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For decades, Ubuntu has been considered one of the most user-friendly Linux distributions on the market. There are so many good reasons for that, such as a well-designed and executed desktop environment, the simplicity of the apt package manager (as well as the GUI frontend that goes with it), and the impeccable hardware detection.
I’ve used Ubuntu (and Ubuntu-based distributions) for decades and can attest to how easy it is. I’d go so far as to say it’s one of the easiest operating systems on the market. Since Canonical dropped Ubuntu Unity (a desktop environment that I thought was brilliant), it’s enjoyed a level of continuity few operating systems have been able to offer.
That continuity also means the evolution of Ubuntu has been very much on the incremental side. In fact, it’s been a long, long time since Ubuntu has delivered a new feature set that was mind or sock-blowing. It mostly been “same as it ever was” for years.
That’s not a bad thing.
In fact, I’d argue that’s a very good thing.
While other distributions shoot for the moon with major releases, Ubuntu has been rock steady, which means each iteration carries with it a high level of familiarity.
Ubuntu 24.10, released last month, follows in those same footsteps.
Before I continue, you need to know that all Ubuntu .10 releases (which are all made available in October — hence the .10 number) are short-term releases, which means they don’t enjoy the lengthy support found in the Long Term Release candidates. For example, Ubuntu 24.04 is supported until April 2029. At the same time, Ubuntu 24.10 support ends in July 2025. In other words, Short Term Release candidates get nine months of support, while LTS release gets five years of support that can be extended to five more years via Ubuntu Pro.
Some users prefer to stick with LTS releases, while others like to jump on board for the latest, greatest iteration each time. The good news is that you can upgrade from a non-LTS to an LTS at any time. In fact, you can go to non-LTS > LTS > non-LTS > LTS. I would recommend, however, that when you jump from a non-LTS to an LTS release, the safest route is to do a clean installation.
With that said, let’s get back to Ubuntu 24.10.
As I mentioned earlier, you don’t really get game-changing features in a non-LTS release. The biggest inclusion for 24.10 is GNOME 47. Although Ubuntu does tweak the GNOME desktop so that it looks like the traditional Ubuntu UI, it does include all of the fancy newness that comes along with GNOME 47, such as:
This being the 20th anniversary of Ubuntu (the first official release was 4.10), there are also a collection of wallpapers that celebrate the date.
You’ll also find the new Security Center app, which is a welcome addition. This app currently only has one function, which is to enable/disable apps to ask for system permissions (Figure 1).
More features are planned for the future, such as firewall configurations and a simplified Ubuntu Pro enrollment process. Note that Ubuntu Pro enrollment is only available for LTS releases.
As far as how Ubuntu 24.10 performs… it’s impressive. I’ve always found Ubuntu to be one a very performant desktop (blowing away Windows 11 on every level), and version 24.10 is no exception. Apps install very quickly and open almost immediately, there’s very little lag or jitteriness in animations or scrolling, and everything is designed and laid out such that it’s all very easy to understand (aka user-friendly).
Although there has been some stink about Snap packages, I’ve always found them to be quite handy. And, of course, Ubuntu 24.10 has Snap package support built into the App Center, so you can even install both open and non-open source software. For instance, open the App Center and search for Spotify. You’ll find that the app is available to install via Snap (Figure 2).
There’s also Slack, Visual Studio Code, and a host of other third-party apps that can be installed via Snap.
From my perspective, the only thing missing from Ubuntu 24.10 is the ability to create network shares from the file manager. Fortunately, this can be remedied by installing a Nautilus (file manager) extension with the command:
sudo apt-get install nautilus-share -y
You will then need to restart the file manager with the following:
nautilus -q
You can now right-click a folder, select Sharing Options, and set up a Samba share that is accessible from your LAN.
Ubuntu 24.10 is yet another wonderful release from Canonical. Is it perfect? No. But as far as distributions perfectly suited for new users, Ubuntu has been hard to beat for a long time, and the latest short-term release doubles down on that in abundance.
If you’re interested in trying Ubuntu 24.10 out, download an ISO and either run it as a virtual machine (such as with VirtualBox) or install it on bare metal and see what this Linux distribution is all about. Trust me when I tell you that it’s worth your time.
