Ubuntu

by Mark Shuttleworth's Canonical Inc. out of Debian. Ubuntu was launched in 2004 as yet another attempt at a Desktop Linux for "everyone". It rose quickly, mostly as a result of word-of-mouth (really word-of-internet) and increasingly enthusiastic reviews in the specialist media. It continues to gain users drawn by simple and solid functionality that doesn't hide its Linux heritage and the power under the hood. While often touted as a "beginners' distro", Ubuntu has plenty of fans amongst the more savvy as well. After only three years, it is already at the centre of a small Galaxy of derivatives and rebuilds that includes alternative versions by Canonical itself in the form of Kubuntu (KDE), Xubuntu (Xfce) and Edubuntu (Gnome but with different applications suitable for schools and students). The Ubuntu forums are renowned as some of the most helpful and populous in the desktop distro world.

Yes, the next Ubuntu release is 8.04 -the "Hardy Heron". This will be a Long Term Support release, so if you want the certainty of three years of essential updates, this maybe the one you want. Regardless of its special LTS status, Hardy Heron introduces several new features and is highly anticipated by the Ubuntu community. You can get the beta now or wait till the final.

Country of origin:	Isle of Mann - Canonical's HQ (Shuttleworth himself is a South African based in London)
Default DE:	Gnome - but Kubuntu is KDE and Xubuntu Xfce and there is a server version (no gui)
Current version:	7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon". 6.06 "Dapper Drake" is the current Long Term Support version but it will be superceded by 8.04 "Hardy Heron" in April 2008 (see countdown above!)
Based on:	Debian - both the stable and sid branches
Homepage:	http://ubuntu.com/
Supported platforms:	32 and 64 bit official versions - with PPC, i586 and Xbox versions available
Package manager:	apt - Synaptic and Add/Remove installed by default
Package format:	.deb
Screenshots:	http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/desktopedition
Download Page:	http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
Packages:	http://packages.ubuntu.com/
Forums:	http://ubuntuforums.org/