Ubuntu is a Debian-based Linux operating system, with Unity as its default desktop environment. It is based on free software and named after the Southern African philosophy of ubuntu (literally, "human-ness"), which often is translated as "humanity towards others" or "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity".

Development of Ubuntu is led by UK-based Canonical Ltd.,a company owned by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. Canonical generates revenue through the sale of technical support and other services related to Ubuntu.The Ubuntu project is publicly committed to the principles of open source development; people are encouraged to use free software, study how it works, improve upon it, and distribute it

New features in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

* Unity Desktop has been streamlined for the 14.04 LTS release.

• Support for High-DPI screens and desktop scaling
• New screen saver and lock screen that matches the Unity greeter visual designs, with improved speed and security.
• The option (under Appearance settings) to show menus embedded in the window's title bar instead of the top menu bar
• The application spread (Super + W) has been redesigned, with new features including the ability to type in order to filter the displayed applications / windows
• New window decorations, with improved appearance and performance. Windows contents are now updated live as they are resized
• Dash scopes can now be enabled and disabled from Application lens, inside dash itself 

* The LibreOffice office suite has been updated to the latest and greatest version, 4.2.3, containing new  features:

• Improved import and export filters
• support for BCP 47 language tags
• support for native MATE and XFCE file dialogs 
• a new default document template
• in-place editing of text fields
• document search for right-to-left languages
• spellcheck and change tracking consolidated
• quick right-click context menu to switch between sheets
• random number generation and statistic functions
• functions to access web data (WEBSERVICE, FILTERXML)