FREE BEER! FREE SPEECH! FREE UBUNTU! (Ubuntu 8.04 LTS)

Member Name: Mozart321

Product:	Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
Date:	07/03/09 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free OS, great alternative to Windows, Free software, Live CD available.

Disadvantages: Need a little bit of programming knowledge to install

Ubuntu (pronounced oo-boon-too) Linux is a free, open-source alternative operating system (OS) to Microsoft Windows.

Free means free as in "free beer" (no cost) and "free speech" (can be modified by anyone who can program). The software can be downloaded from the Ubuntu website free of charge or ordered from them for free (CD & P&P included)

8.04 is a Long Term Support release, which means that is gets updates through to April 2011. The first digit (ie 8) is the year of the release, and the second two digits are the month of release.

I have installed this operating system on my desktop PC and also my Samsung NC10 netbook.

When I first thought about installing them, I used a so-called "live-CD" (on usb for the netbook). Using the live-CD, you can experience the operating system with no risk to your current operating system. That is, it doesn't install unless you ask it to, but you can run straight off of the CD (or USB). 8.04 can also be run from within Windows.

Most of the software available for Linux is free of charge, including a host of programs which are installed at time of installation. With 8.04, you get the following as default:

FIREFOX WEB BROWSER
I am sure most people who are reading this will be aware of Firefox, an excellent alternative to Internet Explorer on Windows and the best browser on Ubuntu.

OPEN OFFICE .ORG
Is fully compatible with any Microsoft Office documents that you may have, and include the following (with the Microsoft Office equivalents in brackets). Writer (Word), Calc (Excel), Impress (PowerPoint), Base (Access) & Draw (a drawing program).

Many other programs (including games) are installed by default, with a seemingly unending list of others that you can install. More programs are easy to install, simply go to the equivalent of the start menu then -> add/remove software - programs will install for free and quickly.

I dual boot with Ubuntu/Windows, which means that when I start my computer, I can choose which OS to run.

You do need a small amount of technical knowledge, but a lot of the decisions can be made for you on installation. I would recommend that people that are not very technical avoid installation to begin with and run the live CD.

Summary: Do try this, if you are not technically minded use the Live CD.

Variety of features:
Reliability:
User friendly: