Ubuntu in General

About the Name

On hearing the name "Ubuntu" many people are curious about the meaning of the word.

Ubuntu is a South African ethic ideology focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other. The word comes from the Zulu and Xhosa languages. Ubuntu, pronounced "oo-BOON-too," is seen as a traditional African concept and is seen as one of the founding principles of the new republic of South Africa and connected to the idea of an African Renaissance.

A rough translation of Ubuntu's principles could be "humanity towards others." Another translation would be: "The belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity."

"A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed." -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

As a platform based on GNU/Linux, the Ubuntu distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu into the software world.

The Difference

There are many GNU/Linux distributions (e.g., Redhat, SuSE, Debian, Mandrake) but Ubuntu distinguishes itself as a different, better, kind of distribution.

Built on the solid and advanced base of Debian, Ubuntu aims to create a distribution that provides an up-to-date and coherent GNU/Linux system for desktop and server computing. Ubuntu includes a number of selected packages from the Debian distribution and is still based on its powerful package management system that allows easy installation and clean removal of program packages as well as automatically downloading extra packages to satisfy dependencies. Unlike most distributions that ship a wide range of software packages that may or may not be of quality, Ubuntu's list of packages is reduced to a number of important applications of high quality.

By focusing on quality, Ubuntu produces a robust and feature rich computing environment that is flexible for use in home and commercial environments. The project has more time to spend on the finer details and is able to release a version featuring the latest and greatest of today's software, every 6 months. Ubuntu ships with versions for i386 (Pentium CPUs / IBM-compatible PCs), AMD-64 (Hammer) and PowerPC (iBook/Powerbook, G4 and G5) architectures.

The Desktop

The default desktop environment for Ubuntu is GNOME, a leading Unix and Linux desktop suite and development platform.

Another leading Unix and Linux desktop is KDE. Ubuntu does not currently install the KDE desktop by default. The reason for this is that the project does not, at this stage, have the resources to put the same level of post-freeze work into the KDE packages as is put into the GNOME packages. However, you will find all the KDE packages you could want in the universe component of Ubuntu. We do eventually intend to give Ubuntu users a choice between these most excellent desktops. Work on this front is being done by the Kubuntu team.

OpenOffice.org

Ubuntu includes the excellent OpenOffice.org Business Productivity software suite. This includes a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation combination that is largely compatible with other widely used Office software. Read more about the OpenOffice.org project at OpenOffice.org.

The Cost

The Ubuntu project is entirely committed to the principles of open source software development; people are encouraged to use open source software, improve it and pass it on. This means that Ubuntu is and will always be free of charge. That's right, this is not a typo, Ubuntu does not and will never cost anything. There is no purchase price or license cost associated with Ubuntu.

However, this means more than just coming at zero cost - more like 'free' as in 'free speech.' Of course you don't need to pay a cent for the distribution (media and download costs excluded). You may use, modify and redistribute any part of open source software freely. Look at the source code if you are curious and contribute to a project if you like. But there is also nothing wrong with just using the software for yourself.

Backing and Support

Ubuntu is maintained by a quickly growing community. The project initiative is sponsored by Canonical Ltd. a holding company founded by Mark Shuttleworth. Canonical mainly works to provide support and consulting services around Ubuntu.

As an open source project, the primary level of support for the distribution comes in the form of its documentation and community. These forms of support are free for everyone. However, many people are not computer enthusiasts and need additional support. Furthermore, in many commercial environments these primary levels of support are inadequate and a more dedicated solution is required.

For such instances private individuals and commercial organizations can opt for commercial support, too. More information about paid support can be found on the Ubuntu Web Site.