About Ubuntu

What is Ubuntu? For this, let me refer to the Ubuntu documentation, which is produced here in verbatim:

Ubuntu is a South African ethical ideology focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other. The word comes from the Zulu and Xhosa languages. Ubuntu (pronounced "oo-BOON-too") is seen as a traditional African concept, is regarded as one of the founding principles of the new republic of South Africa and is connected to the idea of an African Renaissance.

A rough translation of the principle of Ubuntu is "humanity towards others". Another translation could be: "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity".

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.

-- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

As a platform based on Linux, the Ubuntu operating system brings the spirit of ubuntu to the software world.

Pretty interesting, eh? To begin with, one can refer to this documentation for details about:

• Why is it a free software?
• How is it different from other Linux distributions?

Now, I had a fair idea about it's background. Just to make sure that a newbie like me doesn't find the Windows-to-Linux transition repulsive, I checked out the internet for the most-popular (easiest-to-use) Linux distribution. Here is a random list of the 3 most-popular distributions.

1. Fedora
2. OpenSuse
3. Ubuntu
   

All was well.. until, I had to make a choice - Linux/Windows! Maybe, you'll need to as well! :-) My next post will delve into a few reasons why I chose Ubuntu over the others. Until then, here's something emulating the dilemma of Keanu Reeves' character, Neo, in The Matrix.


God speed,
Schumi