Oneiric Ocelot Ubuntu 11.10, was announced on 7 March 2011 by Mark Shuttleworth. He explained that Oneiric means "dreamy."[1]. Shuttleworth announced in April 2011 that 11.10 will not have the Classic GNOME as an alternative to the the Unity desktop as Natty Narwhal does.
The beta version of 11.10 was released on September 1, 2011.[2]