Three Years with Ubuntu

I've been perfectly happy with Ubuntu for the last three years or so.  Right now on my production computer, I'm running 10.10, Maverick Meerkat Beta.  The final version will be released three days from now, but I upgraded as soon as the alpha product went to beta. There have been only the minor adjustments one would expect with a beta product--but no crashes or major fixes. I tested the alpha on a few PCs, and found it a well-rounded and well-developed product.

The Ubuntu interface is slick and polished, and the applications for the default installation are well chosen.  There are a few changes I made just because I have been used to certain favorite applications and interface styles, but nothing I would demand in a new install, for instance, I like the VLC media player because it is cross-platform, and I like the Filezilla FTP application.  If I were a new user switching from OSX, XP, or Win7, the learning curve would be relatively flat.  Having given the Ubuntu desktop to others on refurbished computers, I have had primarily positive remarks.  Even those who are new to computing have found the Ubuntu Gnome Desktop with default applications to be simple and intuitive to learn.

Coming up here in about two weeks, one of my classes will be wiping the hard drives of the classroom computers and reloading from scratch.  I fully expect to find very few difficulties. The main difference between this installation and a home installation is that here, the classroom computers are bound to the network.

I really feel that considering the high level of development of the new distribution, there is no reason not to run Ubuntu Linux at home or in a business environment. There are numerous reasons why it is superior to either Windows and Mac OSX, for instance, on a PC, the installation with all the necessary applications included takes less than half an hour, and any individual can do it easily. My vote--thumbs up for Ubuntu.