The latest versions of Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu and Gobuntu - 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon - have all been released.

New features in Ubuntu include:


The other versions of Ubuntu contain slightly different features determined by their window manager (KDE, Xfce, &c.)

I haven't had a chance to try out Kubuntu 7.10 yet (Adept won't let me upgrade at the moment...) but I'll report back when I have. I suggest you all give it a go. Its the cheapest operating system around

I've been using Kubuntu 7.10 since Tribe 4. I love the fact that they changed from that icky purple color to a nice blue color and modified the graphics up a bit. I also like the fact that they added a userlist to the default login screen. But what i like the most is how their repository contains the latest version of almost all the programs i use. I know stability doesn't necessarily come with the latest version, but i like having everything up to date. I hear 7.10 now fully supports reading and writing to NTFS via NTFS-3g.

On a side note, i wasn't able to upgrade from 7.04 to 7.10 properly through the package manager. You're better off burning 7.10 into a CD and using the CD as a repository or just reinstall Kubuntu altogether.

I want to use Ubuntu instead of windows. I know its a lot better in pretty much every way except gaming. I know I could run Wine or some other program like that but I know the performance is considerably lowered. Now I could use Ubuntu for everything else and just restart to windows when I want to play games but that would be tedious.

Anyone have any arguments that could change my mind and convince me to use Ubuntu?

Here's a user running WoW through Cedega: link. Does that look like a decrease in performance?

I'll admit that setting some games up can be a pain. However, there are often detailed instructions out on the web that will help you out. Look through the WINE Application Database to see which Windows applications work on which distributions, and how easy it is to set them up.

As for the performance, remember that you still have exactly the same hardware in your computer whether you've got Windows on it or Linux. Running an application through WINE doesn't have any form of performance decrease that I have noticed. My friends also report the same. WINE does not emulate each little request and command from an application so there is no performance drop at all. If anything, some applications actually tun faster with WINE compared to Windows as Linux itself is often using fewer system resources.

You could also complement your Windows game collection with some native Linux ones. Warzone 2100 and OpenArena are two of my favourites that leap to mind at the moment, but there are loads of other ones. Many are copies of Windows games but with more penguins thrown in

Ok, thanks for all that. My next question is will Wine/Cedega be able to run any game that comes out? Or does someone have to make an update or something to include new releases?

Could someone explain to me, what this is?

Cool, looks like I can finally try Linux, Im about to do a fresh install of windows which I will keep for music production, and the other partition for internet will be with Linux, specially this version. I hope its not to hard to find drivers for my pc, I have heard its a pain. The only game I play at the moment is Civilization4 and Quake3, so as long as I can run them with cedega or wine then I will be fine, though If I cant play them then I wouldnt really mind because I would rather play and record music anyway.

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution (kind of like a version of Linux). Its an alternative operating system to Microsoft Windows that seems to be packaged with pretty much every PC you can buy. Its free (gratis and libre) and has a whole load of features. For example, when the hard drive died on my old desktop PC, rather than pay over £100 for a copy of Windows, I simply put Kubuntu on there. It cost me nothing, kept an old computer running, and added an extra PC to my house.

These Wikipedia pages give loads more information on the relevant topics:
Free software
Linux
Ubuntu