Ubuntu now ad supported.

[DennisD]

The current version of Ubuntu Desktop (12.04) I tried on a flash drive just the other day was ad supported through it's software manager.

 

I would really have liked to have known about this before I saw ads from some third party advertiser being displayed from within a program on my computer. And if there is some warning, I never saw it.

 

Some have even referred to it as spyware.

 

Regarding Ubuntu, however, a number of issues have come up over the past year or so, including the inclusion of online shopping results in searches – an addition Richard Stallman and the EFF have called “spyware.”

 

https://www.linux.com/component/content/article/135-distronews/708977-the-2013-top-7-best-linux-distributions-for-you/

[Derek891]

The current version of Ubuntu I tried on a flash drive just the other day was ad supported through it's software manager.

 

I would really have liked to have known about this before I saw ads from some third party advertiser being displayed from within a program on my computer. And if there is some warning, I never saw it.

 

I tried Ubuntu back in June and found the same problem you describe. I was very disappointed to say the least, and if I had any idea you were interested in trying a Linux distro, I would have steered you away from Ubuntu for just that reason. I have been trying quite a few different Linux distros for the past several months, and there's two I keep coming back to. First is Linux Mint 15 with the Cinnamon desktop. Very polished and very responsive, with what I think is the best desktop and start menu of them all. It uses Firefox as the browser. Second is Zorin OS7. If you were going to introduce someone to Linux who has only used Windows, this is the one. Wine is installed so you can install and run Windows based software. Chrome is the default browser, but you can also select Firefox, Opera or Midori from their browser manger/installer. Also included is the 'Zorin Look Changer', which allows you to change the desktop's appearance between Gnome, WinXP, or Windows 7. I downloaded the ISO's directly from their websites, used Rufus to create a bootable USB stick, and ran them live from system memory. Sometime between now and April I have to find a replacement for WinXP on my HP Mini 210, and it's probably going to be one out of these two.