Thanks to a wonderful new open source tool called Wubi, downloading and installing the latest version of Ubuntu Linux is now a snap for Windows users. It’s a pity the Ubuntu development team still hasn’t taken the hint with its latest release, Hardy Heron.

This article is not about critiquing the inner workings of Ubuntu 8.04. I’ll leave that to our specialist Linux reviewers. For all I know, Hardy Heron is the fastest, most stable and feature rich version of Ubuntu to date. The problem is for Windows users that means little if they can’t easily make the transition. And after all this time, they still can’t!

Now we have version 8.04 (Hardy Heron) and even though I’m still only running a Release Candidate, installation and getting up and running with Ubuntu has never been easier. Wubi, a free open source tool, enables users to download and install Ubuntu in one hit, directly from Windows. No more burning a downloaded ISO image to CD. No more booting from the CD to install Ubuntu. No more disk partitioning decisions. No more Grub boot manager.

Once you download and run Wubi, whichever version of Ubuntu you choose is downloaded and installed in a file under Windows that works the same way as an Ubuntu Live CD – except it runs faster and it saves changes. Because it is installed under Windows, it can also be uninstalled in the same way as any other Windows application.

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Ubuntu 8.04, dubbed Hardy Heron, is out this week and Linuxophiles worldwide are excited. It’s not hard to see why, but is this really the much-fabled year of the Linux desktop? Will the Heron match the unmet hype of predecessor Gutsy Gibbon? And let me tell you just how spectacular and cool Wubi is.

Ubuntu 8.04’s Wubi makes for universal desktop