Why did you choose Ubuntu?

[98cwitr]

I was a Fedora guy for awhile, but when 9.04 came out with better WLAN support I switched and havent looked back. Why do you choose Ubuntu (or Kubuntu...etc.) over other distros?

[dino99]

mainly coz of user friendly distro and great and active community, greats forums ...

[Soul-Sing]

I do not choose for just one distro, i use several ones, just because I am curious and want to learn from the way they are build. Ubuntu comes with a great support and a "superorganized" infrastructure( launchpad), and an active community.

[Martje_001]

Clear goals
Active community
Testing new software (own software) is a piece of cake, since everything is stable; so if anything goes wrong it *must* be your program :D
Great philosophy

[BitJunkie]

Back when I was starting to investigate Linux, Ubuntu was the only distro that worked _flawlessly_ with my old hardware (I think it was Dapper). No tweaking, no modifying...it just worked. And if it works, why change it?

[philinux]

Thread moved to Community Cafe.

[edit]

Forgot to say why ubuntu. = these forums.

[gnomeuser]

The technical boards statement on Mono and the fact that Ubuntu has what is very likely the best Mono packaging available.

[kaldor]

Windows doesn't work for me and never has. Macs are great, but are too limited in many ways. Ubuntu I can download for free and use on desktops and servers. Of course you can do it with many other distros and OSes, but when time is a factor I don't have time to mess with certain things or bugs that I encountered with many other distros. Luckily, Ubuntu works without ANY hardware problems on all of my machines. I don't have to configure anything with wireless, drivers etc when I install Ubuntu. It may not be the best distro, but right now it's what works best and most efficiently for me.

I'd like to dive into BSD and Solaris though, but there are things blocking me from it. For one, BSD hates my laptop (Free, Open, Net). OpenSolaris now seems to have halted thanks to Oracle. I love Fedora, but I can't risk having my work computers go to crap after an update (it happened before!!).

I used Mint for a while at one point, but there were certain things I didn't like. It felt like I was a bit too advanced to be using Mint.

It's not that I cannot DO things with Linux, it's that I don't always have the time to. Ubuntu "just works" and never fails on me. Windows always failed, and I cannot afford a new Mac every few years.

Looks like Linux will always be my main OS.

[ssam]

because its PowerPC port was years ahead of yellowdog linux.

[Frogs Hair]

A simple desire to learn about Linux, and Ubuntu was also the most visible on the web.
Wubi gave me a chance to try Ubuntu before attempting to dual boot an operating system
that I had never used before .

[beetleman64]

Quite simply I need to get things done, and Ubuntu is the best OS for that.

[cmcanulty]

The great leadership, community, and usability. I love Ubuntu.

[alket]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIrCFrFpHvw

[pelle.k]

1. Because more often than not, it just works.
2. Because more often than not, it looks fairly professional.
Of all the distros i've tried, ubuntu scores the highest on the two points above. I'm not saying it's perfect, but i can work with that.

[diesch]

I've been a long-time Debian user and switched to Ubuntu when Debian 3.1 "sarge" still wasn't released at the end of 2004 as I wanted shorter, predictable release cycles.

[oldsoundguy]

Had been attempting to use Linux instead of Windows since Mandrake 4 .. tried lots of builds including Fedora. Some worked, but not well and none worked without an inordinate amount of time cutting and pasting in terminal.
Two friends suggested Ubuntu 4 years ago.
It worked out of the box with the only issue to install the NVidia restricted drivers.
Have not looked back and now 98% of my computing is done on Ubuntu. (I do have a separate XP box for running my photography as many of the programs for same are Windows only and will not work in Wine.)

[Doctor Mike]

Sorry if the upsets you, but why do we have questions like this?

There's no reason why, even an old system, can't run multiple distributions at the same time.

I think we will either end up with a cross platform (unified) OS or we'll all be running multiple OS's for multiple wants, needs, and or desires...

And when I say unified, I mean native support across the board... It's being done as we speak, in a manner of speaking...

[Dragonbite]

Because after Gentoo, I decided I wanted a distro that would be easy to install, setup and maintain. What I've ended up getting is
a distro that is easy to install, setup and maintain. I can basically be up and running fine in about or less than an hour

a distro that de-complicates some activities such as installing Flash and the like, using the familiar "Install Missing Plugin" which still allows me to install the open source alternative without shoving it down my throat

looks, acts and feels like a complete operating system on par with Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows

strong community

if you read any blogs, how-to's or reviews of applications chances are they will be written from the Ubuntu point of view, screenshots will have the familiar brown/orange (and soon purple :lolflag:) and will have binaries compiled for Ubuntu (Fedora and Red Hat comes in #2)

the majority of people I assist with Linux user or have heard of Ubuntu (followed by Red Hat/Fedora). Knowing how to do things in it makes helping them so much easier and puts their minds at ease

works on most (of my) systems without much effort

the company behind it is innovative, with Launchpad, Landscape, UbuntuOne and the coming UbuntuOne music store plus UNR

the company behind it is getting support from different companies and pushing into territory Linux users only dreamed of years ago such as pre-installed on systems from a Major Manufacturer and not being dropped in less than 6 months


And for the record, I do fool around with Fedora and openSUSE as well as Windows XP (at work) and Windows 7 (at home) so my perspective of Ubuntu is not while wearing blinders.

[Irihapeti]

I would have to say, "Because it was there." That is, I was able to buy a magazine with the Ubuntu .iso file included. I was on a dialup at the time, so downloading .isos wasn't really an option.

I've kept it because I like it. These forums is a fair part of the reason.

[ProNux]

I started to study Linux by myself about one and a half years ago and I think Ubuntu is one, if not, have the most complete documentation and community support.

Actually I only discovered Ubuntu from my friend who gave me an original copy of Dapper version.

[Dragonbite]

Oh, how can I forget.

When I did not have access to broadband and was deciding which distro to go with I heard Ubuntu would ship me a CD for free. I was skeptical but did it anyway. Surprising (to me) I got it in less than the advertised time.

I had the chance to "try before I buy" and to even get it when I otherwise would not have had access (downloading over dial-up that shares with the home phone is NOT very fun).

[Rainulf]

I tried Fedora too. The problem is, it's not really user-friendly. It's mainly made for people who "likes to mess around".. =) Then I tried Ubuntu and everything just works. Not to mention they give free DVDs yo!

[Doctor Mike]

Oh, how can I forget.

When I did not have access to broadband and was deciding which distro to go with I heard Ubuntu would ship me a CD for free. I was skeptical but did it anyway. Surprising (to me) I got it in less than the advertised time.

I had the chance to "try before I buy" and to even get it when I otherwise would not have had access (downloading over dial-up that shares with the home phone is NOT very fun).
Sorry Dragonbite, I forget sometimes that broadband is not a universal thing. Funny, it wasn't that many years ago I was trying to download a slackware distro on dialup. I will try to keep my thoughts more universal... though I'm getting old and I keep looking for the full solultion... Though, I think the future is in unified systems (like HTML was meant to be on the net), but wonder if Ubuntu will be willing to embrace the kind(s) of change that may be ahead.

[krodrigue]

For me it was the fact that I could run a server with out restrictions, and still have a very nice desktop.

All the free software is a nice bonus.

[Greymatter]

It's the philosophy and the desire to move away from Windows. Ubuntu made it an easy decision.

[Shazaam]

My progression...
SuSe in the 90's- lost interest.
Knoppix (Linux-Tag version) in 2004- kde? No installer (found out how later)? Lost interest.
Found Ubuntu Dapper in 2006. WOW! It Works! Then I found the forums.
Stuck with it since; I only keep XP around for the wife plus some gaming. I have distro-hopped a lot but I always come back. The only other distro that has held my interest is SimplyMepis (or Mepis for short).

[Dragonbite]

Sorry Dragonbite, I forget sometimes that broadband is not a universal thing. Funny, it wasn't that many years ago I was trying to download a slackware distro on dialup. I will try to keep my thoughts more universal... though I'm getting old and I keep looking for the full solultion... Though, I think the future is in unified systems (like HTML was meant to be on the net), but wonder if Ubuntu will be willing to embrace the kind(s) of change that may be ahead.

Thankfully I've gotten broadband since, but dial-up is one reason I was with Gentoo for a while, since I only downloaded what I was using.

I do like the "full solution" approach Ubuntu has.

I also forgot, I like how easy it is to backup/restore Ubuntu. Since a new version comes out every 6 months, I don't bother the whole OS except what I've changed.

Instead, I save the list of installed applications and repositories off my /home folder (/home/backups) and then backup the entire /home partition (separate partition).

So when it's time to restore, or upgrade as will be the case with 10.04, I install in the root partition, point to the /home partition (and don't format) and then pull in the list of installed applications into Synaptic and click Apply. Now the programs I've installed are re-installed without me having to remember them all, and my configuration files are (usually) happily ready when I open the program the first time.

It's not perfect, but it's not bad at all.

[gnupipe]

Because Ubuntu is so widely used.

[gnupipe]

because after gentoo, i decided i wanted a distro that would be easy to install, setup and maintain. What i've ended up getting is

a distro that is easy to install, setup and maintain. I can basically be up and running fine in about or less than an hour
a distro that de-complicates some activities such as installing flash and the like, using the familiar "install missing plugin" which still allows me to install the open source alternative without shoving it down my throat
looks, acts and feels like a complete operating system on par with mac os x or microsoft windows
strong community
if you read any blogs, how-to's or reviews of applications chances are they will be written from the ubuntu point of view, screenshots will have the familiar brown/orange (and soon purple :lolflag:) and will have binaries compiled for ubuntu (fedora and red hat comes in #2)
the majority of people i assist with linux user or have heard of ubuntu (followed by red hat/fedora). Knowing how to do things in it makes helping them so much easier and puts their minds at ease
works on most (of my) systems without much effort
the company behind it is innovative, with launchpad, landscape, ubuntuone and the coming ubuntuone music store plus unr
the company behind it is getting support from different companies and pushing into territory linux users only dreamed of years ago such as pre-installed on systems from a major manufacturer and not being dropped in less than 6 months


and for the record, i do fool around with fedora and opensuse as well as windows xp (at work) and windows 7 (at home) so my perspective of ubuntu is not while wearing blinders.

+1

[babybean]

It was the free cd believe it or not. I had broadband, just my cd burner didn't work... it did happen to work in ubuntu though.

[wojox]

I didn't, Ubuntu chose me.

[Dekrus]

A simple desire to learn about Linux, and Ubuntu was also the most visible on the web.
Wubi gave me a chance to try Ubuntu before attempting to dual boot an operating system
that I had never used before .

seconded.:KS

[Roasted]

I've tried a ton of distros for extended periods of time. Ubuntu is just the best bet. Great leadership and it's evolving in a way I admire. It's easy to use, however, if I want to get to the nitty gritty of something I still have those advanced tools we all expect from a Linux distro. It's very versatile. Plus these forums are a tremendous bonus.

[cgroza]

Because my Windows kept BSODing every 2 months.

[98cwitr]

but why Ubuntu and not another distro? I did have a lot of friends recommend Ubuntu over Fedora and openSUSE, but I went to Fedora for a while just based on aesthetics and the name :)

[barney385]

but why Ubuntu and not another distro? I did have a lot of friends recommend Ubuntu over Fedora and openSUSE, but I went to Fedora for a while just based on aesthetics and the name :)

Before I made the switch from MS, I did my homework and ended up at Distro-watch.

The number #1 distro at the time was Ubuntu, so I jumped in.

I was definitely fed up with MS for various reasons and I've never been happier since making the switch.

[Phrea]

Convenience and the community, mostly the latter.

[kvarley]

Great way to start using linux and was the most "stable" at the time