Thread: Ubuntu

Linux has been around for a very long time now and being opensource, people have modified it to their needs. So, clearly there are literally hundreds of distributions and few very of these distributions have made it big. There have been distributions such as Red Hat, Mandrake, Open5U5E that have been around for a really long time and have been extremely successful in their own way. Ubuntu is one distribution which came out in the middle of nowhere and created huge waves Today, it's easily the most well known Linux distribution around. It's well known for being easy to use and even simpler to install.

Ubuntu is ideally for people who are used to Windows and want to tryout Linux. Everything has been toned down to be as simple as possible. Using it doesn't require you need to know a lot of commands. There is a similar amount of flexibility available. Usually, people who start with Ubuntu slowly move on to other distributions. The company that funds and runs Ubuntu is Canonical Ltd. There are also other projects that the company undertakes. These are Launchpad - an online development site with collaboration features built in. There have been many smaller branches from Ubuntu itself. Kubuntu and Xubuntu are two such branches that run on KDE and XFCE, respectively. There's also Edubuntu, which is a Linux distribution that has been focussed at educational packages.

There is also a separate version of Ubuntu called LTS or Long Term Support. This is usually made for servers and there will be updates for the next few years. Even PC vendors have started shipping Ubuntu on their desktops.