The Ubuntu community is built around the ideals enshrined in the Ubuntu Philosophy:

• That software should be available free of charge.
• That software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities.
• That people should have the freedom to customize and alter their software in whatever way they see fit.

For those reasons, Ubuntu will always be free of charge, and includes the very best in translations and accessibility infrastructure that the free software community has to offer, to make Ubuntu usable for as many people as possible. Ubuntu is released regularly and predictably; a new version is released every six months. Ubuntu is entirely committed to the principles of open source software development; we encourage people to use open source software, improve it and pass it on.

Ubuntu is maintained by a quickly growing community. The project is sponsored by Canonical Ltd., a holding company founded by Mark Shuttleworth. Canonical employs the core Ubuntu developers and offers support and consulting services for Ubuntu, although a great wealth of knowledge and support is also available from a number of free online forums dedicated to the growth and overall awareness of Ubuntu. The operating system is rapidly gaining popularity in Zimbabwe and is already used extensively by several companies and institutions, including Solusi University, Halsted Brothers and North Safety Products.