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I love Ubuntu for many reasons. Several of them involve the fact that Ubuntu is open source (but Linux in general is that way) while others involve the fact that Ubuntu is striving for a certain aesthetically pleasing appearance that Apple has managed to control for so long.

If someone says that they want a Mac computer and you ask them why then their response (in general) will almost always be that they like the way that it looks. For some people it’s the way that the hardware looks with the white case and backlight feature keyboard, but for others it’s the way the operating system itself looks.

These are the people who should really look into Ubuntu.

Ubuntu doesn’t make hardware and they don’t support a narrow branch of hardware devices the same way that Apple does, but they use a kernel that is supported by open source that allows the operating system to run and function on a variety of machines ranging from outdated 1994 computers to cutting edge 2008-9 computers.

That’s not an exact number so don’t take that literally, but to get the point across I mean to show that the Linux kernel support hardware of all types…even PPC (if you know what that means).

When most people think of Linux or even hear the word Linux they think of the command prompt:

While Linux can be run in command line only mode and be (at most times) more powerful than even Windows, this is not the Linux that is around today.

Ubuntu, which is a specific distribution of Linux — meaning that it’s based on Linux, but looks different than other versions of Linux that you can try, is one of the most user friendly versions of Linux that you could download and install on your computer to date.

Ubuntu has gone out of it’s way to include the latest and greatest that the open source community has to offer and has even simplified the interactiveness of the operating system in ways that only make other distrobutions (explained above) jealous and annoyed.

Some versions of Linux will not be so friendly as to even have a preinstalled instant messenger that (by default) keeps a log of instant message from your friends. This means that when you open the chat window and start a conversation with a friend you can see the history and see what you have talked about in the past. This also means that you can look up what was said even when you are not talking to that particular contact.

This is a very simple change and a very simple idea, but it makes all the difference in making a product intuitive and easy for the end user to use and it works just as you would “expect” it to.

Ubuntu also, only recently, has gone to great lengths to make the appearance of the operating system more appealing to new-comers. With a new theme (most of the good ones will need to be downloaded by downloading the community themes) they are trying to make the platform more comfortable and less confusing.

Linux in general has come a long way since it was first born, but with the help of Ubuntu it is now coming into the mainstream.

If you haven’t looked into it before, you should go to Ubuntu.com, download the operating system, burn it to a CD and install it today! It will not erase your already installed version of Windows or Mac. After installing it, you will be prompted upon starting your computer to start up in Windows or Mac (which ever you already had installed) or Ubuntu so you can keep all of your files that you had before and still install Ubuntu!

I recommend Ubuntu to anyone who is looking for an alternative or curious. If you have any questions (anything at all), feel free to ask!

I currently have Ubuntu and Windows Vista installed on this computer at the same time, but I only boot up into Vista about once a month and that’s only to install updates. Ubuntu is amazing and if you give it a chance then you will quickly find that you’re wasting money by paying for operating systems such as Windows and Mac when you can get the same quality and sometimes more by  installing Ubuntu or other variants of Linux for free!