Ubuntu

Gosh, first blog post. What do people write in their first blog post? I'm not sure but I'll start by introducing what i believe to be one of the best FREE operating systems available today. 


Ubuntu is the name of an operating system based on the Debian GNU/Linux distribution, which is named from an African concept, (also termed Ubuntu), which is an ethnic philosophy which focuses on people's allegiances and relations with each other. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been very much quoted for his definition which is, "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." Basically unity as a people and moving forward as such.


In furtherance of the "Ubuntu" philosophy, the operating system is provided free of charge, all you need to do is either download it or get it from an acquaintance. There is no piracy with Ubuntu as the developers wish it to be spread to as many people as possible. Quoting from the the main license used (which is the GNU General Public Licence) which, along with the GNU Lesser General Public License, explicitly declares that users are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change, develop and improve the software. 


The founder of this great operating system is a South African named, Mark Shuttleworth and his company, Canonical Ltd. The first release of Ubuntu was with the distro code named "Warty Warthog", also known as Ubuntu 4.10 which was released in October of 2004. (I shall explain about the code names and version numbers in the following blogs for your understanding). From then the distro has grown in leaps and bounds and is now an operating system you cannot ignore in the operating system end-user market share.


Just to get you in the right direction, if you want to try Ubuntu, visit this page http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download, where you will be presented with the latest Ubuntu release for your download. Instructions are given for how you can try it and if satisfied or more curious about it, installing it. Unfortunately it is not everyone who has access to friends who have Ubuntu CDs or internet bandwidth to download an Ubuntu image, which is exactly the reason why Ship It was introduced. The following link will get you to the Ship It! site https://shipit.ubuntu.com/ where you can put in your details and they will send you an Ubuntu disc. It may take four to six weeks to get to you but it will get to you, trust me on that. I got my first Ubuntu disc through them.


My blog is here for any help you may require.


On this page are numerous links you can use should you want help or want to read more about Ubuntu.


I hope this suffices as a first blog post and has helped any new readers gain a little bit of an insight into the world of Ubuntu.


I shall write again soon.


Rodemire
(15/08/10)