The testing phase is over... 3281d Consulting is extremely pleased to announce that the new distribution packaging system is now deployed on drupal.org. The announcement on the front page of drupal.org contains lots of details about how the system looks for end users of Drupal distributions, including lots of nice UI changes to project pages and release nodes.
If you maintain an installation profile on drupal.org please read the How to package a profile on drupal.org handbook page. It's really not that hard, but there are some very important things you need to read and understand to make use of the new system. Support requests and "bug reports" from people who just didn't read the handbook page won't be well received. ;) Oh, and speaking of issues, if you find one, please search the packaged install profiles tag before submitting a new one.
Exciting times -- go forth, yonder profile maintainers, and make Drupal more usable!
Thanks!
-Derek