Wednesday, July 04, 2012: It is a widely known fact that Google’s Android is the most popular mobile operating system and when you look at other open source distribution; Canonical’s Ubuntu is way ahead of others. While both the systems are based on Linux, none actually refer to that term anywhere, upsetting a lot of open source enthusiasts. Here is why both the companies refrain from using the term ‘Linux’.
Steven J Vaughan wrote in a ZDnet report that it is about the common perception. He says: If you're a Linux user, what do you think of when you hear “Linux.” You think about stability, security, open-source, flexibility, power, and control. You probably also think about Tux, the Linux penguin. But, now what do the 95 per cent plus of the population who doesn’t use Linux directly think about it when they hear “Linux.” They think, hard-to-use, command-line, something that only a techie geek—and I don't mean that in a fun Big Bang Theory kind of way—could use, never mind enjoy using.

This is irrespective of the fact that desktop Linux is easy to use and there is nothing that the users cannot do with Linux, which they can do with Windows. So it makes all the sense for Google and Canonical to address their operating systems as Android and Ubuntu and not Linux. This helps them battle all the ‘Linux is complex’ jazz that comes their way from some hard-core Windows users.