The Ubuntu One home page. (Screenshot by HowStuffWorks.com)

I’m typing this on a machine that’s running the latest iteration of Canonical’s distribution of Linux, 9.10. Also known as Karmic Koala, this new version, released today, has a number of enhancements. Purists will wonder whether I opted for Ubuntu with the Gnome environment or Kubuntu, which uses KDE; I’ve got both installed and I like the looks of both upgrades. At the moment however, I’m using Ubuntu.

Christopher Dawson at ZDNet also upgraded to Karmic Koala today and wrote about how easy it was to upgrade. Of course, as he pointed out, it’s affordable too. And, if you’re in the situation Dawson’s in, where you’ve got to keep your budget nice and tight, free is pretty affordable.

Among the enhancements in this new version of Ubuntu is the latest version of Gnome and the introduction of Ubuntu One, which is a cloud storage solution. Like Box.net, Dropbox and SugarSync, the basic model is free. Ubuntu One gives you 2 GB of file storage space, which you can access through a software solution on Linux or over the Web. Ubuntu One also lets you sync Linux-related services, such as sticky notes, via the cloud.

I also find that the operating system seems to run a little faster than it did before, and I like the KDE environment better now than I did before. I still need to keep messing with it to learn all of the new gizmos but so far I’m happy.

But even though Linux for the desktop is undergoing additional improvements, there are other places in which it may gain people’s attention. Like in Google’s Android operating system, which also runs on the Linux kernel. Andrew Nusca wrote a review of the new Android phone for Verizon, the Droid, over at ZDNet. He said that this is the first phone running Android that has the computational power to make the most of the operating system. That may help the OS get some new customers.

With each new release and modification, Linux gets a little more exposure and a little more maturity. I know I enjoy using it now that I’ve had an opportunity to really get into it. A lot of people have been dismissive of Linux, but I’m starting to think it could be an operating system whose time has not yet come.

For more on operating systems and other related topics, take a look at these related articles:

What is Linux and why is it so popular?
How Cloud Storage Works
How Operating Systems Work