release, should look nice, attractive, and at the same time has a lower probability do close doors to certain groups or cultures. For instance, the previous Ubuntu art with naked people and even the animal background pictures are controversial in many ways.
Publishing naked skin is definitely not politically correct for serious companies. Horns may be associated with infidelity and homosexualism on certain cultures. Colorful abstract pictures trigger associations to flower power and less serious attitudes, thus less suitable for business and organizations. And the list can be made longer.
Some people think brown is “uggly”. This is another challenge. Pick a color, create a brand and hold to it to see if it grows. If it doesn’t grow make a few adjustments but remember that it takes time to introduce a new brand and continuity is important for long term recognition and success.
M,
Well said, and I hadn’t thought about your arguments. Cool
But, I did like that IBM OS2 Warp look! Look what happened there.
Regards,
JJMacey
Phoenix, Arizona