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What is Ubuntu

Canonical, a company that provides technology cosmonaut Mark Shuttleworth is sponsoring development of several open source projects. Among these projects is Ubuntu, a complete suite of software for personal computers that handle everything from internal functions to the processing of words.

The package was named Ubuntu by one of the fundamental principles in South Africa, his native country. In the Zulu and Xhosa languages, means humanity towards others.
The basis of this project is Linux, the free operating system developed largely by volunteers and is widely used by businesses, governments and other organizations to operate servers, computers and core networks.

Since the entry screen you can see
Ubuntu stresses as compared to other operating systems

Gnome, the default Ubuntu desktop

Ubuntu is the intention of making this complex but powerful, easy to use by unskilled people. Hence the theme of the mission of the project: Linux for human beings.
Although the technology behind the program may be quite different, a computer operating Ubuntu is very similar to one with Microsoft Windows. Users can surf the internet with the popular Firefox browser, or edit documents or spreadsheets with OpenOffice.

Surfing the Web with Firefox 2

The best office suite on Ubuntu

Instead of the blue world of Windows XP, Ubuntu is predominantly brown. Some bizarre features show signs of their African origin, such as the burst of drums that resonates when you open an application. Each new version of Ubuntu is known not only for its original name, but a code name of an animal, such as Warty Warthog (the boar verrugoso) Breezy Badger (unworried badger), or the latest version Feisty Fawn .

Ubuntu growth

Less than two years of its launch, Ubuntu has been established as a favorite among the hundreds of different operating systems that operate with Linux. Ubuntu is the first in a list of popular versions of Linux by website DistroWatch.

Ubuntu comes loaded with multimedia applications

Ubuntu: The Revolution

It is difficult to determine the exact figures, however, estimates indicate that the number of operating computers with Ubuntu is 12 million and doubling every eight months. Unlike other Linux projects, such as Linspire, Novell and Red Hat, Ubuntu is distributed completely free. Users can download and use without paying anything, and compaía of Shuttleworth, Canonical, even send you a free installation compact disc to anyone who requests it.

This is possible because of the substantial fortune Shuttleworth. The employer received 575 million dollars from the sale of its Internet compaía, Thawte Consulting, in 1999, and spends about 10 million a year in Ubuntu. It is not very likely to generate money, at least not for several years.

Canonical sells support services for Ubuntu, but Shuttleworth has no idea when it will generate profits.

Held belief that the project is at the forefront of a revolution. "It's a very high risk," he said. "It is not a sensible business model. However, shaping the digital platform of the future is an incredibly interesting position to assume. "

It has certainly created a powerful and effective package of desktop programs. Besides its commitment to release its bizarre public image, Ubuntu has many attractive features and a considerable boost. But to continue growing with the current rate, it will have to expand beyond the existing technology-based to include people with no previous experience in Linux.

The consultant and author specializing in Linux, Tom Adelstein, still believes that, in these times, it is difficult to use for some people.

Ubunto is a system for everyone, even for graphic designers

"From the standpoint of usability, I think Ubuntu is ahead of others. Still, this part of Linux, you need to have specific knowledge about computers to use. Microsoft is still in the lead in that direction. "

A key milestone in the growth of Ubuntu is to persuade the manufacturers of personal computers to sell machines with Ubuntu already installed. Some manufacturers and distributed computers with Linspire Linux packages.

Small manufacturers of computers, competing in the lowest levels of the market, are particularly interested in free software, which helps them to cut their prices. COMPANIES small troop third of the global market, according to IDC research compaía and Shuttleworth plans to visit Taiwan soon to begin negotiations with some of them.

Desktop computers for corporate and government sectors may also be fertile ground for growth. A survey conducted by Forrester Research compaía, found that 30% of U.S. COMPANIES are considering changing the programs of some or all of its PCs to Linux.

Among the companies that are changing is Google, which has developed its own version of Ubuntu, called Goobuntu. Shuttleworth said he also is in talks with the government of Munich to create a version of Ubuntu for them.

Others need more convincing reasons to adopt Ubuntu. Being free is clearly an advantage and Linux advocates argue that the safety and potency of Linux products are superior to those of Windows, although these issues are the center of a heated debate.

Shuttleworth has brought together a group that shares its standards: developers.

Canonical has only 50 employees, but Ubuntu has made several hundred engineers COMPANIES join as partners, as well as volunteers and students, who do most of the work to extend and improve the program.

The Ubuntu community has a reputation for being very friendly, which is important if you are paying. In addition, several developers who dislike the growing commercialization of other Linux projects, they attracted a considerable commitment of Ubuntu to remain free.

However, to sell Ubuntu beyond the circle of initiates "geek" (as they are known to fans of the computers) will require a process of commercialization and mass education, and Shuttleworth's wealth does not compare with the budgets of Microsoft and Apple.

Shuttleworth hopes that the virtues of open operating system will be sold by themselves.

"My instinct tells me that free software is a major force in computers," he said. "Whether you have the strength of Apple Mac, which dominates between 3 and 5% of the market. Or the information center Linux (server), which is 50% and is growing really fast, it s not. "

Because it is not a serious business plan, it would be easy to describe Ubuntu as an amateur game capricious not pass the geek fraternity. Do Feisty Fawn can be a major challenge for a giant like Microsoft?

During his interview with the Financial Times, Shuttleworth sits with legs extended on the arm of the chair like a hammock, which is not to imagine Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, doing. However, it has an impressive track record and certainly, no one can question his dedication. Is currently conducting an exhausting world tour of three weeks in his private jet to promote Ubuntu and contacts in Croatia, Pakistan, India, China, Indonesia and Kenya.

Many believe that Shuttleworth seems to be much fun to be taken seriously. But before, Linux has surprised many people, nothing is more fun for a geek to get a head of an entire industry.

Article originally published in August 2006

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