Ubuntu "Natty narwhal" inspired by Windows, Mac OS X (ContributorNetwork)

Windows 7

If you are familiar with Microsoft Windows, you'll immediately recognize the taskbar on the left side of the screen. It is much like that of Windows 7, with great, friendly square icons. The logo of Ubuntu in the upper left functions as the button start and allows you to play music, go on the Internet, check your email and find new applications. You can also click and start typing for something.

New apps appear in the taskbar, as they are launched, and you can right-click on one of them PIN to it. You can also click - drag-reorder, and if you start to drag an image or a block of text that you selected, the applications that you can paste will be lit.

Mac OS X

Like everyone else these days, the creators of Ubuntu has made a conscious effort to emulate aesthetics of Apple. With Ubuntu, however, they did a good job.

Ubuntu puts the menu bar for each window at the top of the screen, like on a Mac. There also many key design of the Mac, as good taste system tray icons, monochrome, more unified appearance for most of its applications. The overall sensation of Ubuntu is transparent and elegant, refined and without distraction, and it is a breath of fresh air to anyone who is tired of pop-ups and updates to Windows.

Other characteristics that Ubuntu copied from Mac OS X includes its characteristic of spaces, which allows you to sort the Windows open in four different "workspaces." But a characteristic that Mac OS X really stuck Ubuntu is the concept of the App Store, which, on Ubuntu, is called the "Software Center". Ubuntu has had such a feature of the years before the iPhone was even invented. It is free and paid apps, including popular applications such as Skype and Firefox, and it has even an iPhoto-style application called Shotwell.

Try it yourself

If you want to try Ubuntu yourself, go to ubuntu.com/download and enter free of charge. It can install in Windows, just like any other program or load Boot Camp on a Mac. Everything you need is a blank CD to burn.

I use Ubuntu on my computer for years now, with Microsoft Windows. Of the two, I prefer clearly Ubuntu... and after you use a Mac for a few months, I must say that Ubuntu is almost classy.

For its price, and you cannot beat him!

Jared Spurbeck is an avid open-source software, which uses an Android phone and a laptop PC to Ubuntu. He has written on technology and electronics since 2008.