What is the reason behind the popularity of ubuntu ?

Question

it's website says that ---- "Ubuntu is a community developed, Linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. "

**what is the meaning of community developed, Linux-based operating system ?

**what are its advantages over windows ?

could u plz explain with minimum jargon ?

Answer 1

That is essentially without jargon, but anyway...

The meaning of a "community developed, linux-based operating system" is that it is not developed (programmed) by a company, but instead by a group of people who want to contribute. This means that nobody owns Ubuntu, and it is free to distribute and use and modify however you want. GNU/Linux (usually called Linux) is an operating system made entirely of free (as in speech)/open source software that is developed by a community of programmers. Ubuntu is a distribution of Linux, which means that it is a custom mixture of Linux programs that make a complete OS. This is somewhat similar to having Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional, although all distributions ("distros" for short) can run any Linux software. The only difference between Ubuntu and other linux distros such as Debian, Red Hat, and Gentoo, is that it is geared towards ease of use for new users who do not know the internals of Linux. Linux (and Ubuntu) have many advantages over Windows. The most important are speed, stability, and security. Linux is very lightweight at it's core, and can be slimmed down or beefed up to do any task. You can run linux smoothly on ten year old computers, where the most recent versions of Windows won't even think of installing. Linux is also used in servers and supercomputers, where it outperforms windows due to it's ability to use multiple processors easily (which helps if you have a Core 2 or Phenom processor). It is usually very stable, although some drivers, because they are reverse engineered due to unhelpful hardware manufacturers, may make it unstable. Still, it is built in a very modular way that prevents a bad program from taking out the whole OS, unlike Windows. It is also much more secure, not only because nobody writes viruses for it, but because it only allows you to execute powerful programs when you enter a password, which Windows does not do and is a big source of viruses. The only thing that Linux does not do is run Windows programs and games, although it can run most of them via a compatibility layer called WINE.