And thus, the were born. Not forks. Not enemies. Flavors . Official, recognized, beloved deviations.
When you download an Ubuntu ISO, you aren’t picking an operating system. You’re picking a family member. And somewhere in that family—whether it’s the grandpa (Xubuntu), the artist (Budgie), or the time traveler (MATE)—there is a flavor that looks at you and says:
Ubuntu Flavors give you the land .
Budgie came late to the party, but it came with style. Originally from the Solus project, it’s a desktop that feels like a modern art gallery—clean, elegant, with a Raven sidebar for notifications and widgets. It’s not trying to be Windows or macOS. It’s trying to be itself .
Canonical, for all its ego, looked at the Unity rebellion and said: “We will not force you to love us. We will give you the tools to love yourself.” ubuntu flavours
Ubuntu "flavours" are official variations of the Ubuntu operating system that use the same core infrastructure but provide different and default applications. Because they share the same software repositories, any application available for standard Ubuntu can be installed on any flavour. The Official Lineup
Choosing a flavour isn't just about aesthetics; it’s about tailoring the operating system to your hardware and workflow: And thus, the were born
Kubuntu’s story is one of nostalgic power . It’s for the sysadmin who remembers Windows 7 fondly, but wants it to be faster, safer, and infinitely more customizable. Kubuntu whispers: “You don’t have to lose the old ways to gain the new.”
Ubuntu Budgie’s story is the middle path . Not too heavy (GNOME), not too light (Xfce). Not too traditional (KDE), not too radical (Vanilla GNOME). It whispers: “You can have beauty and sense.” Flavors
This one is different. Ubuntu Kylin isn’t about a desktop environment. It’s about a culture . It’s the official flavor for Chinese users, with custom calendars (lunar), weather, Chinese input methods, and integration with local services like WPS Office.
Xubuntu’s story is one of rescue . It runs on the 10-year-old laptop your aunt threw away. It resurrects netbooks. It is the flavor of “just enough.” While GNOME eats 1.2GB of RAM, Xubuntu sips 400MB and asks, “Is there work to be done?”