System 76 is not Canonical, though. And you can't buy them in stores. They were a lifesaver though when I wanted a linux laptop, and my current laptop is a S76 Gazelle running Slackware. I recommend them.

Your first paragraph I'll give you. I actually started using Linux with Ubuntu in 2006 before I moved on to other distros, so I'm not actually sure what the pre-Ubuntu Linux world was like.

However, I still contend that the most important thing the GNU/Linux world needs, both now and in 2004, is to be preinstalled on hardware and sold on store shelves next to Macs and Windows machines. If Canonical can do this for phones I'll take back all the things I said about them after the Amazon ads debacle. However, I'm not holding my breath.