Ubuntu

= Ubuntu = toc Widely known and used as an operating system that is open source and available to individual and business users via downloads from [|the company's website]. Ubuntu, the corporation, also provides desktop, server and cloud computing options for businesses and organizations of all scopes and sizes.

First released by Linux in 2004 and now funded primarily by Canonical, Ltd., the Ubuntu operating system is installed on computers with many open source applications and software, including:
 * OpenOffice (an open source office suite)
 * Firefox (an open source web browser)
 * Empathy (an instant messaging client)

The Ubuntu operating system rivals that of Windows and Mac OS, providing support to more than 50 languages and being compatible with some of the same software (browsers, chat clients, image editors, etc.) or the equivalent of that primarily used with Windows and Mac operating systems.

Ubuntu Users and Uses
The Ubuntu software is used by more than 20 million persons worldwide. Some of these persons are individuals. However, many of these persons are staff, contractors or clients of different types of organizations and businesses. Some of these organizations include The Wikimedia Foundation, Qualcomm and other information organizations, including public libraries, such as the Howard County Library System in Columbia, Maryland.

These organizations and persons using the Ubuntu products and services do so for a variety of reasons. Paramount, among these reasons, perhaps is that Ubuntu, which allows organizations, small and large, for profit and not-for-profit, to save considerable amounts of money that might have otherwise been used to pay for more expensive licenses and use rights of proprietary, closed source software.

Ubuntu's business options (desktop, server and cloud) allow organizations to save money and exhibit more flexibility than they might if they were reliant on other options.

First Impressions and Future Innovation
Compatibility and firmware issues reported (such as too many similarities with Windows) with earlier versions such as 2008’s Ubuntu 7.04 have been nullified and/or addressed with regular updates and are reportedly non-existent with the latest version, Ubuntu 11.10.

Ubuntu also offers businesses such advanced computing options as Enterprise Cloud, software for creating reusable private clouds without the usual licensing fees.

[|In an August 2011 interview with PC Quest], Gerry Carr, Director of Communications for Canonical, reaffirmed Ubuntu’s global user base by stating that Ubuntu has experienced “over 100%” growth in India. In the same interview, Carr also makes a compelling case for future consumer based Linux derived PCs, smart phones and tablets.