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July 25, 2007
Tim O'Reilly interviews Mark Shuttleworth
Listening to a keynote presentation at OSCON 2007 where Tim O'Reilly is interviewing Mark Shuttleworth.
Tim asks why is Ubuntu winning.
Mark responds that they are trying to build something that works for everyone. The software is buing built in a very modular way so that it can be flexible with changing hardware.
Mark uses Ubuntu on the laptop and kubuntu on his home machine.
The rationale behind the Ubuntu rapid release cycle is to play to our strengths, collaboration which leads to innovation. They don't have to play to a traditional release cycle that is driven by features.
Ubuntu started as a 20-person team, is now 110 folks. They built Launchpad as a way to keep track of the conversations about all of the different applications and tools being developed. It is part of the business process for Ubuntu, but they want to make it available for others to use and keep the data available to export.
Since Linux is getting more history people know what they want Ubuntu attempts to priorities.
Ubuntu focuses on internationalization, starts with Mark growing up in Capetown, South Africa but is also a driving force because there are brilliant people everywhere. In the west things are often driven by business, else where it is driven by passion. Ubuntu tries to cater to both sides.
Software is the intimate part of your computing experience. The quality of that experience is important. The decision to be involved with the desktop instead of server-based software is influenced by this. Mark suggests that the future might swing back to the desktop, but with the internet cloud providing rich data.
Posted by mike at July 25, 2007 10:00 AM