Ubuntu GNU/Linux Claims 12 Million Users, Rising
Ubuntu Linux may grab more users once Lucid Lynx enters the scene.
Chris Kenyon, vice president for OEM at Canonical (which is the lead commercial sponsor for Ubuntu), told InternetNews.com (via LinuxPlanet) that 12 million people are using Ubuntu GNU/Linux as their primary operating system. The number is significantly higher than 2008's numbers, jumping up 4 million over the last two years. This may be a good indication that end-users are desperately seeking alternatives to Microsoft's Windows platform and Apple's Mac OS.
But the number of users may actually grow at an even faster rate once Ubuntu GNU/Linux incorporates "Lucid Lynx," a codename assigned to the Ubuntu 10.04 update. Scheduled for distribution by the end of the month, the update will overhaul Ubuntu GNU/Linux's interface and provide multiple new features on the desktop. Lucid Lynx will also be the first new Long-Term Supported (LTS) release in two years, providing three years of support for Ubuntu Desktop and five years for Ubuntu Server.
LinuxPlanet goes into more detail about the changes coming to the Ubuntu desktop, reporting that the traditionally brown-colored interface will be replaced with a "aubergine" purplish look. There will also be the new Me Menu, combining chat and social networks into one user interface button. This new feature will be compatible with Facebook, Digg, IRC, Google Talk, and more.
Kenyon also added that users still running the 8.04 LTS will probably upgrade to 10.04 LTS when it becomes available. The 8.04 release, codenamed "Hardy Heron," first made its debut back in April 2008.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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nevertell 10.04 owns. Now has native iphone support, no need to compile around with usbmuxd. I've been using beta since the end of march, no stability issues yet.Reply -
N.Broekhuijsen Love Ubuntu. absolutely love it. Running it on my netbook, and it has better support for all the ACPI stuff, buttons, hardware and gimmicky things than what Win7 does.Reply
can't wait for 10.04 just not looking forward to purlish look. oh well I'll just change it back to the "Dust" I have now. -
chomlee Good job Ubuntu. I have been using it as a server for over a year now and it is flawless. People complain about it but for most peoples daily use, Ubuntu is all you need. Anyway, its great to see they are getting even more support than anticipated.Reply -
chomlee REWORD! What I meant to say was that "Ubuntu has run Flawlessly as my server". Obviously Ubuntu as an OS is not flawless (none of them are)Reply -
micr0be i love ubuntu but always had a soft spot for fedora ... not as big as a community but that distro is remarkable.Reply
i used to have a separate pc as my home firewall using fedora :) -
SAL-e sliemOnly if the whole world used Linux...Some times I come out like Linux zealot, but I think it is bad idea for every one to use Linux. I hope you met if everyone was using open platforms, where data structures are open and well documented. Open standards like ODF, open APIs like OpenGL, OpenCL and etc. Where programmers are focusing on implementing the new ideas instead of building 'walls' or reverse engineering or worst reinventing the wheel again to ovoid some stupid patent. If this is what you mean using Linux I am all for it. There are other open platforms like FreeBSD, OpenSolaris and etc. that could use some help from everyone.Reply -
eddieroolz I like the look of 10.04, but moving the three window buttons to the left wasn't a good idea.Reply