I mean your slogan was "Linux for human beings" but I can't see it in your SO description anymore, why?
2 Answers
This is a question I sometimes get from my online students and this is the answer I give
In a linux based world, we have many distributions that are based on it and even though many of them do not mention the word linux in their distro name or in their slogan it does not mean they are somehow separated from it. With ubuntu even if the slogan changed, it does not change how linux works, how is based on and who they try to promote.
It is a known fact that ubuntu is the most popular distro the same as android is the most popular mobile os. Both based on linux but even if they do not mention linux on their names they actually promote linux more than what a simple name could offer.
Ubuntu can change the slogan 100 times if they want but they will always promote linux with or without a slogan.
They will always work for the community, for the end user and for the open source world. So I ask, we this in mind, a slogan is just something insignificant compared to the effect of the ubuntu ecosystem in the tech world and how it promotes linux.
So in the end, with or without the word linux, ubuntu promotes linux on several levels ranging from desktop, servers, clouds, educationally, socially and even influencing countries with the idea of, not only using ubuntu but actually using linux and an open source system.
I'm in no way connected with the marketing department of Canonical so this may not be the official reason: or even part of the thinking.
For me at least the phrase "Linux for human beings" implies that Ubuntu is the best Linux. However, why would we want to limit Ubuntu to just being thought of as the best Linux when we can promote Ubuntu as being the OS of all. For many Ubuntu users the fact that Ubuntu is Linux is not important they just want to know that it will do what they want; and do it better than any of the competition.
Whether you believe Ubuntu is the worlds best operating system or not is a matter of personal opinion but from a marketing standpoint saying "we are the best OS" is much better than saying "we are the best example of one particular type of OS".
That said Ubuntu is and always will be Linux. It's a community open source project and so much of the code at its heart is licensed in such a way that it would be very difficult for Canonical to move Ubuntu away from Linux even if they wanted to and I don't believe anyone at Canonical wants to move away from Linux.
