As of me Ubuntu gets the edge. The CD cover design on the left is just one of the many variations that are centered on the same idea. Ubuntu has the courage to associate human faces to a software product. Faces repeating different versions and interpretations of the Ubuntu logo. “Ubuntu is an African word meaning ‘Humanity to others’, or ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’. The Ubuntu distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world,” is the company’s official explanation for their distribution of the Linux operating system. I am a Windows man myself, and a Windows Vista hard-core user, but I simply fell in love with Ubuntu due to its ease of use.

When it comes down to the actual design of the box, Microsoft’s Windows Vista is hands down the winner. The unique box however has as main practical purpose the company’s need to differentiate genuine Windows Vista copies from pirated versions, sold as legitimate software. While the packaging is not impossible to counterfeit, Microsoft has come to the conclusion that bootleggers did not even try, and instead sold Vista as pirated. By comparison, the boxes for Ubuntu and Tiger are not spectacular. Not for their shape, but what about style? Vista gets second place in my list. It is obvious that Microsoft’s user experience team has done a great job with the design of the overall style of Windows Vista. It is Aero from one end to the other, and the boxes are clear illustrations.

Windows Vista’s packing’s suffer from impersonality; well, the Tiger box says nothing to me. The designers that have looked endlessly for the best CRT monitor, just to enjoy the largest gamut possible in Photoshop know what I am talking about. Tiger’s box is too simple and primitive for my taste, and in this sense it is just the antonym of Ubuntu’s design. Position 3 to Mac OS X.