You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. It may be a film cliché but often there’s more truth told in jest than many might want to admit. If you read certain parts of the internet, you’d think that’s what happened with Ubuntu. Snaps have destroyed users’ lives, Systemd has infected mainstream distros, Ubuntu Pro is pushed on unsuspecting users, no 32-bit support, that awful desktop design, toxic corporate culture, the list goes on.
But there’s another cliché: you can’t please all of the people. Because Ubuntu, by many metrics, is still easily the most popular Linux distro in the world and that’s largely because it just works – the thing that grabbed the world’s attention in 2004 with the original Warty Warthog release is what keeps people using Ubuntu today in 2024.
Twenty years on and we’re celebrating the latest 24.04 LTS release and taking a look back at how Ubuntu exploded on to the Linux world stage, how it developed over the years and what the major controversies were, as there’s been a few… One change that we don’t think will be controversial is Canonical extending (paid) Ubuntu support to 12 years. That’s going to help people feel even more comfortable installing Linux on their systems, ensuring a consistent and prolonged user experience without the unnecessary changes and forced upgrades that other OSes can demand. My home server has been ticking away with Ubuntu since 14.04 LTS and I expect many more years of Ubuntu enjoyment to come!
