Today marks the offical release of the lastest version of the popular linux os Ubuntu 8.04 LTS codenamed Hardy Heron.
Over the last 2 days I’ve been playing around with the pre-release candidate and I must say I like it. I’m slightly ashamed to admit this is my first foray into the world of Linux and could not think of a smoother introduction than with Ubuntu. With Firefox 3 beta 5, Open Office and a slew of other software preinstalled, Ubuntu has a lot going for it straight out of the box… or in this case, out of the freely downloadable CD image. That’s right it’s 100% free, no catch.
Installing sofware is a breeze. Simply by clicking the aptly titled ‘Add software’ item from the Applications menu I had some of my ol’e Window’s favorites installed such as Skype, Filezilla and VLC.
It’s also worth noting that Adobe currently have a version of their AIR runtime for linux in the works. Now if they could only port their CS3 suite to Linux Ubuntu may actually grab a share of the disheartened Vista users ready to jump ship.