All Ubuntu Linux releases are free, and they do not differentiate between free and enterprise versions--everybody gets the same , complete thing. Official media is available if you don't have a CD burner or just want "official" CDs to comply with some regulation or obsession. Actually, getting Ubuntu on official media is one of the most impressive things I've seen in the Linux/Unix community since Dennis Ritchie would put Unix on a disk pack for you--the Ubuntu folks will even ship you free CDs and cover the cost of shipping for you! See http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org/ for more information.

Another nice thing about Ubuntu is that they are very up front about their release plans and support commitments for existing releases. New releases are scheduled every six months, and each release is supported for a minimum of 18 months from its release date. This is a nice touch for anyone who has bought Microsoft's FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) about the lack of support for Linux.

Commercial support for Ubuntu is available directly from Canonical, LTD (http://www.canonical.com/), which is the company that sponsors the Ubuntu project. Canonical's support offerings are listed on the Ubuntu site at http://www.ubuntulinux.org/support/paidsupport/. A substantial number of firms all over the world that provide support for Ubuntu are also listed in the Ubuntu Marketplace site at http://www.ubuntulinux.org/support/marketplace. The latter is an incredible testimonial to the wide-spread and well-established nature of Ubuntu after a relatively short time in Linux years.

Free support for Ubuntu is also available online at a variety of places in a variety of formats, as summarized on their Web site at http://www.ubuntulinux.org/support/freesupport. These include FAQs, actual documentation, IRC Chat, Forums, and Wikis. There are even local language support channels and mailing lists for Ubuntu, once again showing their global perspective and commitment, and the popularity of the distribution.

Bill von Hagen is the author of numerous books and articles on Linux. For more information about Bill, see http://www.vonhagen.org.

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