Ubuntu gets its name from the Zulu word "ubuntu" which roughly translates as "humanity" which describes the philosophy: "I am who I am because of those around me". Ubuntu in practical terms is a free and open source linux operating system based on the popular Debain achitecture and is built and maintained by Canonical Ltd. Canonical releases new versions of Ubuntu every six months and supports each version for eighteen months by releasing security fixes, bug patches and other minor updates to its various programs. There is also the LTS (Long Term Support) versions which are released every 2 years and supported for 3 years on the desktop versions and 5 years on the server versions. It has its focus on ease of use and ease of installation. Ubuntu has been rated as the most popular Linux distribution for the desktop in a survey by desktoplinux.com. I am reviewing the latest version named "Intrepid Ibex" which was released on October 30th, 2008.
I have been using the Ubuntu distribution as my only desktop operating system for 3 years now. My initial impressions as a happily Microsoft free user were mostly positive, but with a few hinderances. In the early days, there were a bunch of issues related mostly to multimedia file types. Those things just work in Windows and so you don't ever think about them. Well, that wasn't the case for Ubuntu. There were various hacks that needed to be done to get everything working the way you wanted it. That being said, everything was customizable and so you could get it the way you wanted it. On top of that, the Ubuntu Forums which can be easily searched are able to answer every question I've ever had. As time has passed and the new versions have come out, I've been ever more impressed with the ease of installation and the lessening amount of customization that I need to do to get it just the way I like it. With the latest release, Intrepid Ibex, I simply had to install one additional package to be happy; the ubuntu-restricted-extras package. Of course, I am never happy, so I did a lot more than that, but that is an issue for my therapist and not you. One of the nicest features of Ubuntu is the live CD, which allows you to burn the image you download to a CD and boot your computer to that CD. From there, with no modifications to your computer, you are able to use the desktop the way you would normally, with all the apps functioning in order to determine if you really want to install this on your computer. And after you try it, there is no doubt you will want to install it. I am working on a customized live CD which will include all TheKlassen approved apps and changes. When this is finished I will include a link right here to the torrent file so you can compute the way TheKlassen does.
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