Several years ago our board mentioned ubuntu – in rough terms, humanity, not as an individual but as defined by one's interrelationships. "The principle of caring for each other's well-being...and a spirit of mutual support …"

The name Ubuntu has been given to a new software package promoting Linux:

Linux, the free operating system [Windows Vista tops out at nearly $400] … has long been entrenched in the worlds of science and commerce. But world domination? That's another story. Even though Linux is easier than ever to use, the dream of many Linux buffs of it replacing Windows as the desktop mainstay is, at best, stalled, and at worst, fading.

Linux developers, though, remain determined to eliminate that difficulty. The best example of their efforts is a Linux "distribution" known as Ubuntu, a Zulu/Xhosa word for "human-ness." More than anything else, Ubuntu has come closest in making Linux ready for prime time. Its developers have bundled not just Linux, but a shelf full of other important programs, such as Web browsers and word processors, into a single easy-to-install package. Once on your computer, it looks and acts much as Windows does.
– Wall Street Journal, Oct. 17, 2007; see article for details.

Ubuntu is related to the word Bantu 'people'. It's from the singular mtu 'person'. I've mentioned Bantu languages before while discussing grammatical gender (aka noun classes). Bantu languages have nearly a dozen by some counts. The prefixes m- ~ ba- go on nouns and any verbs they are the subject of. There's a short discussion here.

I've used Ubuntu, the OS, on and off over the past year, and it's easy to install and use. It's open source and it's free.

Ubuntu is on version 7. It was first released in 2004.