In addition to Ubuntu, Canonical also produces or recognizes a number of Ubuntu derivatives such Kubuntu and Edubuntu. These derivatives offer different desktop environments or a more focused selection of software, geared toward a particular purpose.

For a long time, the Ubuntu family has had three members - Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Xubuntu (sorry Edubuntu; we're not counting you).  But that may change, with a new project, Lubuntu, vying for official endorsement by Canonical.  Here's a look at Lubuntu, and thoughts on what its future may hold.

UCK is a tool that helps you customizing official Ubuntu Live CDs (including Kubuntu/Xubuntu and Edubuntu) to your needs. You can add any package to the live system, for example language packs, or applications.

Ubuntu Customization Kit is a GUI tool that helps you customizing official Ubuntu Live CDs (including Kubuntu/Xubuntu and Edubuntu) to your needs. You can add any package to the live system, for example language packs, or applications.

Recently there have been several posts on different blogs about changing the name of Ubuntu and it's derivatives Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Edubuntu to things like Ubuntu GNOME Edition, Ubuntu KDE Edition, Ubuntu XFCE Edition and Ubuntu Educational Edition.

Well, the promised uber-review is finally here. With the release of Ubuntu 7.04 (aka "Feisty Fawn"), a new fork of Ubuntu, named "Ubuntu Studio", was released, to go along with Kubuntu ("LinuKs for KHumans", released with 5.04), Edubuntu ("Linux for Young Humans", 5.10), and Xubuntu ("Linux for Gamers and Humans with Old Hardware", 6.06 LTS).

Everyone agrees that Ubuntu is making huge progress towards mainstream adoption. But what do we mean when we say "Ubuntu"? Don't we really mean *buntu, a collection of all Ubuntu versions? How do we explain this to the mainstream user? Will the names "Kubuntu", "Edubuntu" and "Xubuntu" make sense to a newcomer? Are they self-explanatory?

Out of all of the Ubuntu derivative distributions, the one that's received the least amount of attention really has been Edubuntu. With a slogan of "Linux for Young Human Beings", Edubuntu is a Linux distribution designed for students and use in school environments.

Edubuntu is a customized version of Ubuntu aimed at children in educational environments. According to the distributions homepage, Edubuntu is "Linux for Young Human Beings." That works out well for me, since I have three of those in my house. I homeschool my children and use Edubuntu on a couple of our computers.