Ubuntu Linux has made their first official release. Ubuntu is Debian Linux with recent versions of all software, a regular release schedule of every 6 months, a commitment to 18 months of security updates for every release, and a focus on extreme easy of use as both a desktop operating system and a server.

I'm having a hard time getting excited about Ubuntu. Seems like I should be. I'm a Debian fan for its stability, security updates and general GNU-ness, and Ubuntu wants to be Debian improved. I'm using Linux for a low-maintenance personal server, not a desktop system, but I also like new things, and get frustrated at the rarity of Debian's feature releases. I realize Debian "unstable" is in practice reliable enough for my purposes, but I've stuck with "stable" to let someone else decide what a secure set of software is on my behalf. Contradictorily, I've taken to installing some apps from tarballs instead of Debian packages to get newer releases, which means managing security updates myself. So Ubuntu should be right up my alley.

What the hell. They're giving away CDs, so I might as well try it. They're even encouraging people to order a bunch at once (the default is 10), so I'll have some to give away.