Ubuntu wins 2006 World Class Award from PC World

Ubuntu was awarded a PC World 2006 World Class Award, identifying it as one of PC World's '100 Best Products of the Year. Winners were announced in the July 2006 issue of PC World.

Ubuntu, which has become one of the world's most popular Linux distributions in recent years, launched its latest version on June 1. The new release, entitled Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Long Term Support), has a specific emphasis on the needs of large organisations with both desktop and server versions.

Ubuntu is freely available, including security updates for five years on servers, with no restrictions on usage and no requirement to purchase support contracts or subscriptions per deployment. Full telephone & online support on commercial terms is available globally from Canonical Ltd and other companies.

“The economics of Ubuntu deployment are fundamentally different from those of other leading Linux distributions that offer commercial support” said Jane Silber, COO of Canonical Ltd. “Companies and individuals can deploy Ubuntu widely, and purchase support only for the machines where they need the assurance of a Support Level Agreement. This makes Ubuntu the preferred choice for large scale deployments where support contracts are not essential on every machine.”

Now celebrating its 24^th year, the respected World Class Awards honour products that meld practical features with innovation and reflect the rapidly changing technology marketplace. To select the winners, PC World's editors examined hundreds of products, including those that have appeared in the magazine over the past 12 months. The 100 winning products and services were selected for their exemplary design and usability, features, performance, innovation, and price.

“Products that win PC World's World Class Awards set the standard for excellence in the IT and consumer electronics industries,” stated Harry McCracken, editor in chief of PC World. “From notebook computers and security software to music players and Web sites, the editors reward the most outstanding performers in this annual awards program. Congratulations to Ubuntu.”

About Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a Linux-based operating environment consisting of free and open source software for laptops, desktops, and servers. Since its launch in October 2004, Ubuntu has become one of the most highly regarded Linux distributions, with millions distributed and in use around the world. Ubuntu will always be free, and will not have restrictive licenses associated with it. With these goals in mind at all times, Ubuntu aims at being the most widely used of all Linux systems, and is the centre of a global open source software ecosystem. For more information, please check www.ubuntu.com.

About Canonical Ltd

Canonical Ltd is committed to the development, distribution and promotion of open source software, and to the provision of commercial tools and support services on a global basis. Canonical's award-winning Ubuntu operating environment has been adopted as the preferred solution in governments, schools and businesses around the world. With a global organization headquartered in Europe, Canonical has employees throughout Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Australia. For more information, please check http://www.canonical.com.