Get the community maintained derivative of the Ubuntu operating system, using the Xfce desktop environment.
Xubuntu is a community developed operating system that is perfect for laptops and desktops. Whether you use it at home, at school or at work Xubuntu contains all the applications you'll ever need, from word processing and email applications, to web server software and programming tools. Xubuntu is and always will be free of charge. You do not pay any licensing fees. You can download, use and share Xubuntu with your friends, family, school or business for absolutely nothing. We issue a new desktop and server release every six months. That means you will always have the latest and greatest applications that the open source world has to offer.
Refuses to shut down / reboot when needed
Easily and frequently borked by updates
Pulseaudio - really? Still troublesome after all this time
Who uses Abiword and Gnumeric on any 64-bit computer? LibreOffice should be the default office application.
Summary
Xubuntu was wonderful back in the day, and perhaps the 32-bit version still is. But the 64-bit version is buggy, stubborn, and balks at shutdown and reboot. Frequently borked by updates. No 64-bit computer ever made needs such limited software as Abiword and Gnumeric anymore. They're fine for old relics like my desktop, but LibreOffice should be the default on the 64-bit version in my opinion. I waited until it was a year old to try it, hoping the bugs would be worked out by now, but it's as troublesome on my laptop as a Beta release. This is unworthy of an LTS release, and unworthy of Xubuntu's sterling reputation for excellence (until now)!
The Xfce desktop is wonderful, simple, fast, and beautiful. Infinitely configurable and easy to use. Nicely configured by the Xubuntu team as usual.