[myNetWords.com] : Ubuntu

Ubuntu

Updated : Thursday 21 April 2011

When Florent Gardan http://www.nuaage.fr suggested I include a definition of Ubuntu, my first reaction was one of enthusiasm. Here at last was a "world word", which sounded African, for a change, and redolent of travel to exotic places. The definition of Ubuntu in Wikipedia (my bedside reading) brought me swiftly back to earth. Ubuntu is an operating system. It’s free (and free of charge), easy to use (for geeks at least), and available to businesses and individuals alike. It was created in 2004 by a South African billionaire, Mark Shuttleworth, with sponsorship from the Canonical company. His initiative looked like an alternative to the quasi-monopoly of Microsoft, bearing in mind that most computers at the time came with Windows pre-installed. Windows, so diabolical and seductive, but expensive and, above all, not free. Meaning that geeks can’t access the source code of the software to develop it. Hence the idea of creating a system that brings together a number of software programmes on an architecture called Debian (or Debian GNU-Linux).

The Ubuntu operating system claims to help you exploit all your audio, digital video and internet potential, as well as giving you access to graphics tools and efficient and fun office tools. The operating system is available in Live CD (or desktop) form, which means that you only have to restart your computer for all the software content of the CD to download automatically to your PC. The user community dedicated to developing, enhancing and optimising this operating system are called Ubunteros or Ubuntists, and they number over 12 million worldwide – it has been especially successful in France, where users include the Parliament and the national police, as well as the French Wikipedia servers.

A new version of the system is brought out every six months, identified by its own code and number. While the concept of Ubuntu is highly technical, the names it gives its various versions are rather more imaginative. They are all drawn from the film Toy Story: version 2.1 is called Slink (the springy dog in the movie), the 2.2 Potato, and the 3.0 Woody (the cowboy). What kids these geeks are!

The word Ubuntu itself comes from the Bantu languages of South Africa, and suggests the notion of "humanity". Ubuntu is a whole philosophy, which can be roughly summed up as “I am what I am because of what we all are”. A practitioner of the Ubuntu philosophy is not interested in competing with others, but shares his knowledge and knowhow. The Ubuntu operating system is imbued with this spirit of sharing. The web is, after all, one of the few places left where we can dream of a better world, where people are motivated by the same passion to act with solidarity in a good cause. Perhaps the “free” web and the world of Ubuntu in particular are to the geeks what Woodstock was to the hippies in the 1970s. People speak of the Ubuntu community in much the same way as the hippy community: they like to get together and party. Ubunteros have their own virtual boutique where they can buy teeshirts, mugs and other items bearing the sign of the tribe. "Ubuntu parties" are frequently held, in France and elsewhere. It’s doubtful whether they have as much fun as the hippies, or that there are even many female Ubunteros at all. After all, "Debian, Gnome or KDE?" is not such a riveting topic of conversation as goat’s milk or where cannabis comes from. Still, we’ve got the message, which is that the really cool compliment for someone nice, open and generous is to tell them they’re "Ubuntu".