Ubuntu (/ʊˈbʊntuː/ uu-BUUN-too) is a Linux distribution derived from Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in multiple editions: Desktop, Server, and Core for Internet of things devices and robots. The operating system is developed by the British company Canonical and a community of other developers, under a meritocratic governance model. As of October 2024[update], the latest interim release is 24.10 ("Oracular Oriole"), with most-recent long-term support release is 24.04 ("Noble Numbat").
As with other Linux distributions, all of the editions can run on a computer alone, or in a virtual machine. An upgrade to Ubuntu is released every six months, with long-term support (LTS) releases every two years. Canonical provides security updates and support for each Ubuntu release, starting from the release date until the release reaches its designated end-of-life (EOL) date. Canonical generates revenue through the sale of premium services related to the Ubuntu software and donations from those who download Ubuntu directly.
Ubuntu is named after the Nguni philosophy of ubuntu, "humanity to others" with a connotation of "I am what I am because of who we all are". Since the release of the first version in 2004, Ubuntu has become one of the most popular Linux distributions for general purposes and is backed by large online communities like Ask Ubuntu. Numerous community-editions of Ubuntu also exist. It is also popular for cloud computing, with support for OpenStack. (Full article...)