The prevailing wisdom about Linux on the desktop runs something like this: “I’ll believe Linux is ready for the desktop as soon as you can give me a Linux distribution that even my grandmother can run.”
For some time, the folks at Ubuntu have been trying their best to make Granny — and most everyone else — happy. They’ve attempted to build a Linux distribution that’s easy to install, use, configure, and maintain — one that’s at least as easy as Windows, and whenever possible, even easier. As a result, Ubuntu is one of the Linux distributions that has been most directly touted as an alternative to Windows.