Note: This post was originally published without the word “new” in the title. As the brackets denote, this error has been corrected.

If I had a penny for every seasoned Linux user whose eyes are currently bulging in anger at this title, I would have… still not much money, considering the poor level of web traffic this blog gets. But if you are among those that sharply disagree with me, hear me out so you can more finely craft your criticizing comment.

Below are some reasons why Ubuntu should generally be the distro that new Linux users try first.

Popularity

Large number of users, especially new users

Ubuntu’s community is unlike many other Linux distributions in the sense that it is so much larger than the communities of other distributions. Ubuntu’s community is also unusual in the sense that a good chunk of it is made up of converted Windows users.

As some successful drug rehabilitation programs have recovering addicts talk to those that have successfully broken the addiction ^{[citation needed]}, it is also useful for a person considering switching to Linux to talk to a recent successful Linux-convert. Ubuntu can supply large masses of those recent-Linux-converts.

Large number of Ubuntu-specific tutorials

New Linux users attempting to solve a problem with their system will usually need to follow a tutorial or advice that it specific to their system (distribution, desktop environment, and so forth) as they cannot be expected to translate a tutorial for their distribution (example: using different package management systems to install the same software).

Thus, Linux users need to learn concepts on-the-go because they don’t have the time to stop and sit down to learn these concepts. After all, a newbie Linux user that is desperate to get X.org working in order to finish a report will not be willing to sit down and learn the syntax for the X11 configuration file (/etc/X11/xorg.conf).

The large number of Ubuntu specific tutorials reduces an Ubuntu user’s need to translate a tutorial for his or her system, resulting in getting the job done in the least amount of time as possible. While being knowledgeable about one’s operating system is important, when one’s printer is in immediate need of fixing is a bad time to have to learn about one’s operating system.

Large repositories

One place to find software

One of the reasons that Linux users constantly trumpet about their operating system is because of the brilliant invention that a package manager is. Now, a package manager is more useful and easy-to-use when there are large repositories backing the package manager.

Some distributions, like OpenSUSE, just don’t have that much in their default repositories compared to Ubuntu*.

* It depends on how you look at it. I am only counting the packages that one can find in the default repositories, but OpenSUSE uses may want to include the packages in the OpenSUSE Build Service.

No hunting and/or compiling dependencies

Sorry for picking on OpenSUSE, but I’ve noticed that I’ll frequently attempt to install a package in the repositories, but then discover that a dependency outside the repositories is needed. I’m not sure whether or not this occurs with Ubuntu’s default repositories, but it has not happened to me. The concept of dependencies is immensely confusing to former Windows users, who are used to going to Download.com and running installers.

Media coverage

(This is somewhat along the lines of the Popularity section)

To the seasoned Linux user sadly shaking his or head at this blog post, stating that media coverage of Ubuntu is a reason that it should be recommended to users switching to Linux is silly.

How I see it is that attempting to get a Windows user to use a lesser-known Linux distribution is a bit scary for the Windows user. From the viewpoint of the Windows user, another person is offering some strange operating system that will provide some benefits that the Windows user doesn’t understand completely.

The difference with Ubuntu is that there is a much greater chance that the Windows user has heard of it, thus the Windows user thinks that he is trying out something safe and beneficial, rather than entering a strange and possibly dangerous (to the Windows user’s hard drive) world. It is important to remember that the attitude that a former Windows user approaches Linux with can affect his or her feelings regarding Linux.

Final notes

I don’t mean to say that all users should use Ubuntu.

I don’t mean to say that Ubuntu works for all users.

I don’t mean to say that a user should try Ubuntu, even if it is explicitly obvious that Ubuntu will not fit the user’s needs (Example: Running on very old hardware).

I don’t mean to say that other desktop Linux distributions are terrible. I’m writing this on OpenSUSE 11.1 because of Ubuntu problems.

I don’t mean to say that Ubuntu is technologically superior to other Linux distributions.

And lastly, I understand that diversity is an important part of Linux.

But regardless of all that, I think that if a user could face a difficult time choosing Linux distros, Ubuntu should be the first, but not always the only, path taken.

UPDATE: If you want to see somebody with superior writing skill make similar points, you can check out MaximumPC’s article called “Why (almost) Everyone Should Try Ubuntu“