n01getsout

Ubuntu quickly became the most popular Linux distribution for several reasons: they adopted a six month release schedule, they focus on ease of use and installation without sacrificing freedom, and they built their own custom tools to make managing and upgrading the system very easy. They will even send you a completely free CD in the mail without any shipping cost. Ubuntu now includes a way to install itself within a Windows partition, which allows you to try Ubuntu without modifying the partition layout of your hard drive. Ubuntu can also be ran directly off of the CD without touching the hard drive.

Ubuntu's six month release schedule allows it to remain relatively current and stable at the same time. Ubuntu has four categories of software based on whether or not the software is free (as defined by the Ubuntu licensing requirements) and whether or not it is supported (by Ubuntu itself).

Ubuntu was started by a billionaire from South Africa, Mark Shuttleworth. Canonical Ltd., Mark's company, makes money by selling commercial support for Ubuntu, although the community provides free support via forums, wikis, etc. Ubuntu has been a sucess in cooperative commercial ventures with hardware companies like Dell and software companies like InterVideo. Ubuntu is based off of Debian and inherits its package management software, APT and dpkg. There has been enough divergence though that it is not necessarily binary compatible with Debian.