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72 Comments
- TheFounder, on 10/27/2008, -1/+57It will take some time for a linux distro like Ubuntu to generate a profit, but all the power to Shuttleworth .. he's doing the right thing on this.... and I say this typing on Ubuntu...
- kd420, on 10/28/2008, -1/+42Yeah. the sad part of open source is that great product != profit. Ubuntu has one of the best OS's on the market, yet it doesn't mean squat unless you have people willing to pay for support. I'll probably buy an Ibex t-shirt when they come out, at least contribute something. I feel kind of bad, not donating to software developers. It's funny feeling guilty when you're doing nothing wrong, compared to little or no guilt from downloading software illegally...weird.
- weizbox, on 10/28/2008, -2/+28Donate to Gnome instead... you'll get more bang for your buck... and its also tax-deductible, unlike donating to Canonical as it is a commercial company.
http://www.gnome.org/friends/ - stutimandal, on 10/27/2008, -2/+19How can I donate?
- Vadi0, on 10/28/2008, -0/+10http://www.ubuntu.com/community/donations is the link, but seems to be not working at the moment.
- santasing, on 10/28/2008, -0/+9I will pay something (voluntary of course) if I see an option next time I am on Ubuntu.com
- kazamx, on 10/28/2008, -0/+9I want Ubuntu to sell me a USB stick with a live version of the OS on it. I saw a friend who has one and he could boot the computer straight off the stick just like you can a live CD but with the added benefit that you can save changes, documents and stuff to it.
Sure I can make my own but an Ubuntu branded one would be amazing - d0nkeym0nkey, on 10/28/2008, -1/+9+1 for donating to gnome.
- Timmmm, on 10/28/2008, -1/+9Hey he's a billionaire. He can just run it as a hobby!
- freezerburn666, on 10/28/2008, -2/+10oh i thought he said careful with his penis at first
- OrangeTide, on 10/28/2008, -0/+7A lot of billionaires want to have something that can become a legacy and continue on long past their own life.
- tvanwyk, on 10/28/2008, -1/+7And that's the problem. Redhat Inc. currently holds far more of the Linux support market than does Canonical. It would be tough for Shuttleworth and company to edge out Redhat.
Personally, for the home desktop, I prefer community support better than paid support. I think a lot of people are like that in the Linux world, which is why it seems Canonical will have to look to outting Redhat in the server and enterprise workstation support markets to turn a profit. - inactive, on 10/28/2008, -0/+5After seeing the meteoric rise of Ubuntu I'd say its a good investment. This is coming from a Windows user who has casually tinkered with Ubuntu.
- RedTroll, on 10/28/2008, -1/+6"Hello, I'm a CEO of a struggling company in desperate need of revenues. Our unique business model is based on spending money on our own product, by giving it away for free and paying the shipping and bandwidth costs. Therefore we ask all kind-hearted people for a small donation, on behalf of our customers and our hungry families. God bless You."
- pyrates, on 10/28/2008, -0/+53-5 years? Maybe. What it comes down to still is that politics are interfering in features in Ubuntu. Just look at the features that would seem good but are voted down because the end user isn't being thought of as first. And instead things like does it benefit proprietary software, if that is true, then it is automatically voted down no matter how useful it is to the end user. An example is a stable api/abi for the kernel, which would allow hardware manufacturers to release binary drivers for linux that would work with major kernel releases, but Linus won't allow for that so things like compiling a module for the kernel from NVidia to get its binary drivers working is being done, which just wastes everybody's time and the wifi wrapper that allows you to use windows wifi drivers instead is worked on when it should be fixed in the kernel itself. This is what is truly holding linux back. It will always keep linux from using the latest and greatest hardware while allowing windows to use the latest and greatest hardware, if they insist on not allowing binary only modules that are based on the version number of the kernel being used at the time.
- weizbox, on 10/27/2008, -1/+6Well, the distro itself won't be making them any money... it's all about services, and if he's able to find enough people that want to buy services from Canonical.
The only problem he's facing now is to make his services look more attractive than other competitors.. or even from having people in-house to support the software, like what Wikipedia is doing. - trougnouf, on 10/28/2008, -0/+5No one here is looking forward to another Microsoft.
- aidave, on 10/28/2008, -0/+5Canonical has already shot themselves in the foot with support costs.
The MINIMUM support you can purchase is $250 for a year.
No one on a budget is going to buy that. I've already asked repeatedly for a cheaper support option ... say $50/1-2 months. Thats a better deal for them and for me. They simply need a more reasonable support plan and people will buy them. - Balla79, on 10/28/2008, -0/+5Which is also a good advice. Not being careful with it, may cause huge investments as well.
- aidave, on 10/28/2008, -0/+5Here is an idea for Canonical to make some profits:
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/14935/ - bffoley, on 10/28/2008, -0/+4I think Digg should implement a system like this. $1 for each new story that is about Obama, Ron Paul, Macs or Top Ten anything.
- weizbox, on 10/28/2008, -1/+5'Yeah. the sad part of open source is that great product != profit.'
I always thought of the free part as being a good thing :)
'...it doesn't mean squat unless you have people willing to pay for support.'
Why? I think it means a lot, as-is.
'I'll probably buy an Ibex t-shirt when they come out, at least contribute something.'
Donate to Gnome... its tax-deductible and not the project of a billionaire who has plenty of cash to spend on it :)
http://www.gnome.org/friends/
'It's funny feeling guilty when you're doing nothing wrong, compared to little or no guilt from downloading software illegally...weird.'
I know the feeling :) Donating helps.. or even just being a part of the community and submitting bug reports when you see something not acting like it should. - 6minuteabs, on 10/28/2008, -1/+5hahaha. Oh, you were serious. My bad.
- ethana2, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3Perhaps Dell should buy Canonical and use it to compete with Apple? ..meh
3-5 years is 6 - 10 releases. That's a lot, when we've already come so far. FOSS moves fast.
Ubuntu 8.10 ships with the best theme I've seen, and its support for atheros and broadcom should enable it to pull in some serious share over the next six months...
Typed from Ubuntu 8.10.. on a Dell that came with 7.10 - Corvias, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3Actually, it does.
http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=v ... - Icetype, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3Yeah PulseAudio is a bit weak ATM. They'll get it eventually.
- cdigioia, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3Does Canonical charge computer makers anything for selling computers preloaded with Ubuntu?
- Castaa, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3I can say that Ubuntu Linux is vital to our video game company. As a server and development platform.
- inactive, on 10/28/2008, -5/+8Make it work with my very non-exotic soundcard flawlessly, and we'll talk.
- weizbox, on 10/28/2008, -4/+7It's working here, but don't donate to a billionaires pet project when other projects do a lot more for Linux as a whole.
- inactive, on 10/28/2008, -1/+3That's not possible and your implication is stupid. Your OS isn't bad just because people need technical support. People will always need technical support because there's no way for EVERYBODY to now all the ins and outs of any given OS.
- Claverhouse, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2"like what Wikipedia is doing" *cries*
- aywwts4, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2Ubuntu 8.10 comes with a utility to do that for you now, it's installed by default, just download the 8.10 iso in a couple of days, burn it, boot the live version, and look for it in the preferences settings, making a usb stick is now a lot easier for newbies.
- novalux, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2Well no, it has problems with some Creative cards I believe, because of the proprietary drivers. I've got sound working on my laptop, but not on my desktop because it has one of the gaming Creative cards. Creatuve X-fi or something like that I believe.
But this does illustrate the problem lot's of people have with Ubuntu, and adopting Linux-based operating systems in general. It can be difficult for all of their hardware to "just work." Most people don't want to mess with the console, or finding apt sources. They want it to "just work." Ubuntu is getting A LOT better at this though. Most of the problem rests on manufactuers however. All they'd need to do is release Linux drivers as well as Windows. - japandave, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2I think alot of people are really fed up with taking part in the capitalist scheme of profiting of the sweat of others who are working for profit. To want to give money or something to those who are willing not to take money for it (pro bono) is a really noble cause and as such part of a 'cashless' society which man really needs to evolve. Have a look at Zeigteist2. (Although the video has nothing to do with Ubuntu, it discusses essentially what your post was about.)
- weizbox, on 10/28/2008, -1/+3tvanwyk,
'Personally, for the home desktop, I prefer community support better than paid support. I think a lot of people are like that in the Linux world'
Very true, and considering how computer-savvy most people are now (slowly but surely), home support just really isnt needed anymore when you can call over the kid from across the street or a friend to check out your computer if it's having issues. Generally, everyone knows somebody who knows computers well enough to fix the majority of everyday problems.
As well, with more people learning Linux nowadays due to it's increasing popularity, there will be a lot more pros out there that companies can probably hire for less than some of these support services. Wikipedia for example, went in-house instead of buying support services from Canonical when switch the servers to Ubuntu. - gandhii, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2Below is my favorite part from the article, the last paragraph. One of the few things positive that we have to look forward to these next couple of years. Particularly the second bit. I hope for some real evolution of the desktop interface as people get more comfortable with the idea of compiz and things develop that are actually really useful rather than just looking cool.
FTA: "Looking forward, Canonical expects Ubuntu's development will embrace three key trends, Shuttleworth said: Touch-based interactivity ("most devices will have a touch dimension within them"); 3-D imagery ("the lines between the 2-D desktop and 3-D gaming environment are going to blur"); and the integration of Web-like features with the desktop experience." - SpeedSteamBoat, on 10/28/2008, -1/+2CompizFusion already has lots of really useful functions. Even Microsoft agrees, just look at the Windows 7 submission.
That said, I too am excited for more. - SpeedSteamBoat, on 10/28/2008, -2/+3Works fine with all three of my off brand sound cards as well as the integrated sound chips on both my mother boards. I think you're doing something wrong.
- PHLAK, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1"It's funny feeling guilty when you're doing nothing wrong, compared to little or no guilt from downloading software illegally...weird"
That's because the software Canonical makes (Ubuntu) is actually GOOD software, where as the majority of the software you pirate is either ***** (Windows/Office), over priced (Photoshop) or riddled with ***** DRM (Spore/Every other EA game). - joelhardi, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1Well, there are Linux distributors who figured out how to operate profitable a while ago -- Redhat, Suse, Mandriva (and people like Ximian and Xandros) -- and companies like IBM that make money selling support contracts. 5+ years ago, Mandrake was basically operating like Canonical ("sure it would be nice to be profitable but in the meantime our investors are happy to finance us to make desktop pretty") until the ***** hit the fan and they *had* to turn profits.
I don't think it would be too hard for Canonical to do same -- although despite their desktop focus, Mandrake's server OS (mostly popular in Europe) was a larger part of its business than Canonical's server offerings are now versus desktop Ubuntu.
I'm still a bit underwhelmed by Canonical's sales and product offerings to the enterprise. And a bit sad they haven't done more with OEMs -- with the whole netbook market arising, for instance, why doesn't Canonical have a deal with one of these manufacturers to put Ubuntu on these things? I think that could sell really well -- the Dell/Ubuntu partnership has already done OK. - aidave, on 10/28/2008, -0/+1While you can't buy that preloaded, you can buy an Ubuntu branded USB key and put Ubuntu on it yourself. I've got one and have 8.10 loaded on it already.
- HonestAbe, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1Ooh, I know! You could make a system where it's illegal for people to copy things without paying for them for a few years, after which it becomes the property of the public and they can freely copy and exchange things and do with them as they please.
http://www.tomwbell.com/writings/(C)_Term.html - RyeBrye, on 10/28/2008, -1/+2Why would dell need to buy Ubuntu?
What would that give them that they don't already have?
I'm guessing 90+% of their market share comes from windows sales anyway... how do you think Microsoft would like that? - shredswithpiks, on 10/28/2008, -1/+2unfortunately for profit if you make an OS well enough nobody will *need* to pay for support...
- inactive, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1I agree...He's already thrown down the gauntlet and I expect things to really go into a higher gear within the next year or so.
I'm using Cosmosis, which is based off of Kubuntu. - flashx, on 10/28/2008, -0/+1weizbox,
not to be an a-hole but many of us tech savvy people stop fixing computers for free. I for one has done my deeds to help my share with friends. Well, I love linux and love to help, but I don't have the time and energy like most other people who are in the same position. Most people just take it for granted that I have to fix their computer. I think cheap home support isn't a bad thing. All you have to do is respond to your friend saying "hey, ubuntu is great, you get great support for $20 a years :) " Done and done! - pyrates, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1Here are somethings they really need to work on:
1. Stable api for audio, don't have multiple audio systems for one system, this makes development harder
2. Stable video sub system that NVidia does properly in their drivers and yet the open source version has not implemented yet
3. Properly documented development guidelines for gnome. The ones out there are from 2001, they need to be updated.
4. Once the video subsystem is there, then an api to access advanced features of it like animations like OS X and soon to be Windows 7 does.
But he talks about making money on support with it, if it is truly easy to use, then you won't need to call tech support, and therefore no money will be made. This is the problem with open source software if they plan to make money from support, they have no incentive to make it easier to use. - HonestAbe, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1"You might have a Mac at home, a PC at work, and an iPhone or iPod touch. How do you keep them all in sync? With MobileMe, your email, contacts, and calendar stay the same wherever you check them, no matter what device you use."
Why doesn't Ubuntu run a web service like this? Users in wealthy countries can pay a subscription fee to get an account on the servers, including storage space to access files from anywhere, dynamic dns registration, and other net services like that, with some of the money going to development. -
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