Why is Ubuntu better than Windows?

My wife asked me "Why is Ubuntu better than Windows? And why is it just starting to "catch on"? Hasn't it been around for a while?"

Some may argue that Ubuntu is better than Windows, or that anything linux is better than Windows. Whatever, I don't know enough about either to say that. However, Ubuntu is FREE, and claims that it always will be! I probably spent 8 hours trying to get Ubuntu working on an old Windows machine. That's annoying, but it's really not to bad considering that there's a sticker on my laptop that says "Designed for Windows".

There are other linux distributions, but Ubuntu's goal is to be easy to use, and they seem to have the funding and interest to make that happen. My wife also asked me why it hasn't caught on even though it's been around for a while. It has been around for a while, but it has improved. That is also why it's just starting to catch on. It's improved enough that more dummys are able to use it.

Wife didn't ask this, but the main reasons that I am interested in Ubuntu is that linux is a highly respected OS (popular with computer geeks), and it's FREE!