>> jrobertson:

“Ubuntu has helped enriched the computing lives of millions of people who are stuck between Windows, and Apple. They were the first company to offer a realistic GNU/Linux distribution which didn't offered an alternative from Windows, and didn't seem fake.
Morale at Canonical may be mixed, however employees have more opportunity than most in my opinion to make their voices heard and do something about it to make their work life more fun, more rewarding, and more meaningful.”

No they were not, there were/are numerous user friendly distros (Mandrake/Mandriva is an example of such a long time before Ubuntu). Only they didn't have loud mouth marketing and didn't give free physical cd's to everybody around the world. It's all in the hype.