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71 Comments
- johndoughy, on 10/28/2008, -1/+33I'm switching to Linux for the first time when Ibex comes out!
- Vadi0, on 10/27/2008, -4/+36Just 215 developers in Canonical. When RedHat has 2,200 and Novell 4,100. Wow...
- scabbers, on 10/28/2008, -1/+28Because Debian already did all the work?
- werries, on 10/28/2008, -1/+17Yeah but theres nothing wrong with that.
- localzuk, on 10/28/2008, -0/+13But look at how polished Ubuntu is. It is much more suited for desktop use than Debian is, due to this.
Every distro has a market, and Debian is definitely a good choice for server work. - JQP123, on 10/28/2008, -2/+15"So what are they making money on?"
Support and donations.
But notice that the article doesn't claim they're making money --- just that "growth" is "strong". "Growth" does not equal "profit".
Yesterday I lost $2, today I only lost $1. That's "strong" revenue "growth" (50%) but I'm still losing money. - bhalo05, on 10/27/2008, -4/+15So what are they making money on?
- oblique63, on 10/28/2008, -0/+10A linux version of 300 would probably end up being something like March of the Penguins...
- tHeSiD, on 10/28/2008, -1/+10ubuntu has come a long way from "normal" linux distros... its not geek-only now
i was a fedora fan (RH9-F9) till i tried out Hardy ...
its makes everything pleasant and simpler - inactive, on 10/28/2008, -0/+9Did you read that article? Shuttleworth said you can't make money selling it, you make it from support.
- jackflap, on 10/28/2008, -0/+9Well you can run MS Office in wine.. CrossOver Linux are giving away licenses today as well :P
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px ... - burkay, on 10/28/2008, -0/+7I use Ubuntu and I admire Debian. This is like God and Prophet. I communicate with the Prophet and try to understand the God. Debian is too complex for me to start at. Ubuntu manages to close the gap for me.
I guess this was some uncalled for religious analogy that will cause me to be buried in 3...2...1... - silfiriel, on 10/28/2008, -0/+7I think that making hardy an LTS was a mistake, the Intrepid Ibex should have been a LTS release. It's much better with more user friendly options unlike any other Ubuntu release so far.
BTW, how are they making revenues? - jamesmcm, on 10/28/2008, -0/+7My friend tried the release candidate and said it's a great improvement for hardware compatibility, I use Linux Mint so I'll upgrade when the new version comes out.
- tvanwyk, on 10/28/2008, -0/+7Okay. Let me buy some lube, first.
- WaddleDee, on 10/28/2008, -0/+7Support Contracts. (For people who WANT to pay for them to fix their Linux box.)
- Phocion55, on 10/28/2008, -0/+6Obligatory "pot calling the kettle black."
- Greg2k, on 10/28/2008, -1/+7I have gone 100% Open Source on my old Inspiron laptop and so far, despite minor problems such as ACPI issues, everything works like a charm. Running Hardy with Compiz Fusion cranked up to "high" is still considerably faster than XP, which shocked me, considering I have a dinosaur of a GPU. Open Office Writer sucks compared to Word 2007 though, but I'll bite the bullet for now.
But I'm not committing my desktop computer to Linux just yet. Windows is still the platform that gets most work done for me, and I just love Vista. Hardware and software support is still better on Windows, but yeah, I do see a future where Linux becomes my main OS. - Greg2k, on 10/28/2008, -0/+6Thanks, it seems like a great idea but I've had problems installing Office, don't know if it's a Wine issue or what. I'd love to be able to, but I guess there's nothing wrong with getting used to Open Office.
- oobuntu, on 10/28/2008, -0/+5canonical is a young company - i bet novell and redhat have a lot of bloat - devs who have been there years and just waiting for their pensions. i would expect this number to increase from 215 though.
- mithrasinvictus, on 10/28/2008, -0/+5No, that would be caldera.
- mickstephenson, on 10/28/2008, -1/+6it has to be true, willynilly said it.
- evilgourmet, on 10/28/2008, -0/+51 of 8 million
Makes a nice Tshirt too. - silverglade00, on 10/28/2008, -0/+4He can't read the directions to get there...
- DreadKnight, on 10/28/2008, -0/+4Seems you care. :-)
- mickstephenson, on 10/28/2008, -1/+5Because you can count users without counting profit
Because if you had read either article you'd realise Mark Shuttleworth was talking about an alternative business model whereby the profit is in services,
Because a popular desktop creates interest in servers and business infrastructure built on linux which you can sell support for.
Read the articles ffs - tvanwyk, on 10/28/2008, -2/+6Looks like somebody has yet to visit the Altar of Literacy.
- brettalton, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3You have no idea how good the hardware compatibility is until you actually try 8.10. Seriously, its that good.
- dizilbdog, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3thank you kind sir
- Divyun, on 10/28/2008, -1/+4Ubuntu is the best os so far. With release of v8.10 or what you call, Ibex, Ubuntu will become better.
2 days to go for the release of 8.10. http://digg.com/linux_unix/Ubuntu_8_10_on_its_way - brettalton, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3You can definitely installed Ubuntu on a Macbook pro before. I've done it several times.
What you need to do, however, is use a bootloader called rEFIt[1] once Ubuntu is installed.
You'll probably have to shrink the HFS+ parition your Mac is using to give Ubuntu some room to install. The desktop LiveCD can do this for you, just make sure you're not at 90+% capacity on your hard drive else it will make things difficult.
As for support with installing Ubuntu on your Mac, there is a whole sub-category called 'Apple Users' at the Ubuntu Forums[2] if you have any questions or problems.
Lastly, there is documentation completed by the community for installing Ubuntu on Macbook Pros[3]
Some categories:
* Really Easy Installing Ubuntu alongside OS X (Dual Boot, no rEFIt)
* Installing Ubuntu alongside OS X (Dual Boot)
* Preparing to Install Ubuntu alongside OS X & Windows Vista (Triple Boot)
* Easiest Triple Boot (Boot Camp)
* Ubuntu Installation (Triple Boot - Vista)
* Preparing to Install Ubuntu alongside OS X & Windows XP (Triple Boot)
* Ubuntu Installation (Triple Boot - XP)
[1] http://refit.sourceforge.net/
[2] http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=328
[3] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro - inactive, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3Because Red Hat makes more money?
- stmiller, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2They are running on Mark's investments and wealth right now.
I agree, Intrepid is much more of a LTS. More work has gone into it. Oh well. - localzuk, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2Erm... Unix dominated server markets until relatively recently. AIX, Solaris, HP-UX etc... The change from mainframe based server networks to generic server architecture changed that though, and Microsoft jumped on that market very quickly and efficiently.
They still don't dominate though, as they don't control all the markets. - brettalton, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2I hope they don't count eight million users directly from downloads or torrents (although I'm sure it is a factor) and use the amount of IP addresses that hit their package servers because I install (or have installed) about 5-10 computers with Ubuntu, per release, with only one CD (x86 alternate).
- warkro, on 10/29/2008, -0/+2There is no open source driver yet. I have the same card and it works with the restricted drivers. I have 8.04 and I had to use ethernet first to get the drivers installed.
- comwiz7, on 10/29/2008, -0/+2Digg is biased. Everybody knows that.
But I have to admit, Ubuntu deserves it. It hasn't gotten slower, in fact the opposite is true for me. - dsn0wman, on 10/28/2008, -1/+3Just remember that Red Hat 9 came out a long time ago (2003), while Fedora 9 is relatively new (2008). There is absolutely no comparison between the 2, other that they both have a "9" in the name.
- Hellis, on 10/28/2008, -1/+3So great that my Broadcom 4318 AirForce One card still doesn't work.
So much for Broadcom open sourcing nearly all other 43xx drivers... just not 4318. Just my luck I suppose, I've tried switching to Ubuntu three times now and nothing has changed unfortunately. If anyone has a success story for a Broadcom 4318 AirForce One please let me know! I'd love to finally make the switch. - bratterscain, on 10/28/2008, -0/+1Why so? When they're familiar with it, maybe it's time to then advance the OS to make more money from support.
- JQP123, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1That's fine if you're talking about real honest change but this doesn't come around very often.
More typically what you find with Linux distros for example, is a few incremental tweaks in each new release; often just enough to break software that worked 6 months ago. That's not real change, that's just lack of concern and attention to detail. This just annoys the user and costs them time and money if they're a business. Not too many people will pay for the privilege of being annoyed. - wigren, on 10/28/2008, -0/+1Definitely.
- silkysaul, on 10/28/2008, -0/+1I agree
- init100, on 10/30/2008, -0/+1"But as the software improves and users become more familiar with it, there is less demand for support and services. Inherently self limiting."
Support is much more than helping unfamiliar users. It includes such fields as integration and customization with customers' existing systems. Those are unlikely to go away even if the software would become perfect. - grexeo, on 10/28/2008, -5/+6So on the one hand you've got Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Ubuntu, saying no one can profit from the Linux desktop:
http://digg.com/linux_unix/Shuttleworth_No_one_can ...
...and on the other hand you've got Chris Kenyon, director of business development, saying revenue growth is extremely strong both on the server and desktop.
Of course revenue != profit, but their comments still seem somewhat conflicting. - melat0nin, on 10/31/2008, -0/+1It doesn't really matter how good the software is, it will never set itself up correctly on every conceivable configuration. Therefore, support will always be necessary in some situations.
- brettalton, on 10/28/2008, -0/+1"We now have over 400 active contributors," Kenyon said. "That's on top of our own internal development team that is now at 120 plus developers."
Overall, Canonical now has 215 employees, a number that Kenyon noted has been growing thanks to revenue growth. Community participation is also high in terms of Ubuntu user forums with over 600,000 members.
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120 developers, 215 employees, so the numbers are even less.
That being said, I'm really surprised Ubuntu even has that many developers. To be honest, I thought it might have been only 50-60. - comwiz7, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1In the previous release, my broadcom 4315 did not work and now it does. Maybe yours will work in the next release.
It's sad that hardware manufacturers can't cooperate enough for drivers to become available. - comwiz7, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1I remember back when the only way I could go wireless was ndiswrapper but now it supports my wireless out-of-the-box. Not even 8.04 recognized my weird wireless card.
- comwiz7, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1That's true but it's good for an OS to go through two groups. I think it ensures a better release.
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