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Ubuntu (official IPA Pronunciation (oo-BOON-too)) is a predominantly desktop-oriented Linux Distribution , based on Debian GNU/Linux but with a stronger focus on Usability , regular releases, and ease of installation. Ubuntu is sponsored by Canonical Ltd , owned by South Africa n billionaire entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth ; the name of the distribution comes from the Africa n concept of '' Ubuntu '' which may be rendered roughly as "humanity toward others", though other meanings have been suggested.1 The most recent version, Ubuntu 7.04 ''(Feisty Fawn )'', was released on April 19 2007 . Version 7.10 ''(Gutsy Gibbon )'' is scheduled for release on October 18 2007 .2 Ubuntu aims to use only Free Software to provide an up-to-date yet stable operating system for the average user. Kubuntu and Xubuntu are official subprojects of the Ubuntu project, aiming to bring the KDE and Xfce Desktop Environment s to the Ubuntu core. Edubuntu is an official subproject "designed for school environments, and should be equally suitable for kids to use at home."3 HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS Ubuntu's first release was on , Xandros , Linspire , Progeny and Libranet , many of which relied on closed-source add-ons as part of their business model—Ubuntu has stayed closer to Debian's philosophy and uses Free ('' Libre '') software most of the time.5 Ubuntu packages have generally been based on packages from Package format and APT / Synaptic to manage installed packages. Ubuntu has contributed all changes directly and immediately back to Debian, rather than announcing them only at release time, although Debian and Ubuntu packages are not necessarily 'binary compatible' with each other.6 Many Ubuntu developers are also maintainers of key packages within Debian itself. However, Ian Murdock , the founder of Debian, criticised Ubuntu for incompatibilities between its packages and those of Debian, saying that Ubuntu had diverged too far from Debian Sarge to remain compatible.7 There are plans for a branch codenamed Grumpy Groundhog. It will be a permanently unstable development and testing branch, pulling the source directly out of the Revision Control of the various programs and applications that are shipped as part of Ubuntu. This will allow power users and upstream developers to test up-to-the-minute versions of individual programs as they would appear if packaged for the distribution today, without needing to build packages themselves; it will be able to provide early warning of build failures on various architectures.8 It is intended that Grumpy Groundhog should merge with Debian Unstable every six months.9 Grumpy Groundhog has not been made available to the public yet. Ubuntu is currently funded by Canonical Ltd . On July 8 , 2005 , Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical Ltd announced the creation of the Ubuntu Foundation and provided an initial funding of US$10 million. The purpose of the foundation is to ensure the support and development for all future versions of Ubuntu, but as of 2006, the foundation remains dormant. Mark Shuttleworth describes the foundation as an emergency fund in case Canonical's involvement ends.10 On 1 May 2007 , Dell announced they would sell desktops and laptops with Ubuntu installed and on 24 May 2007 these computers went on sale in North America.11 They also stated that customers would be able to buy support for Ubuntu through Dell, with the support coming from Canonical. On 8 August 2007 these computers went on sale in the UK, France and Germany as well.12 During July 2007 at Ubuntu Live 2007, Mark Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 8.04 (out April 2008) would be the next LTS (Long Term Support) release. He also added that Canonical is committed to releasing a new LTS version every two years. FEATURES Ubuntu focuses on Usability ,13 including the widespread use of the Sudo tool for administrative tasks.14 The Ubiquity installer15 allows installing Ubuntu to the hard disk from within the Live CD environment without the need for restarting the computer prior to installation. Ubuntu furthermore emphasises Accessibility and Internationalization , to reach as many people as possible. As of version 5.04, UTF-8 is the default Character Encoding . The default appearance of the user interface in the current version is called ''Human'' and is characterised by shades of brown and orange. Besides standard system tools and other small applications, Ubuntu comes installed with the software: OpenOffice.org , the internet browser Firefox , the instant messenger Pidgin (formerly known as Gaim), and the Raster Graphics Editor GIMP . Several lightweight Card and Puzzle games are included. Ubuntu has all ports closed by default adding to security, although some people choose to run a firewall in order to keep tabs of incoming and outgoing connections. Ubuntu offers a full feature set that works straight from the standard install, but nonetheless fits on a single CD. The Live CD allows users to see whether their hardware is compatible before installation to the hard disk. The live CD is then used to install Ubuntu.16 CDs are mailed free to anyone who requests them, and CD images are available for download. The Ubuntu live CD requires 256 megabytes of RAM, and once installed on the hard disk, Ubuntu needs four gigabytes of hard-disk space.17 An alternate install disc using the standard Debian-installer in text mode is available for download only, and is aimed at people with lower system specifications, computer dealers selling systems already installed with Ubuntu, and for complex Partitioning including the use of LVM or RAID .18 With the release of Ubuntu 7.04 in April 2007, the Ubuntu installation process changed slightly. It now supports migration from Windows.19 The new migration tool imports Windows users' bookmarks, desktop background (wallpaper), and settings for immediate use in the Ubuntu installation (not the live CD). For Ubuntu there are tools available to create a specific installation CD/DVD. With Wubi , it is possible to install Ubuntu on a Windows partition. It also makes use of the migration tool which imports Windows users' configurations. PACKAGE CLASSIFICATION AND SUPPORT Ubuntu divides all software into four components,20 to reflect differences in licensing and level of support available. Packages are assigned to components as follows: "Free" software here includes only that which meets the Ubuntu license requirements,21 which correspond roughly to the Debian Free Software Guidelines . There is one caveat for Main however; it "also may contain binary Firmware and selected Fonts (which are used by free components of Main) that cannot be modified without permission from their authors" so long as their "redistribution is unencumbered." Non-free software is usually unsupported (Multiverse), but some exceptions (Restricted) are made for very important non-free software, such as non-free device drivers, without which users might be prevented from running Ubuntu on their system, particularly binary-only Graphics Card Drivers . The level of support is more limited than for ''main'', since the developers may not have access to the Source Code . It is intended that ''Main'' and ''Restricted'' should contain all software needed for a general-use Linux system. Alternative programs for the same tasks and programs for specialised applications are placed in ''Universe'' and ''Multiverse''. Beyond the official repositories is ''Ubuntu Backports'',22 which is an officially recognised project to Backport newer versions of certain software that are available only in unstable versions of Ubuntu. The repository is not comprehensive; it mostly consists of user-requested packages, which are approved if they meet quality guidelines. AVAILABILITY OF PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE Ubuntu has a certification system for third party software 23. Ubuntu-certified proprietary software should work well in Ubuntu. However, many programs familiar to users of non-free operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows , are incompatible and are not Ubuntu-certified. Some proprietary software that does not limit distribution is included in Ubuntu's ''multiverse'' component. Some examples of software not distributed by Ubuntu include:
RELEASES Each release has both a code name and a version number. The version number is based on the year and month of release. For example, the very first release of Ubuntu, 4.10, was released on October 20 , 2004 .24 Below is a list of previous and planned releases.
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