An Introduction to Ubuntu
A free, stable, and secure operating system that you can try out risk-free? Open-source operating system Ubuntu comes at a tempting price and offers many of the advantages of popular commercial operating systems such as Windows and OS X. But do its potential drawbacks — manual installation and possible compatibility issues — outweigh its many benefits? We'll show you how Ubuntu stacks up to other operating systems and help you decide whether this increasingly popular solution is right for your nonprofit.
What Is Ubuntu?
Ubuntu is an operating system that is developed by a worldwide community of programmers as well as by employees of Ubuntu's commercial sponsor, Canonical. Ubuntu is based on the concept of free or open-source software, meaning that you do not pay any licensing fees for Ubuntu, and you can download, use, and share the operating system free of charge.
Ubuntu versus Windows and OS X
How does Ubuntu compare to the two best-known operating systems — Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X? The most obvious way is in the licensing and distribution terms. Ubuntu is "free software" — a term which is often misunderstood to mean only free of cost. While Ubuntu is free of cost, the term "free software" more accurately refers to the freedom to run the program for any purpose, to study how the program works and modify it to your needs, to redistribute copies, and to improve the program and release your improvements to the public (see the Free Software Foundation's Web site for a detailed definition).
Ubuntu also includes many of the programs used for everyday computing at no cost, unlike Windows and OS X. Some examples are:
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