Having used Ubuntu Linux for just over a year now, I have to say that it certainly looks like a world-class Operating System. Its user-friendliness and originality have really impressed me. So I've decided to look at what's good - and not so good - about what's common between the last couple of versions, right up to version 11.04.

Let’s start with the pros,

In addition to the panel at the bottom of the screen which shows open windows, the desktop features a customisable taskbar at the top of the screen which displays three drop-down menus: Applications (Installed Software, Games etc.), Places (Documents, Images etc.) and System (Settings, Preferences etc.). Shortcut Icons to applications, for example, can be pinned to this taskbar for quick access.

Also on offer are multiple workspaces, allowing for more room to manage open applications and the like, thus reducing unnecessary clutter. The default desktop wallpapers - aside from a few - are good too.

And the best part is, it costs absolutely NOTHING. Ubuntu can be downloaded from ubuntu.com for free - $0.00. Now if you convert that into Rands, that comes out to about… R0.00, nothing either :-). The Windows Installer for Ubuntu basically allows you to install Ubuntu just as you would any other application on Windows and then run the two Operating Systems alongside each other.

Then the cons,

One of Ubuntu’s (and indeed Linux’s) biggest drawbacks is compatibility. As none of the MS Office applications are fully supported on Linux, you’ll have to settle for OpenOffice which really is nothing like MS Office. The movie player too is not as good as Windows Media Player, and only offers basic customization.

Despite this, however,  Ubuntu really is shaping up nicely. Sponsored by Mark Shuttleworth’s Canonical Ltd, Ubuntu is updated every 6 months and has already become one of the world's most popular Linux distributions.