What is Ubuntu? I am searching new answers. I will say this is more than an operating system... more than a software or man made computer intelligence. This is derived from people who offer humanity or allow or make a way others to grow in the computer science world.
see this
8 comments:
Hi,
The first two posts were ok, but this one is too much. Not being an ubuntu fan, your post hurts me.
Ubuntu is just a derived distro from Debian. If Ubuntu is good its just because of the long commitment and efforts shown by the debian community in the past 2 decades. While Debian is the considered as the first and most pure free software distribution, Ubuntu is competing to become the most Non-Free Linux distro.
I know i would be going a little too far if i say that ubuntu is becoming next "windoze". But its really hard not to say that. The way ubuntu is forcing (it gives no choice and hence no freedom )people to use proprietary software, announcements from canonical about ubuntu netbook will have proprietary codecs inbuilt ( implies directly that end user will have to pay for the license like in windoze), the heart of ubuntu community development (yes, I am talking abt Launchpad) is still a proprietary software, are just some this things that can not be ignored at all.
I even think that we can compare strategies of the ubuntu and windoze. windoze gives away free copies to educational institutions and other mass education efforts, it provides discounted licenses to companies. Ubuntu being a lil more uncommon gives away free cd's to everyone. i see them both as "attempt to addict people" for future gains. Chaining them in a budding stage.
Anish Bhaskaran
Hehe..
Well, i agree with Anish for reasons that ubuntu got derived from debian.
And the free/proprietary thing: No comments.. :))
what Anish said is absolutely right. being derived from Debian, Ubuntu has an upper hand because of the fact that similar to windows most of the underlying details of how the o.s runs is hidden away from end user. I felt the same way as i had while using windows when i switched to Ubuntu 8.04 ultimate edition last week. the very presence of a progress bar in the initial stages of booting is disheartening when what we real demand for is complete open and free society.
Ubuntu seems to be moving for a capitalistic approach by slowly alluring the user community.
And about your previous post on creating swap, its a general idea to create swap space as twice the size of your RAM. E.g: if your RAM is 512MB then the swap space must be specified as 1GB.
Plz understand that I got this Video from Ubuntu 8.04 itself. In that itself they have defined their mission- What is Ubuntu?. Anish, the third, fourth paragraph never I am going agree.
read this http://start.ubuntu.com/8.04/
Welcome to Ubuntu 8.04 LTS!
The Ubuntu project is built on the ideas enshrined in the Ubuntu philosophy(http://www.ubuntu.com/community/ubuntustory/philosophy): that software should be available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in their local language, and that people should have the freedom to customize and alter their software in whatever way they need.
Hi,
Naveen I know very well whats written and shown on the website. I think this knowledge is what makes more furious. :( I believe people should abide by their word especially people behind something like ubuntu.
I dont know if you are aware of the role of Launchpad in Ubuntu's development. I wont say I know it completely as I havent used it till now. But as the launchpad site says "Ubuntu uses Launchpad for Answers, Bug Tracking, and Translations." I hope I dont have to explain the importance of bug tracking in a open source development. And if the software used for this (launchpad) is a proprietary then whats the future of that(Ubuntu)??
If you would search then you could find a lot of discussions (including a bug report in launchpad itself) about it being non free. At some places Mark has commented also. For example consider this :-
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Mark Shuttleworth wrote on 2007-04-18: Re: [Bug 50699] Re: Launchpad should be free software (free as in freedom) (permalink)
We are all actively working on making Launchpad open source.
However, we are not going to do that until there is a clear revenue
model to be able to pay the salaries of the developers working on the
platform itself. There is absolutely no point in taking a step which
would (a) make it impossible to pay the salaries of the developers, and
(b) result in multiple incompatible Launchpad instances each of which
divided the eyeballs currently focused on Launchpad.net.
----------------------------------
There are 2 points stressed here,
1. About salary for developers:-
I thought canonical had a lot of money to spend on getting free cd's to every corner of the world. That money can be used for this.
Otherwise they can raise a funding campaign. There are millions of software developers living like that. with the kinda publicity ubuntu has the money raised will be super huge. I think they can contribute to others :)
Thirdly and most importantly I felt like those words were saying that ubuntu is based on debian and free software so its developers will work for free but developers of launchpad are privileged, they need money. Am not against giving money to them, they definitely deserve it. Launchpad is worth it. But this is not a reason to keep it proprietary.
2. having multiple instances of launchpad. Indirectly saying that open sourcing it will cause the project to split and make it useless. Its like directly saying that the free and open source development methodology is not efficient or successful. :( sad enough.
There is a lot being said about the new netbook remix too. I do understand and believe that ubuntu has the best h/w, best gui, biggest community etc. But still...
Note: this went on bigger than i thought. Forgive me.
Anish Bhaskaran
Anish, you can open anything on my blog. You have full freedom.
what ubuntu has given to me, is incredible. Because a person who don't know how to start linux , where to start or get freely( including CD cost) ,ubuntu is an answer. I don't know about their future plans. But i can't digest what you are saying. Now Ubuntu is giving me as a User as well as some extent programming...that more extents i don't know. but as far as my knowledge that is also possible( that is my limitation) .
Now Ubuntu is giving me freedom as a User as well as some extent programming...that more extents i don't know. but as far as my knowledge that is also possible( that is my limitation) .
read this as my comment.sorry, I haven't seen an edit option in comment
hi,
The way I see it, all the good things with ubuntu are also available with debian(and without the bad things). Debian can do the same things for you that you think you are getting from ubuntu. Then why to go for it. My knowledge in above sentence is limited as i haven't used both. What I can say for sure is "Fedora gives you everything" :)
We all do compromises, windoz for me (and probably for a lot of people) is just one of those compromises. But when we talk about freedom we have to talk about complete freedom. We have to work towards bringing complete freedom. Anything lesser than that(Almost complete freedom = partial slavery) is against the motive.
Anish Bhaskaran
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