Canonical Ubuntu Review

Overall Rating

The easiest Linux to get running, great product if you are new to linux. Excellent userbase.

Not every device supported (e.g Most lexmark printers), some software not avaliable.

If you are new to linux, this is the best way to go about it. It has many ways in which you can give it a go, from either a live CD which doesnt touch the hard drive or mess up any existing installs, the actual install to hard drive that will work alongside windows, and finally a windows installer that makes it even easier.

Ubuntu has a nice sleek looking desktop with plenty of features particularly the wow effects just like vista, it also features many new useful items such as categorized menus for the system, locations and applications; so finding what you want is very easy.

Useability is also easier than windows, for example if you were new to computing and wanted to play music you'd have to find the player named windows media, inw hich some may not think of it as a music player; however in ubuntu its applications then music, then in that menu you can be sure that it is a music player you are opening, as you have just opened the music subcategory.

Mostly the devices are plug and play and require no driver installs, for example plugging in a HP Deskjet will be readily avaliable within a few secconds, as would be the same with a USB flash disk. Ubuntu notify's you of a successful installation.

If you are unsure of something then the great user forums and the ubuntu guide wiki clearly explains what you will need to do to get the tasks you require done, and to be perfectly fair, most of the important software is already bundled within the OS. These are:

Openoffice.org - Office Suite
RhythmBox - music player/manager like itunes
Pidgin - Instant messenger that supports nearly all protocols
Firefox - Internet browser
Evolution - Email Client
Gimp - Photo Editor like photoshop
Xsane - image scanner
and tons more.

Also on top of that, installing programs is actually quite quick, a simple command of:

sudo apt-get install

Will go fetch the program online, download it, and install it then configure it ready for use automatically, no user input required.

The other plus side to ubuntu is that it is a linux distribution, whichis naturally unix. So this means that immediately viral threats are very low. a few reasons being that the system area is locked and needs root access to change, and also most software needs the user password to gain access, giving you full control of whats happening to the system.

for any system it is much more refined and stable, updates happen automatically and again you have control over this as it needs your password to install updates. As it is an opensource operating system, many bugs can be erradicated by normal users and submitted to the userbase where it will be made avaliable as an update, and in effect this means that more problems are solved, not that there are many and this then provides a more stable functioning system.

Finally if a new release becomes avalibale, then the update manager can seamlessly update it automatically for you, once you have agreed to it and entered your password, a very good reasona your configuration stays the same and nothing gets altered, except the new things that get added.

For such an easy way to step into linux, its worth giving ubuntu a try, its a very freindly operating system and you don't have to be technical minded to use it, as their slogan says "Linux For Human Beings".

Hope this review was helpful for many