Back in November of 2007, we wrote an article about the popularity of Ubuntu. At the time, it appeared that Ubuntu was the most popular Linux distribution according to many different web metrics. Of course, there’s no way to say for sure which distro is the most popular and to know exactly how many people use Ubuntu.

Distrowatch has released some interesting stats about distribution popularity.

Latest statistics from Black Duck Software show version 2 of the General Public License (GPLv2) sliding in popularity. Just under half of all the open source projects contained in the September 2009 statistics used the GPLv2.

Ubuntu is probably the most popular Linux distribution ever. According to the 2007 Desktop Linux Survey, over 30% of Linux users run Ubuntu, and, if anything, the numbers have increased since then. Yet this popularity has a flip side. If Ubuntu is the most popular distribution, it is also the most hated.

There are several reasons that are important in deciding to employ Ubuntu server. First, Ubuntu is very popular and gaining momentum. On distrowatch.com Ubuntu is listed as the most accessed distribution. The popularity of Ubuntu suggests that there will be business and job opportunities for those who are trained in configuration of the Ubuntu Server.

I don't know if that is a good news or bad news, but Ubuntu is going to be more popular than Linux itself according to some statistics via Google Trends and Google Insight.

Ubuntu is already the most popular Linux distribution and probably the first ever Linux distro to overshoot popularity of Linux itself. Now, what Ubuntu needs is a lot of promotional activism from the community. Here is a few Ubuntu adverts from YouTube that I hope will inspire designers among you to get up and start working.

According to the 2007 DesktopLinux.com survey, Ubuntu is the distribution of choice for 30% of GNU/Linux users. The exact figure is questionable, but Ubuntu's dominance is not. For an increasing number of people, Ubuntu is GNU/Linux.

We have all seen Ubuntu emerge as the top distribution. You can argue the figures if you like, but by any standard that I have seen it is far and away the most popular distribution. The biggest problem however is not the Canonical Ubuntu derivatives but the growing number of non-Canonical ones.