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It isn't a matter of foreseeing, it isn't a theory, it isn't either because I am psychic, but I believe that Linux would have taken much longer to reach the position where Ubuntu has taken it in such a short span of time. Linux was there since the very beginning, and it is here to stay, no doubt, but it's a fact that only the so-called "power users" would have been using Linux by now if Ubuntu wasn't around. It wouldn't have gained this much attention in the wider public or the so-called "end users" group. I remember surprising everyone with the word "Linux" a while back. The first reaction used to be, "What is that? The latest version of Windows?", when I told somebody that I am running Linux on my PC, and that isn't from decades ago, I am talking about pre-2007 era.

Now, people recognize my OS straight away and try to tell me, "You are running Ubuntu!?", but most of them still can't pronounce "Ubuntu" correctly. :D I don't know if they would have recognized any other Linux also as Ubuntu, as this is probably the only name they know. But that is a win for Ubuntu, definitely, and also for Linux in general, otherwise they would have known 'nothing'.

This article isn't meant to praise Canonical, or Mark Shuttleworth, for what they've done. It isn't a marketing tactic and it isn't meant to lure you into ditching your current non-Ubuntu OS and start using Ubuntu, if you haven't already. It isn't either meant to take away anything from other Linux distributions, specially Debian, which is the parent distribution for Ubuntu, and nor from other projects without which the evolution of Ubuntu and the survival of Linux would have been a dream. But we can at least admit and admire the facts, can't we?

We admire Microsoft for what they have been delivering on the desktop. We admire Apple for their innovations in the desktop and mobile platforms departments. We are also aware that Android is something even greater than anything else, and also based on Linux. But, are we aware of everything that Ubuntu is bringing and what it promises to bring in the future?

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