Earn Free Money Get Paid to Write

Yuwie Pays you to Socialize

Thursday, November 13 03:40

pays its members to participate using their website. As a member, you can blog, post, make friends and have fun all in one place.

How does it work?

If you look closely, you will see that the website is filled with advertisements. Yuwie shares the advertising revenue generated from these ads with its members. Yuwie distributes it amongst the members, and the amount each member earns depend upon their activity.

What do you get Paid for?

Blog: Create a blog with Yuwie and write to your heart's content. Choose from a variety of templates.

Upload your pictures You can upload your pictures and create albums too.

Upload videos: Upload your videos on Yuwie

Join clubs: Join the clubs which interest you and regularly post new topics.

How much can you earn?
Perhaps the best thing about Yuwie is its' referral program. The more people you refer, the more you can earn. Ofcourse, the amount you earn also depends upon how active you are! Minimum payout can be set as $5 and payments are made either via Paypal or AlertPays. Here's a screenshot which shows sample earnings based on the 10 levels of referrals and assuming a revenue-sharing rate of $0.50.

Yuwie has most of the features an average social networking site offers with the added benefit of a paycheck! Earn money for having fun!
Join under this link and enjoy it.


You have been invited to join Yuwie by Naresh Panchal. When you join, you will be instantly connected to Naresh and Naresh's friends. Click the link below to join.

http://www.yuwie.com/yuwie.asp?r=1020011&vid=

What is Yuwie?
=================
First off, Yuwie is 100% FREE. Yuwie is like any other "connect with friends" or social networking site. But we have one major difference.

Use Yuwie - Get Paid!

Yuwie pays you to blog, upload pictures, refer friends, chat, hang out, etc.



 http://www.yuwie.com/yuwie.asp?r=1020011&vid=

.

Google Adsense: The Beginner's Guide

 have been wanting to write about Google Adsense for some time, but I didn't have sufficient knowledge on the subject to write well. So past week, I've read a lot of material as well as an entire e-book on Google Adsense. I will summarize and explain what it is and how to benefit from it in this post.

What is Google Adsense?

Google Adsense is Pay per click Advertising program. To put it simply, it means that bloggers /website owners place Google Adsense Ads on their blogs/ sites, and when the visitors click on the Ad, they are paid.

The reason it is so popular and profitable is the fact that the Ads that are relevant to the site's content are shown. So, for example, my blog is about Making Money Online, the Ads that will be displayed will have these keywords.

In order to place Google Ads on your site, you need to sign up as a publisher first. Google will then review your application and accept/reject it. Once accepted, you will be given a Publisher Id, and get code that you can place on your website to start displaying the Ads. Read the Google Adsense Program Policy.


Ad Placement

From what I've researched, Google Ads placement plays a major role in generating the clicks. Some articles suggested that Ads should be placed on the top left, or right after the header of the site, or right after the content. All of them had one purpose: To catch the readers' eye.


Flexibility and Ease of Use

Placing your Ads on the blog is very easy with blogger. All you need is to enter your Publisher ID, and change the colors and display the Ads.

The reason why Google Adsense is the most successful advertising program is the fact that they match the content on the site and place relevant ads on each site. Also, they use the most frequently used keywords for search in their ads. Since the visitors are already looking for more information on that subject, and are more likely to click on the Ad.


Look and Feel

There are quite a lot of choices of Ads, there are text ads, image ads, link units etc. You can also customize the background and colour of the font. My research says that the blended ads are the ones that work best, that is, the colours should match the colours of your website.

Google Adsense for Search

In addition to placing google Ads on your blog or website, you can also place, google search box on your pages. When the visitors on your site search the web using the search bar, Google will share the revenue with you.


Desktop Software: SysSense

SysSense is a free software that allows you to access your Google Account by a single click. It sits on the system tray, and alerts you when there is a change in your Google Adsense Earnings as per the settings.

Get Started

If you're not sure about how to set up Google adsense, and don't have a blog or a site yet, you can create a blog with sites that share Google Adsense revenue with you. Here is a list that you may find handy.

Hubpages
Hubpages is a great adsense revenue sharing site that lets you create content and places Google, Amazon and Ebay ads on your pages, and shares the revenue generated by your content.

Flixya
Flixya pays you to share pictures, videos and blogs, and gives you 100% of the adsense revenue.

Blogger Party
A community for blogging that shares 50% of adsense revenue.

Like with everything else, you will need to invest time in this as well. Experiment with different placements, use different keywords, etc. Remember, those who perservere, achieve their goals.

Free Adsense Ebooks

You can find free Adsense ebooks here

Web design

Web design is the skill of creating presentations of content (usuallyhypertext or hypermedia) that is delivered to an end-user through the World Wide Web, by way of a Web browser or other Web-enabled software likeInternet television clients, microblogging clients and RSS readers.

The intent of web design^[1] is to create a web site—a collection of electronic files that reside on a web server/servers and present content and interactive features/interfaces to the end user in form of Web pages once requested. Such elements as text, bit-mapped images (GIFs, JPEGs), forms can be placed on the page using HTML/XHTML/XML tags. Displaying more complex media (vector graphics, animations, videos, sounds) requires plug-ins such as Flash, QuickTime, Javarun-time environment, etc. Plug-ins are also embedded into web page by using HTML/XHTMLtags.

Improvements in browsers' compliance with W3C standards prompted a widespread acceptance and usage of XHTML/XML in conjunction with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to position and manipulate web page elements and objects. Latest standards and proposals aim at leading tobrowsers' ability to deliver a wide variety of media and accessibility options to the client possibly without employing plug-ins.

Typically web pages are classified as static or dynamic:

• Static pages don’t change content and layout with every request unless a human (webmaster/programmer) manually updates the page. A simple HTML page is an example of static content.
• Dynamic pages adapt their content and/or appearance depending onend-user’s input/interaction or changes in the computing environment (user, time, database modifications, etc.) Content can be changed on the client side (end-user's computer) by using client-side scripting languages (JavaScript, JScript, Actionscript, etc.) to alter DOMelements (DHTML). Dynamic content is often compiled on the serverutilizing server-side scripting languages (Perl, PHP, ASP, JSP,ColdFusion, etc.). Both approaches are usually used in complex applications.

With growing specialization in the information technology field there is a strong tendency to draw a clear line between web design and web development.

Web design is a kind of graphic design intended for development and styling of objects of the Internet's information environment to provide them with high-end consumer features and aesthetic qualities. The offered definition separates web design from web programming, emphasizing the functional features of a web site, as well as positioning web design as a kind of graphic design.^[2]

The process of designing web pages, web sites, web applications ormultimedia for the Web may utilize multiple disciplines, such asanimation,authoring, communication design, corporate identity, graphic design, human-computer interaction, information architecture,interaction design, marketing,photography, search engine optimization and typography.

• Markup languages (such as HTML, XHTML and XML)
• Style sheet languages (such as CSS and XSL)
• Client-side scripting (such as JavaScript)
• Server-side scripting (such as PHP and ASP)
• Database technologies (such as MySQL and PostgreSQL)
• Multimedia technologies (such as Flash and Silverlight)

Web pages and web sites can be static pages, or can be programmed to bedynamic pages that automatically adapt content or visual appearancedepending on a variety of factors, such as input from the end-user, input from the Webmaster or changes in the computing environment (such as the site's associated database having been modified).

With growing specialization within communication design and information technology fields, there is a strong tendency to draw a clear line betweenweb design specifically for web pages and web development for the overall logistics of all web-based services.

Mobile Web

The Mobile Web refers to web browser-based access to the World Wide Web using a mobile deviceconnected to a wireless network. Traditional web access in comparison is desktop computer-based via a fixed landlineconnection. The total number of mobile web users grew past the total number of desktop computer-based web users for the first time in 2008 (source: International Telecommunications Union, Oct 2009).

Mobile Web access today still suffers from interoperability and usabilityproblems. Interoperability issues stem from the platform fragmentation of mobile devices, mobile operating systems, and browsers. Usability problems are centered around the small physical size of the mobile form factor (limitedresolution screens and user input/operating limitations).

Moving forward, the distinction between the Mobile Web and native mobile applications is anticipated to become increasingly blurred, as mobile browsers gain direct access to the hardware of mobile devices (includingaccelerometers and GPS chips), and the performance of browser-based applications improve (speed- and capability-wise). Persistent storage and access to sophisticated user interface graphics functions may further reduce the need for the development of platform-specific native applications.

Once users are unable to differentiate between native and mobile web applications, the Mobile Web will refer generically to applications and web access from a mobile device.

Mobile Internet

'Mobile Internet' refers to access to the Internet from a mobile device, such as a smartphone or laptop via integrated capabilities or via an independent device (such as a USB modem or PCMCIA card).

Today USB modems are HSPA (3.5G) modems. Many users "tether" their smartphones to their laptop or personal computer with the wireless device providing access to the Internet via 3G, GPRS or CSD.

Standards

The development of standards is one approach being implemented to improve the interoperability, usability, and accessibility issues surrounding mobile web usage.

The W3C Mobile Web Initiative is a new initiative set up by the W3C to develop best practices and technologies relevant to the Mobile Web. The goal of the initiative is to make browsing the Web from mobile devices more reliable and accessible. The main aim is to evolve standards of data formats from Internet providers that are tailored to the specifications of particular mobile devices. The W3C has published guidelines (Best Practices, Best Practices Checker Software Tool) for mobile content, and is actively addressing the problem of device diversity by establishing a technology to support a repository of Device Descriptions.

W3C is also developing a validating scheme to assess the readiness of content for the mobile web, through its mobileOK Scheme, which will help content developers to quickly determine if their content is web-ready. The W3C guidelines and mobile OK approach have not been immune from criticism. This puts the emphasis on Adaptation, which is now seen as the key process in achieving the Ubiquitous Web, when combined with a Device Description Repository.

mTLD, the registry for .mobi, has released a free testing tool called the MobiReady Report to analyze the mobile readiness of website. It does a free page analysis and gives a Mobi Ready score. This report tests the mobile-readiness of the site using industry best practices & standards.

Other standards for the mobile web are being documented and explored for particular applications by interested industry groups, such as the use of the mobile web for the purpose of education and training e.g. Standards for M-Learning Project

Seven Mass Media

Since the first ringing tone was sold on the mobile phone in Finland in 1998, the mobile has emerged as the Seventh of the Mass Media. Today a wide range of paid media content is consumed on mobile phones ranging from 9.3 billion dollars of music and 5 billion dollars of videogaming to horoscopes, jokes, news, adult entertainment, etc. Also like on all other media, advertising appeared onto mobile when a free news service launched in Finland sponsored by ads in 2000. In 2005, The Crazy Frog ringtone became the first mobile ringtone to cross over into the mainstream music charts, beating Coldplay for the Number 1 spot on the UK charts^[1].

Advertising on the Mobile Web

Advertisers are increasingly using the mobile Web as platform to reach consumers. The total value of advertising on mobile was 2.2 billion dollars in 2007. A recent study by the Online Publishers Association reports that about one-in-ten mobile Web users said they have made a purchase based on a mobile Web ad, while 23% said they have visited a Web site, 13% said they have requested more information about a product or service and 11% said they have gone to a store to check out a product.

Ubuntu (operating system)

Ubuntu

Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)
Company /developer	Canonical Ltd. / Ubuntu Foundation
OS family	Unix-like
Working state	Current
Source model	Free and open source software
Initial release	20 October 2004
Latest stable release	9.10 / 2009-10-29; 2 months ago[1]
Latest unstable release	10.04 alpha 2 / 2010-01-14; 9 days ago[2]
Availablelanguage(s)	Multilingual (more than 55)
Update method	APT (front-ends available)
Package manager	dpkg (front-ends like Synapticavailable)
Supported platforms	IA-32, x86-64, lpia, SPARC,PowerPC,ARM, IA-64
Kernel type	Monolithic (Linux)
Userland	GNU
Default user interface	GNOME
License	Mainly the GNU GPL / plus various other licenses
Website	www.ubuntu.com

Ubuntu (pronounced /uːˈbuːntuː/),^[3][4] is a computer operating systembased on theDebian GNU/Linux distribution. It is named after the Southern African ethical ideologyUbuntu ("humanity towards others")^[5] and is distributed as free and open source software. Ubuntu provides an up-to-date, stable operating system for the average user, with a strong focus on usabilityand ease of installation. Ubuntu has been selected by readers of desktoplinux.com as the most popular Linux distribution for the desktop, claiming approximately 30% of Linux desktop installations in both 2006 and 2007.^[6][7]Web statistics from late 2009 suggest that Ubuntu's share is between 40 and 50%.^[8][9]

Ubuntu is composed of multiple software packages, of which the vast majority are distributed under a free software license (also known as open source). The main license used is the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) which, along with theGNU Lesser General Public License (GNU LGPL), explicitly declare that users are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change, develop and improve the software. Ubuntu is sponsored by the UK-based company Canonical Ltd., owned by South Africanentrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. By keeping Ubuntu free and open source, Canonical is able to utilize the talents of community developers in Ubuntu's constituent components. Instead of selling Ubuntu for profit, Canonical creates revenue by sellingtechnical support and from creating several services tied to Ubuntu.

Canonical endorses and provides support for three additional Ubuntu-derived operating systems: Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Ubuntu Server Edition. There are several other derivative operating systems including local language and hardware-specific versions.^[10]

Canonical releases new versions of Ubuntu every six months and supports Ubuntu for eighteen months by providing security fixes, patches to critical bugs and minor updates to programs. LTS (Long Term Support) versions, which are released every two years,^[11] are supported for three years on the desktop and five years for servers.^[12]The current version of Ubuntu, 9.10(Karmic Koala), was released on October 29, 2009.

History and development process

Ubuntu is a fork of the Debian project's code base.^[13] The original aim was to release a new version of Ubuntu every six months, resulting in a more frequently updated system. Ubuntu's first release was on October 20, 2004.^[14]

Ubuntu releases are timed about one month after GNOME releases.^[15] In contrast to other forks of Debian, which extensively use proprietary andclosed source add-ons, Ubuntu uses primarily free (libre) software, making an exception only for some proprietary hardware drivers.^[16]

Ubuntu packages are based on packages from Debian's unstable branch: both distributions use Debian's deb package format and package management tools (APT and Synaptic). Debian and Ubuntu packages are not necessarily binary compatible with each other, however, and sometimes .deb packages may need to be rebuilt from source to be used in Ubuntu.^[17] Many Ubuntu developers are also maintainers of key packages within Debian. Ubuntu cooperates with Debian by pushing changes back to Debian,^[18]although there has been criticism that this doesn't happen often enough. In the past, Ian Murdock, the founder of Debian, has expressed concern about Ubuntu packages potentially diverging too far from Debian Sarge to remain compatible.^[19] Before release, packages are imported from Debian Unstablecontinuously and merged with Ubuntu-specific modifications. A month before release, imports are frozen, and packagers then work to ensure that the frozen features interoperate well together.

Ubuntu is currently funded by Canonical Ltd. On July 8, 2005, Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical Ltd announced the creation of the Ubuntu Foundation and provided an initial funding of US$10 million. The purpose of the foundation is to ensure the support and development for all future versions of Ubuntu. Mark Shuttleworth describes the foundation as an "emergency fund" (in case Canonical's involvement ends).^[20]

Ubuntu 8.04, released on April 24, 2008, is the current Long Term Support (LTS) release. Canonical releases LTS versions every two years, with Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx (release number subject to change) scheduled as the next LTS version in 2010.^[21][22][23] The current regular release, Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala), was released on October 29, 2009.

On March 12, 2009, Ubuntu announced developer support for 3rd party cloudmanagement platforms, such as for those used at Amazon EC2.^[24]

Features

Installing and removing software in Ubuntu in versions before 9.10 Karmic Koala

Ubuntu focuses on usability^[25] andsecurity. The Ubiquity installer allows Ubuntu to be installed to the hard disk from within the Live CD environment, without the need for restarting the computer prior to installation. Ubuntu also emphasizesaccessibility andinternationalizationto reach as many people as possible. Beginning with 5.04, UTF-8 became the defaultcharacter encoding,^[26] which allows for support of a variety of non-Roman scripts. As a security feature, the sudo tool is used to assign temporary privileges for performing administrative tasks, allowing the root account to remain locked, and preventing inexperienced users from inadvertently making catastrophic system changes or opening security holes.^[27] PolicyKit is also being widely implemented into the desktop to further harden the system through theprinciple of least privilege.

Ubuntu comes installed with a wide range of software that includesOpenOffice, Firefox,Empathy (Pidginin versions before 9.10),Transmission, GIMP, and several lightweight games (such as Sudokuand chess). Ubuntu allowsnetworking ports to be closed using its firewall, with customized port selection available. End-users can install Gufw and keep it enabled.^[28]GNOME (the current default desktop) offers support for more than 46 languages.^[29] Ubuntu can also run many programs designed for Microsoft Windows(such as Microsoft Office), throughWine or using a Virtual Machine (such as VMware Workstation orVirtualBox).

Installation

Ubuntu 9.04 (live CD session)

Installation of Ubuntu is generally performed with the Live CD. The Ubuntu OS can be run directly from the CD (albeit with a significant performance loss), allowing a user to "test-drive" the OS for hardware compatibility and driver support. The CD also contains the Ubiquity installer,^[30] which then can guide the user through the permanent installation process. CD images of all current and past versions are available for download at the Ubuntu web site.^[31] Installing from the CD requires a minimum of 256 MB RAM.

Users can download a disk image (.iso) of the CD, which can then either be written to a physical medium (CD or DVD), or optionally run directly from a hard drive (viaUNetbootin). Ubuntu is even available on thePowerPC platform (enabling users of older Macintosh computers to run Ubuntu natively on their machines); however, it is no longer officially supported.

Canonical offers Ubuntu^[32] and Kubuntu^[33] installation CDs at no cost, including paid postage for destinations in most countries around the world (via a service called ShipIt).

A Microsoft Windows migration tool, called Migration Assistant (introduced in April 2007),^[34] can be used to import bookmarks,desktop background (wallpaper), and various settings from an existing MS Windows installation into a new Ubuntu installation.^[35]

Ubuntu and Kubuntu can be booted and run from a USB Flash drive^[36](as long as the BIOS supports booting from USB), with the option of saving settings to the flashdrive. This allows a portable installation that can be run on any PC which is capable of booting from a USB drive.^[37]In newer versions of Ubuntu, the USB creator program is available to install Ubuntu on a USB drive (with or without a LiveCD disc).

Wubi, which is included as an option on the Live CD,^[38] allows Ubuntu to be installed and run from within a virtual Windows loop device (as a large image file that is managed like any other Windows program via theWindows Control Panel). This method requires no partitioning of a Windows user's hard drive. Wubi also makes use of the Migration Assistant to import users' settings. It is only useful for Windows users; it is not meant for permanent Ubuntu installations and it also incurs a slight performance loss.

Remastering

See also: List of remastering software

Various programs (such asremastersys and Reconstructor) exist to produce customisedremasters of the Ubuntu Live CD.

Package classification and support

Ubuntu divides all software into four domains to reflect differences in licensing and the degree of support available.^[39] All unsupported applications receive updates from community members, but not fromCanonical.

	free software	non-free software
supported	Main	Restricted
unsupported	Universe	Multiverse

Free software includes only software that has met the Ubuntu licensing requirements,^[40] which roughly correspond to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. Exceptions, however, includefirmware and fonts, in the Main category, because although they are not allowed to be modified, their distribution is otherwise unencumbered.^[41]

Non-free software is usually unsupported (Multiverse), but some exceptions (Restricted) are made for important non-free software. Supported non-free software includes device drivers that can be used to run Ubuntu on some current hardware, such as binary-onlygraphics card drivers. The level of support in the Restricted category is more limited than that of Main, because the developers may not have access to the source code. It is intended that Main and Restricted should contain all software needed for a general-use Linux system. Alternative programs for the same tasks and programs for specialized applications are placed in the Universe and Multiverse categories.

In addition to the above, in which the software does not receive new features after an initial release,Ubuntu Backports is an officially recognized project to backportnewer software from later versions of Ubuntu.^[42] The repository is not comprehensive; it consists primarily of user-requested packages, which are approved if they meet quality guidelines. Backports receives no support at all from Canonical, and is entirely community-maintained.

The -updates repository provides updates to stable releases of Ubuntu and are generally installed through update-manager. Each release is given its own -updates repository (e.g. intrepid-updates). The repository is supported byCanonical for packages in main and restricted, and by the community for packages in universe and multiverse. All updates to the repository must meet certain requirements and go through the -proposed repository before being made available to the public.^[43]Updates will continue to be available until the end of life for the release.

In addition to the -updates repository, the unstable -proposedrepository contains uploads which must be confirmed before being copied into -updates. All updates must go through this process to ensure that the patch does truly fix the bug and there is no risk ofregression.^[44] Updates in -proposed are confirmed by either Canonical or members of the community.

Availability of third-party software

See also: Medibuntu and Getdeb

Ubuntu has a certification system for third party software.^[45] Some third-party software that does not limit distribution is included in Ubuntu's multiverse component. The package ubuntu-restricted-extrasadditionally contains software that may be legally restricted, including support forMP3 and DVD playback,Microsoft TrueType core fonts,Sun's Java runtime environment,Adobe's Flash Player plugin, many common audio/video codecs, and unrar, an unarchiver for filescompressed in the RAR file format.

Additionally, several third party application suites are available for purchase through the Canonical web-based store, including software for DVD playback and media codecs.

Releases

Version	Code name	Release date
4.10	Warty Warthog	2004-10-20
5.04	Hoary Hedgehog	2005-04-08
5.10	Breezy Badger	2005-10-13
6.06 LTS	Dapper Drake	2006-06-01
6.10	Edgy Eft	2006-10-26
7.04	Feisty Fawn	2007-04-19
7.10	Gutsy Gibbon	2007-10-18
8.04 LTS	Hardy Heron	2008-04-24
8.10	Intrepid Ibex	2008-10-30
9.04	Jaunty Jackalope	2009-04-23[46]
9.10	Karmic Koala[47]	2009-10-29[48]
10.04 LTS	Lucid Lynx[49]	2010-04-29[50]

Main article: List of Ubuntu releases

There are two Ubuntu releases per year, using the year and month of the release as the version number. The first Ubuntu release, for example, was Ubuntu 4.10 and was released on October 20, 2004.^[51]Version numbers for future versions are provisional; if the release is delayed the version number changes accordingly.

Ubuntu releases are also given code names, using an adjective and an animal with the same first letter (e.g., "Dapper Drake" and "IntrepidIbex"). With the exception of the first three releases, code names are in alphabetical order, allowing a quick determination of which release is newer. Commonly, Ubuntu releases are referred to using only the adjective portion of the code name.^[52]

Releases are timed to be approximately one month after GNOME releases (which in turn are about one month after releases ofX.org). Consequently, every Ubuntu release comes with an updated version of both GNOME and X. Selected releases (such as6.06 Dapper Drake and 8.04 Hardy Heron) have been labeled as Long Term Support (LTS) versions, indicating that they are supported (with updates) for three years on the desktop and five years on the server,^[53] as compared to the 18-month support period for non-LTS releases.^[54]

The current release is 9.10 Karmic Koala,^[55] released on October 29, 2009. Some users have reported hardware-recognition and functionality issues on upgrading to this version from previous versions of Ubuntu.^[56] However, statistics based on the main Ubuntu support forum shows that the number of problems with 9.10 is no worse than average.^[57]

System requirements

The desktop version of Ubuntu currently supports the Intel x86,AMD64, and ARM^[65] architectures. Some server releases also support theSPARC architecture.^[66][67]Unofficial support is available for thePowerPC,^[68] IA-64 (Itanium) andPlayStation 3 architectures.

	Desktop & Laptop[69]		Server[69]
	Required	Recommended
Processor	300 MHz (x86)	700 MHz (x86)	300 MHz (x86)
Memory	256 MB	384 MB*	64 MB
Hard drivecapacity	574 MB[70]	700 MB[70]	500 MB
Video card	VGA @ 640×480	VGA @ 1024×768	VGA @ 640×480

* With compositing effects enabled

Kubuntu is an official variant of the Ubuntu distribution which usesKDErather than GNOME

See also: List of Ubuntu-based Linux distributions

Several official and unofficial Ubuntu variants exist. These Ubuntu variants install a set of packages that differ from the original Ubuntu distribution.

Official variants store packages and updates in the same repositories as Ubuntu, so that the same software is available for each of them and is generally compatible between the official variants. The Ubuntu derivatives that are fully supported by Canonical are:^[10]

• Kubuntu, a desktop distribution using KDE rather than GNOME.
• Edubuntu, a GNOME-based subproject and add-on for Ubuntu, designed for school environments and home users.^[58]
• Ubuntu Server Edition.
• Ubuntu JeOS, "Just enough Operating System" for virtual appliances.^[59][60]

The following are Canonical-sponsored derivatives:^[61]

• Xubuntu, a "lightweight" distribution based on the Xfcedesktop environment instead of GNOME, designed to run better on low-specification computers.
• Ubuntu MID Edition, an Ubuntu edition that targets Mobile Internet Devices.^[62]
• Ubuntu Netbook Remix,^[63][64]designed for netbooks and other ultra-portables.

There are also many unofficial variants, unsponsored derivatives, and other localizations and customizations not controlled or guided byCanonical, which generally contain customizations that have been created for specific goals.

Development

UDS Karmic Group Photo

TheUbuntu Developer Summit is a gathering of software developers which occurs prior to the release of a new public version of Ubuntu.

At the beginning of a new development cycle, Ubuntu developers from around the world gather to help shape and scope the next release of Ubuntu. The summit is open to the public, but it is not a conference, exhibition or other audience-oriented event. Rather, it is an opportunity for Ubuntu developers, who usually collaborate online, to work together in person on specific tasks.

Reception

In an August 2007 survey of 38,500 visitors on DesktopLinux.com, Ubuntu was the most popular distribution with 30.3% of respondents claiming to use it.^[7]

In January 2009, the New York Times reported that Ubuntu had over ten million users and in June 2009 ZDNet reported, "Worldwide, there are 13 million active Ubuntu users with use growing faster than any other distribution."^[71][72]

Ubuntu was awarded the Reader Award for best Linux distribution at the 2005 LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in London,^[73] has been favorably reviewed in online and print publications,^[74][75][76] and has won InfoWorld's 2007 Bossie Award for Best Open Source Client OS.^[77]

Jamie Hyneman, co-host of the television series Mythbusters, has advocated Linux, specifically giving the example of Ubuntu, as an alternative to proprietary software, citing software bloat as a major hurdle in proprietary operating systems.^[78][79]

Ubuntu has also received negative assessments. In early 2008 PC Worldcriticized the lack of an integrated desktop effects manager, although this did not prevent them from naming Ubuntu the "best all-around Linux distribution available today".^[80]

The Ministry of Education and Science of Macedonia deployed more than 180,000 Ubuntu Linux based classroom desktops, and has encouraged every student in the country to use Ubuntu-powered computer workstations.^[81]

The French police is in the process of installing Ubuntu on 90,000 workstations, demonstrating a 70% saving on the IT budget without having to reduce its capabilities.^[82]

Vendor support

A number of vendors offer computers with Ubuntu pre-installed, including Dell,^[83]Tesco,^[84] OP3, Gliese IT,System76,^[85] and the South African company Bravium Computers.^[86] Dell and System76 customers are able to choose between 30-day, three-month, and yearly Ubuntu support plans through Canonical.^[87] Dell computers (running Ubuntu 8.04 or 9.04) include extra support for ATI Video Graphics, Dell Wireless,Fingerprint Readers, HDMI, Bluetooth, DVD Playback (using LinDVD), andMP3/WMA/WMV.^[88]