Windows isn't going away anytime soon, but Ubuntu 7.04 is a refreshing Linux-based alternative to Vista.

Ubuntu Studio bills itself as the "multimedia creation flavor of Ubuntu," an official Ubuntu project "aimed at the GNU/Linux audio, video, and graphic enthusiast as well as professional." It is certainly flashy on the outside -- even if it is mostly the same Ubuntu Linux distro under the hood.

Ubuntu, the Linux distribution which tops the charts these days, is developed using this closed system. Kind of a contradiction in terms, one would think.

No, HP hasn’t announced plans to pre-install Ubuntu Linux on selected PCs. But the computing giant has scored a deal to provide up to 5,000 Ubuntu PCs to a major university.

"Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux, is preparing a managed service platform that will allow VARs and solutions providers to remotely manage Ubuntu-based small business servers."

"Was it the Dell laptops deal? The costless CD shipping from Shipit? The launch of the fully-free Gobuntu? Or will it be the liberation of the proprietary Launchpad platform?"

"Earlier this week, just less than a couple of months after their seemingly-friendly deal, Microsoft betrayed Linspire. There are more questions to be raised and implications to discuss."

In a mildly childish attempt at putting the popularity of Ubuntu into real context, I've enlisted the help of Google trends to benchmark searches for "Ubuntu" against other words. Mindless spam or important sociological experiment? You decide.