In our present economy, the word free carries a lot of value. Because of this, a lesser-known operating system has the opportunity to gain market share, win users, and give those users what is rightfully theirs - a professional, affordable operating system built on positive values and not black ledger lines. Ubuntu Linux, an open source operating system developed by uncompensated programmers collaborating via the internet, is distributed in both server and desktop flavors to end users who worry less about computer viruses, crashes, and greedy big brother. It is bundled with an office suite, instant messenger, web browser, and other essentials needed to create an excellent working environment. In addition, thousands of other applications are available for installation, many of them licensed under open source.

Ubuntu could be the next big desktop operating system - it’s simplistic, complete, professionally created, coded well, and supported for several months free of charge after its release. It can be downloaded or sent by CD via mail without cost, and has an excellent interface.  It would drive computer costs down significantly and give the end user a better experience for a lot less money. It’s also customizable and can run directly as a Live CD.

So why would anyone choose to use another operating system? In a word, marketing. Microsoft was first on the scene, Apple gave away computers to campuses, but Ubuntu just has a website. There’s also the issue of perceived value that Microsoft Windows holds - When combined with the monopoly enjoyed by the company, it generates a (sometimes unwillingly) faithful user base.

Then there’s the stereotype associated with Linux in general. While in the past Linux may have been a difficult to use operating system understood only by nerds in server farms deep underground, today it is as easy and mainstream as Apple.  Unfortunately, the “new Linux” has not yet set in with the “in” crowd or the decision makers – CTOs, University IT Department Heads, or head-of-household end users.

But the Ubuntu community has an opportunity if it would plan for the future. Marketing is a necessary evil, but can be done creatively. One strategy might be to offer the operating system to educational institutions while offering their students free classes on the subject, an at-cost discount on Linux-based computers at the campus bookstore, and 24/7 technical support to the campuses. Ubuntu could then begin charging a modest fee – say $35 per copy – within two to four year’s time, in order to break even.

The Ubuntu community wouldn’t touch this idea with a ten-foot pole, though. The very notion of a community based on open sharing of ideas free of charge – give and take on an equal basis – destroys any possibility of this happening. While this is a good thing, preventing Ubuntu from becoming too powerful for its own good, it also takes away from some of its potential.

Perhaps one day a solution will exist, balancing profit, potential, and power in one neat package. Until then, there’s Ubuntu, the little software that could have been big.