Today’s cloud storage/backup market is flooded with competition, all offering similar services. Dropbox, Box.net, Amazon Cloud Storage, Minus.com, Memopal, Windows SkyDrive, Google Docs (of a sort) and, finally, Ubuntu One. But which is the best service? Is the most storage for free the criteria that makes it the best? Security? Ease of use? Least annoying?

As far as free services go, Ubuntu One has the loyalty vote of many Linux fans who see its availability for Android, iOS, and Windows as a plus on top of a stellar service. The original Windows client beta was released a year ago this month, and has gone through rigorous testing since that time to become a pretty slick, free application.

You are given 5GB of storage for free, as is standard with most free cloud storage solutions. The interface itself is easy to navigate and isn’t just a network-attached folder (though it has that), with navigation tabs that you’d expect to find in any cloud application’s administrative panel.

One annoyance is that you cannot open non-sync’d folders locally without using the web interface; it just won’t open the folder as “local” without the “Sync locally” flag checked. It’s a simple click from inside the application, but it’s an extra step and takes you away to the browser, where more loading occurs. This could be easily fixed in an update, and it’s nothing to make you trash the service over.

So, what does Ubuntu One have that competing services do not? Not much. Until cloud storage providers offer additional services with their storage options, they will blend together in a way that, fortunately, will help users get the most out of cloud storage in general. You could, for instance, use Ubuntu One for all of your Linux- or admin-related files, and Dropbox can store your personal effects. The service name can be the indicator of the type of item you save there. As an aggregate of total online storage, 5GB is a decent free offering. You can easily amass 100GB or more between multiple services, or have redundant backups stored through different companies.

All in all, the only thing Ubuntu One currently brings to the table is its ease of use and company name. Geek cred can only take you so far, though, so to burst into mainstream popularity like some of the more well-known cloud storage names like Dropbox, Ubuntu will have to bring something else to the table besides multi-platform clients and 5GB of free storage; they’re just running with the pack right now.

If you use Ubuntu One, or you’ve decided against it in favor of another service, let us know in the comments.