I like Linux and have been playing around with it, making servers and desktops, for a few years.  Ubuntu is a relatively new kid on the block for me, having started playing with Mandrake 6.5 (now Mandriva ).  Ubuntu has been a real breath of fresh air in the Linux community, mainly because the whole project is aimed at making Linux accessible and thus bringing it more to the people.  Anyone making a alternative to Windows are heroes in my mind.

This is not a review but a look at one of the aspects of the Ubuntu's accessibility, Wubi.  Wubi is an installer for Ubuntu for Windows.  If you feel too daunted by the task of partitioning your hard-drive to install Ubuntu, or if you would like to be a little more serious than a Live-CD, then Wubi allows you to install Ubuntu like any other Windows program.  It then gives you a Boot option to pick Windows or Ubuntu.  The win here is that you can uninstall without any messy hardware changes.  Well, that is the theory, and I'm going to test it.

After hearing about all the coolness of KDE4 I decided to try Kubuntu, as I have had a number of the standard Ubuntu Gnome installs.  So I went to the Wubi site and downloaded the 1.1 MB file, and double clicked.  Entered a password, chose Kubuntu-KDE4 and hit install.  The program went to find the files it needed, popped up a message saying it could find them, and exited.  Not a good start.

Downloaded and ran the Installer again, with the same options, and this time it began the install and started to download the 689.3 MB it needed.  4 hours later, including a trip to see Iron Man and dinner with my beloved, I received the options - Reboot now, or later.

Rebooting the machine put me to a nice text based boot menu with which I selected Kubuntu and waited for the magic.  And there was a wait, as it booted into the install and configuring phase.  I was wondering when this would be done, as the configuring of a Linux install is normally the most fun, and least enjoyable part of the job.  After some time there was another reboot, and then we were in.

First impressions of booting into KDE4 was "this looks slick", maybe a grab for the Vista with the black bar.  Now for the updating and customising, well that is to be another post.  I have to say that Wubi made for one nice/easy install.  If it wasn't for the download of the Operating System the whole process would have taken minutes, which is a major improvement.  You don't get the same sort of control as a normal Linux/Ubuntu install, I would say about the same as a Win XP install.  But control isn't the point, accessibility is.

Just to give Wubi the full test I tested the uninstall part of the program.  I just booted back into Win XP and ran Wubi again.  Received a neat little option to turn the download into a ISO file, which will allow me to make a bootable CD of Kubuntu (This means that I don't have to waste the 690 odd MB download, very cool).  I then hit finish and Kubuntu was no more.

If you are interested in trying Ubuntu or Linux, as a desktop solution, I suggest giving Wubi a shot.  There is a lot of fun to be had playing with Linux, and Ubuntu is a well supported and accessible distribution.  Just add Wubi to make getting started easy.

Jason