Wubi is an Ubuntu installer for Windows that lets you install and uninstall Ubuntu from a Windows desktop. Wubi adds an entry to the Windows boot menu which allows you to run Linux. Ubuntu is installed within a file in the Windows file system (a loopmounted partition), this file is seen by Ubuntu as a real hard disk. That way the hard drive does not have to be repartitioned before the Ubuntu installation. The resulting Ubuntu installation is a "real" Linux system, not just a virtual machine. Wubi makes it easy for Linux newbies to play around with Ubuntu.

http://wubi-installer.org/

For my own purposes, I don't see the point, since Ubuntu is ridiculously easy to install already, secondly if I want to mess around with Ubuntu on a Windows box, I might go the virtualization way.
But I think this is great in order to help your less technically inclined relatives and friends make the transition to Linux more easily.

Wubi can be used to install Ubuntu on machines where for some reason or other Ubuntu just won't install.
Caveats:
- people who are running Vista have reported problems.
- it still has some issues that Ubuntu doesn't have. Wubi systems can't suspend or hibernate, and also, they seem prone to weird Windows filesystem errors that leave Ubuntu unbootable. You'll get slightly better hard drive performance and fewer issues with a full Ubuntu install.
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This post has been edited by dserban: Jun 3 2008, 07:27 PM

I've tried Wubi for about a month already, and I don't like it. I just removed Wubi about 2 days ago actually.

It was featured on Download.com as the "Pain free Linux installation". I downloaded it, waited about a night for the ISO file to download, and proceeded to install Ubuntu.

It worked fine for a while, until I accidentally used NTFS compression on the Y: (Ubuntu) drive, then it became unbootable. I uncompressed and it was fine. Then the kernel needed an update, and when it finished, things went downhill from there.

Using a normal Ubuntu installation, kernel updates always mess me up, so I avoid them, don't know if that is safe or not.

Ubuntu may be easy to install, with or without Wubi, but managing it is still hard.

If you are behind a NAT router, you are relatively safe. If your PC is facing the Internet directly, someone will probably try an exploit on your machine within 48 hours.
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This post has been edited by dserban: Jun 3 2008, 07:28 PM