Ubuntu and it's derivatives are now mature, pleasant to use operating systems that for many users, are completely suitable for mom and pop desktop users. Some will disagree with this, but overall, much of using a standard Linux desktop for browsing the web, doing your email and sorting out your photos (which is what Apple seem to be marketing the iPad market firmly at, with exception of ebooks), then Ubuntu Linux or Linux Mint really is the obvious choice if you care about software freedom. The next big milestone for Ubuntu is just about to hit general release: 10.04, codenamed "The Lucid Lynx". You can expect to have it on or around April 29th. The big brew-ha-ha about this release is two-fold. One: It's the next LTS (Long Term Support) release, which means it's supported by Canonical for a good long time, and secondly, it's a marked change in appearance. Yep, Ubuntu is getting a proper facelift (or so it would seem, Shuttleworth has a habit of changing his mind at the last minute).
If you have Ubuntu 9.10 and you would like to beta test 10.04 right now, you can do so at your own risk by pressing Alt+F2 and type in "update-manager -d" (without the quotes) into the command box.
Not only are there two new desktop themes with 10.04, there is better nVidia graphics support out of the box, a new notification area, built in status update tools for twitter and identi.ca and facebook, even quicker booting up time and quicker shutdown times, the distribution now offers the new coveted Ubuntu One file store and music store are available to all. A lot has happened under the hood, and this is the most exciting release Canonical have made in a long time.
For more information, check out Ubuntu's website.
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