Far from all user knows how to install two operating systems and run them side by side. There are a lot of things you have to do to make it work; partition drives, make sure that you install the operating systems in the right order, set priority and so forth. It can take a lot of work and research to get it the way you want. This is of course an obstacle for people wanting to try out Linux now that the distributions have matured and become a viable option to Windows.
There are Live CDs to download and burn onto a CD, boot from and then run an authentic Linux desktop environment, without having to install a single piece of data on the harddrive. That’s not enough for some people and to circumvent all of above, Ubuntu developers have spent a lot of time developing a tool called Wubi.
The latest Alpha 5 of Hardy Heron, Ubuntu 8.04, has this feature, which lets a user install Ubuntu from inside Windows. It works just like any other Windows installation procedure. You pick a folder and install. During the installation it automatically sets up a booting menu so that you can choose whether you want to run Windows or if you want to run Ubuntu. No partitioning needed. The uninstalling is just as easy, just locate it in the Add/Remove program list and click Uninstall.
Over at Arstechnica they’ve published a preview of Wubi. Hardy Heron can be downloaded from here.
