Editors' rating: 7.4
The good: Ubuntu is free; will read Windows- or Mac-saved Office files; comes with Firefox and OpenOffice preinstalled; comes with several multimedia applications and a VoIP application preinstalled as well.
The bad: Ubuntu won't run most popular software, so you'll have to learn new applications for word processing and spreadsheets; the new Desktop Effects is still experimental and produced a handful of glitches; some wireless and Webcam drivers are missing; the operating system was unable to wake up sometimes and kept losing time or gaining it on our test machine.
The bottom line: Ubuntu is very user-friendly but not right for everyone. Oddly casual computer users and advanced users will find this operating system wonderful, while day-to-day users may rail against Ubuntu's incompatibility with certain popular software applications, such as iTunes. Still, this is a great leap forward for Linux with the mass audience.
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