Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a linux distribution. It is based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is released every six months, with long-term support (LTS) releases every two years. Ubuntu is developed by British company Canonical. Canonical provides security updates and support for each Ubuntu release, starting from the release date and until the release reaches its designated end-of-life. Canonical generates revenue through the sale of premium services related to Ubuntu and donations from those who download the Ubuntu software.
Current long-term support (LTS) releases are supported for five years, and are released every two years. Since the release of Ubuntu 6.06, every fourth release receives long-term support. The first LTS releases were supported for three years on the desktop and five years on the server; since Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, desktop support for LTS releases was increased to five years as well.
Ubuntu packages are based on packages from Debian's unstable branch, which are synchronised every six months. Both distributions use Debian's deb package format and package management tools. Debian and Ubuntu packages are not necessarily binary compatible with each other, however, so packages may need to be rebuilt from source to be used in Ubuntu.
Although Ubuntu is a distribution built on Debian, there are distributions that use Ubuntu as a base such as Kubuntu and Mint as two examples. Our Kubuntu and Ubuntu Linux Distribution Reference offers a comparison of features and configuration tips for each. Our popular Mint Linux Distribution Reference focuses on Mint as an alternative to Ubuntu which is highly recommended.
Canonical unveiled the Launchpad project hosting platform, but it did not release it under an open source license for four years. Unity became the default desktop in 11.04, or Natty Narwhal as an alternative for Gnome.
Like Microsoft, it is reported that Canonical now uses telemetry to spy on Ubuntu users. Ubuntu introduced an integration with Amazon when they started shipping Unity as a default desktop environment, and later, they added a reporting tool that collects sytem information and sends it back to Canonical. This sends unencrypted search requests to Amazon, for anything the users were looking for in the Unity dash. Further data collection is done by Ubuntu by default. Canonical claims that this is just hardware configurations and not personal user data.
Snapcraft is the latest and most significant problem with Ubuntu. Even though Mint Linux is based on Ubuntu, the developers endeavor to stay clear away from Snap. The first problem with is that it is not completely Open Source. Snaps have built-telemetry, this is how they know how many and what distributions are using snap. This is yet more ways that Ubuntu is lending itself to spying on users.
Experienced Linux users, and especially those intimately familiar with Debian, find Ubuntu a frustrating experience. Standards and conventions such as the location of configuration files, shell customization, and startup scripts are not in the standard locations are have been completely disabled replaced by some graphical tool. You'll use CLI to edit a configuration file for network settings to find that it has no impact while other changes are completely overwritten on reboot. It is a sloppy way of ignoring files while leaving them in existence on the file system to waste people's time.
Canonical's attitude as a company is not in keeping with the Linux community, as Canonical seems about commercial success above community involvement. Canonical requires copyright assignment for every one of their projects. Collaboration is important to more than just free software users, it's a key tenant of the computer industry. Bill Gates never understood this and although he created for himself great wealth, he set the industry back many years by stifling innovation. Canonical ignores standards and conventions set forth by the collaborative Linux community of developers. The Canonical / Ubuntu model for Linux would create yet another Microsoft style operating system, driving users to seek yet another alternative (probably a win for FreeBSD).
Canonical has demonstrated opposition to many of the core values of the Linux community. Ubuntu is the only major distribution of Linux currently showing users advertisments based on data collection, keystrokes, and telemetry. Furthermore, more and more components of Ubuntu are not being developed in secrecy. DRM has even been incorporated into Ubuntu.
