Kubuntu is an Ubuntu-derived distribution. The Kubuntu CDs are made up of Ubuntu's base plus KDE. You can get exactly the same effect by installing Ubuntu and adding the KDE packages from the Ubuntu archives.

Kubuntu is the result of several months effort to get KDE 3.4 into Ubuntu's main repository and create the first major derived Ubuntu distribution. Kubuntu is not a fork of Ubuntu but an official project of it, sharing the same package archive and infrastructure. It is possible to convert an Ubuntu system to Kubuntu or vice versa.

Highlights of KDE 3.4 include the groupware manager Kontact 1.1, the multi-protocol instant messenger Kopete and the excellent KPDF reader. As well as official KDE applications Kubuntu also features the finest pick of leading Free Software desktop programmes.

KDE's default settings have been tweaked to Ubuntu standards while remaining true to KDE. Changes include sudo support, an uncluttered desktop and a tidied K-Menu for applications. Kubuntu developers come from the KDE and Debian communities and improvements are sent back to the original projects. Kubuntu would like to thank the KDE developers and Debian KDE packagers for their excellent work.

As an Ubuntu user you should already know that Ubuntu is based on the Debian distribution and ships, by default, with the GNOME desktop. When you tell people your distro of choice is Ubuntu, they will naturally assume you run a GNOME desktop.

Therefore, once you install KDE for Ubuntu, simply saying you are running Ubuntu can lead to some confusion in the support forums and on mailing lists. So, for purpose of clarity and to help avoid confusion, it was decided that KDE for Ubuntu will be affectionately known as "Kubuntu." This follows the long standing tradition of the KDE application naming convention, which entails adding 'K' as the first letter of a KDE application name.

Kubuntu aims to be to KDE what Ubuntu is to Gnome: a great integrated distro with all the great features of Ubuntu, but based on the KDE desktop. Kubuntu is released regularly and predictably.