This is the Ubuntu 8.04, the latest release of the popular Linux distribution.
The default desktop, with all of the main included applications as icons. Ubuntu comes out of the box with a fully-featured office suite (OpenOffice.org) that can read and write Office documents, Firefox 3, An e-mail client compatible with MS Exchange (Evoution), and a package manager with over 20,000 high-quality applications that can be downloaded and installed with one click, for free. It can also read and write from Windows installations seamlessly. A free client for many types of instant messaging (MSN, AIM, etc.) is included, as is support for all kinds of file archives. A PDF reader much faster than Adobe's is included.
That one click can get you media player compatibility plugins with all major file formats and DVDs; Wine which can run many popular Windows applications such as World of Warcraft, Microsoft Office, Half-Life 2, Adobe Photoshop, iTunes and many others with no Windows license and no slowdown; and a small appliaction (smbfs) which can seamlessly access Windows file sharing. Support for Java, Flash, Skype and Microsoft fonts is also available.
Ubuntu 8.04 comes with a vast array of graphical effects for windows if you want them, such as a desktop cube with four desktops (like Mac OS X Spaces, but Linux did it first), an Exposé-like arrangement, transparent windows, wobbly windows and painting with fire. Most or all of these effects can run smoothly on old laptops with integrated graphics, unlike Vista's Aero.
If you want a Mac-like dock, it takes about ten seconds to add one with the one-click package manager.
The wobbly windows (obviously this looks blocky because it's a static image).
The latest Firefox 3 and Thunderbird 2 are shown here. Both can be extended with thousands of free add-ons availible from the Mozilla website, such as a personal organiser system for Thunderbird or ad-blocking with Firefox.
This is OpenOffice.org, the default office suite which has almost all of MS Office's functionality including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Equation Editor and Visio, for free. It supports the ODF standard while also supporting .doc, .xls, .ppt files. OpenOffice.org 3, available in September, will support .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .accdb files and also support modifying PDF files.
Ubuntu also has several free games available for download. This is Nexuiz, a fully-featured 3D online FPS deathmatch game with modern graphical effects and full OpenGL acceleration. There are also free RTS, racing, puzzle and RPG games availible using the one-click download-and-install, and of course using Wine you can play many popular Windows games on Ubuntu, some at faster speeds than Windows itself.
This is the package manager in action. This also serves as the update manager for the system, providing not just security and OS updates but also updating anything else you've installed if it becomes available, automatically. If 20,000 packages isn't enough, there are numerous free repositories of more applications on the internet which can be easily added; these also auto-update if you want.
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So far I've talked about how compatible Ubuntu is with Windows, now I'll give some major benefits!
- Ubuntu is proven to be more secure than Windows by many studies because of its better security model
- Ubuntu is not affected by any Windows viruses, trojans, spyware or adware. There is not a single extant virus for Linux.
- Ubuntu runs well on computers that can't handle Windows XP, never mind Vista. These computers can even run the fancy graphical effects described above.
- It's free and so is every major application for it. The entire OS is updated with completely new everything every 6 months, also for free. If you don't upgrade, support is provide for 18 months to 5 years based on situation.
- Problems you have can be solved by friendly and knowledgeable volunteers on official forums, or by the comprehensive help files, or you can pay for dedicated technical support by Ubuntu's developers.
- Translated into more than 55 languages
- XP users: it has many "Vista-only" features such as fast desktop search, pretty graphical effects and application preloading like SuperFetch with Preload.
- XP/Vista users: it has many "Mac-only" features such as multiple desktops (Spaces), a dock if you want and a Time Machine clone.
...any many others.
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If you want to try Ubuntu 8.04 and you have an x86 or AMD64 system (Intel/AMD CPU), go to http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download and download the Desktop Edition. Burn the CD image to a CDand put it in the drive. Select "Demo and Full Installation" and your PC will reboot to Ubuntu. You can install it then or try it out from the CD without modifying your hard drive. PM me with any questions or problems you may have.
