What is it About Ubuntu?
One very interesting aspect of Linux on the desktop is the popularity of each different distribution. Each version has a number of fundamental similarities with the others, but certain changes are made to each in order to differentiate them from the others and to enable that version to fulfill the niche for which it was designed. These differences are not always tremendous, but they are enough to allow people to make a definitive choice between one version and next. This makes much sense as the distribution system has allowed for the evolution of very specialized versions of Linux, not all of which are suitable for desktop use, just as it has been slowly perfecting Linux on the desktop.
When looking at desktop Linux by itself, any analysis of the subject quickly leads to this question: why do users choose one version over another? There are as many answers for this question as there are users to give them, but ultimately it should boil down to just a few key decisions which must be made. Considering this, it may be surprising to some people to find out how successful Ubuntu Linux has been relative to other distributions. Many survey's are taken over the internet which attempt to gather statistics on desktop Linux, one of the most popular being OSDL's. This survey (view complete PDF) took responses from about 3,300 people and when it came to enter their distribution of choice, a whopping 53% said Ubuntu. Other frontrunners included Open SUSE (32%), Novell/SUSE Enterprise Linux (28%), and Debian (27%).
