Why I prefer Ubuntu to Fedora (and other distros)

Being a "beginner" is not bad.

Vim and Emacs are awesome. However, why can't I just enjoy Gedit which is much better than TextEdit.app and Notepad? I don't mind people call me beginner because I have very limited Vim knowledge. I change configuration files with Gedit, I program with Gedit, I'm happy with Gedit.

Similar story happens with my selection of distro.

Note: Do be a ninja if you want to contribute to FOSS directly. And a ninja should have experience with multiple distros.

Ubuntu has a friendlier installer.

Ubuntu's installer comes with the desktop CD won't ask questions that only make sense to system administrator. For example, the installer won't ask for root password.

Note: Ubuntu installer would configure selected timezone's country mirror as software source. And it would try to download updates and language packs at the end of installation. This often leads to poor installation experience since country mirrors may not work well. I don't like the concept of language packs itself.

It is easier to install restricted components in Ubuntu.

Jockey in Ubuntu can help users to install restricted drivers. The driver installation experience is even better than Windoze since there is no need to download drivers manually.

"ubuntu-restricted-extras" meta-package covers almost all non-free crap like MP3 and Flash. Most people just need them.

Note: Do avoid non-free stuff whenever possible. And be aware that Jockey may fail on some hardware. Bug reporting should be the best way to help Jockey.

Ubuntu has a Software Center

I think the main reason why Linux desktop fails to gain many users is its complicated software installation process. The huge software repository of Debian/Ubuntu mitigates the problem a lot. However, package is still a concept too advanced. App, on the other hand, is common concept today. Software Center is the easiest portal for normal users.

Note: dpkg/apt, the infrastructure behind Software Center, is not very robust in my opinion, there would be cases where CLI troubleshooting is required. So the experience is not as good as iOS's App Store. The Software Center itself is also somehow buggy. I find myself more convenient with apt-get(8). 

Non-rolling, time-based nature of Ubuntu releases makes sense to most people.

Always having latest version of software is cool. Without smooth upgrading process like that of iOS, however, upgrading becomes really annoying. LTS version of Ubuntu is really fit for people want a stable environment. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS contains GNOME 2 is still supported while Fedora and Arch Linux already forced their users to use GNOME Shell.

Note: Due to the dynamic nature of open source world, important bug fixes only comes to latest version and seldom backported. If you find youself using many PPAs to get latest software, it's a good time to upgrade Ubuntu version or switch to a rolling release distro.