Ubuntu is so much more than an operating system.

Ubuntu is a philosophy, coming from Africa. I discovered this from a friend's video (french, sorry). There is a wiki page about it as well, but it's not /wiki/Ubuntu.

Well Ubuntu is *also* a linux distro, and they used the word along with its original meaning, and even made promotionnal videos about it.

This at least explains the african nature-looking themes of the early releases:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_vers...se_history

And releases names using animals present in Africa:

- 4.10 (Warty Warthog) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phacochoerus
- 5.04 (Hoary Hedgehog) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_African_hedgehog
- 5.10 (Breezy Badger) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_badger
- 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_black_duck
- 6.10 (Edgy Eft) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt
- 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_stag
- 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) - NOT IN AFRICA (East Asia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbon
- 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-backed_night_heron
- 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boer_goat
- 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) (fictionnal) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackalope#Origins
- 9.10 (Karmic Koala) - Australia! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koala
- 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) - Cold northern regions!
- 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) - good. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meerkat
- 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) - Cold seas! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narwhal
- 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) - South america! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocelot
- 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) - good. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangolin
- 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal) - South america! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetzal
- 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring-tailed_lemur
- 13.10 (Saucy Salamander) - America and tempered regions! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamander
- 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahr
- 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) - meh
- 15.04 (Vivid Vervet) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vervet_monkey
- 15.10 (Wily Werewolf) - MEH!
- 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_ground_squirrel
- 16.10 (Yakkety Yak) - Himalaya! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_yak
- 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) - North America! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapus

I loved ubuntu up to version 9.10 roughly. By using it, you could tell there was a message along with the product. Something like "we do not want to dominate the world, but to help people make their way". I saw it in public places, and I wondered what was this thing. It was my first step into Linux, and free software.

I do not mean being technically a free software, I mean having a message that you do not make programs for money, no endless marketting, not doing the impossible to please the custommer, but giving what people need.

Then they drifted away, starting to care about being competitive, adopting marketting strategies, like Windows, like Apple, like Coca Cola: They started to focus on how to market their product... Oh, sure! with the message still present, "computer for human beings" or whatever, but all companies have a catchy slogan.

Canonical, you do not deserve to market a product called Ubuntu anymore. Do you remember what does this word even means? How different are you from Google? You promote your softwares, operating systems, free of charge, and just like any company, you contribute to some free software.

http://ubuntu.com does not even one word on the meaning of "ubuntu", and here is your about page:

Quote:About the Ubuntu project

We believe in fast, effective computing for everyone. Created by the open-source community and Canonical, Ubuntu is free to use and share, at home and in business.

Shame on you. The closest of your original project is:

Quote:Open-source software ›

Ubuntu is created by open-source developers because we believe that everybody should have access to the best possible technologies.

This passionate global community works together to continually evolve the best systems in the world and then make them available to everybody, absolutely free.

"Best possible technologies". I do not care about having "Best possible technologies" if I have no funds to afford an expensive computer. But what you care about is to "evolve [into] the best systems in the world".

https://www.ubuntu.com/about/about-ubunt...philosophy

"Our Philosophy", is only talking about pedantic details about Licences. But this is the "Philosophy" page of Ubuntu.com! People that heard about the Ubuntu philosophy will come to this page.

They even removed the wiki page about the origin of the name (404). The about page used to give the meaning of ubuntu.

The founder, Mark Shuttleworth seems to follow the same evolution. Started out as a Debian developer, but in 2013:

Quote:On 25 October 2013, Shuttleworth and Ubuntu were awarded the Austrian anti-privacy Big Brother Award for sending local Ubuntu Unity Dash searches to Canonical servers by default

He even followed the tax evasion route by taking money to the Isle of Man. And when the South Africa court asked back for the R250 million out of the 2.5 billion he moved, this guy appealed. Only once the court forced him to pay, he announced he will donate all the money to charity organizations, and people thank him for that.

And then this: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1..._name=IAmA

Now he even says "I am the founder of Ubuntu". Take a social and cultural movment people fave faith into, make a company with this name, let it grow until it become famous, and say "I am the founder".

I am not surprised, the world is full of jerks and full of nice people. But today I discovered that Ubuntu from Canonical has nothing common with the ubuntu philosophy anymore.

It used to be: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Exper...ubuntu.ogv

Also, Ubuntu rarely contributes upstream patches as far as I know.

(08-04-2017, 01:23 PM)josuah Wrote: Ubuntu is a philosophy, coming from Africa. I discovered this from a friend's video (french, sorry). There is a wiki page about it as well, but it's not /wiki/Ubuntu.

I never realized this word has so much meaning, it's a powerful philosophy.

I would be up to translating the video but I don't have a YT account.

As you said with so much strength, the Linux distribution doesn't even come close to the original meaning.
Only old releases such as: https://web.archive.org/web/200602090321...buntu.com/
Had text such as:

Quote:"Ubuntu" is an ancient African word, meaning "humanity to others". Ubuntu also means "I am what I am because of who we all are". The Ubuntu Linux distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.

A picture of the Circle-of-Friends Ubuntu login screen.Ubuntu is a complete Linux-based operating system, freely available with both community and professional support. It is developed by a large community and we invite you to participate too!

The Ubuntu community is built on the ideas enshrined in the Ubuntu Manifesto: that software should be available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities, and that people should have the freedom to customise and alter their software in whatever way they see fit.

These freedoms make Ubuntu fundamentally different from traditional proprietary software: not only are the tools you need available free of charge, you have the right to modify your software until it works the way you want it to.

They're shaming a whole culture.
I think it's to expect with the changes in mentalities, philosophies dwindle in meaning, fade, and the only remains are materialistic/marketted shattered pieces.

Thanks for sharing this with us josuah.

(09-04-2017, 04:24 AM)venam Wrote: Only old releases such as: https://web.archive.org/web/200602090321...buntu.com/

I am glad to discover they had this whole message in their very home page!

(09-04-2017, 04:24 AM)venam Wrote: Changes in mentalities, philosophies dwindle in meaning, fade, and the only remains are materialistic/marketted shattered pieces.

There may still be people convinced of doing great things while contributing to these kind of projects. And maybe they are really doing great things, with great values. But these are sure much less present on the presentation of the projects.

I am glad I came to this corner of the web, now I can write posts like these.


You don't need to configure a software if you own it: You can set the default to suit your setup. So by fixing Linux up without contributing back, you have to maintain your own fork? I hope not!

(08-04-2017, 02:00 PM)jkl Wrote: Also, Ubuntu rarely contributes upstream patches as far as I know.

This is not true, I was a developer for the Ubuntu MATE moderator for a while (before they got official). Then I learned that Canonical pushes upstream all the time. The problem is (or rather was) that the main projects (MIR, Unity and convergence) where strictly Canonical projects which they did alone. But even then they are pushing updates for Gnome, MATE and even XFCE4 upstream as well as for the kernel.

Your mileage may vary.
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news...nux-kernel

(09-04-2017, 04:24 AM)venam Wrote: I would be up to translating the video but I don't have a YT account.

I would be interested in an audio or text translation.

(13-04-2017, 02:02 PM)Adrift Wrote:

(09-04-2017, 04:24 AM)venam Wrote: I would be up to translating the video but I don't have a YT account.

I would be interested in an audio or text translation.

I will do it today or tomorrow.

I have good news: Ubuntu still have a page about the philosophy: https://www.ubuntu.com/about/about-ubuntu

You can now have English subtitles for the video in French:


I tested these lines and they worked for me.

The subtitiles will be uploaded to YouTube as well.

(14-04-2017, 10:44 AM)josuah Wrote: Code:
wget http://josuah.net/p/ubuntu.sub
youtube-dl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eJ3Ml6Yvfg
mplayer -sub ubuntu.sub LE\ *.mp4

Great work there.
Thanks a lot for the effort.

Very good video and thanks for the translation! Ubuntu reminds me of the buddhist concept of emptiness. I wonder where else you can find these thoughts and ideas. I have similar ones and would like to see what others have concluded and thought in the matter.

Also, "I am what I am because of who we all are" is much more beautifully worded than my "We're all connected; you are the consequences of your surroundings" tag-line I've been using.

I have had a similar mindset, coining my phrase: alone, we are men; together, we are heroes; as one, we're gods. Simply meaning the more of us that think collectively, the greater the outcome. And I always try not to preach but feel that we do owe the world around us.

Consider those that say they want to keep the money they earned all by themselves. Well it's hard to earn that money all by yourself when you use numerical systems, linguistic systems, mechanical systems, etc all designed by those before you to perform work that most of us didn't come up with. We were taught what someone else already knew. Without the labors and knowledge of our predecessors, we could never be where we are now. Then it is our duty to give back to the world, so it can continue growing and spinning.

My two cents.

(14-04-2017, 04:50 PM)gnmn Wrote: Very good video and thanks for the translation! Ubuntu reminds me of the buddhist concept of emptiness.

I did not connected it to Buddhism at first, but in the end it looks close to it.

(14-04-2017, 05:02 PM)robotchaos Wrote: Consider those that say they want to keep the money they earned all by themselves. Well it's hard to earn that money all by yourself when you use numerical systems, linguistic systems, mechanical systems, etc all designed by those before you to perform work that most of us didn't come up with. We were taught what someone else already knew. Without the labors and knowledge of our predecessors, we could never be where we are now. Then it is our duty to give back to the world, so it can continue growing and spinning.

It gets hard to realize how much of what we "own" is coming from the others. Basically... everything?

well it wouldn't be your's if you didn't get it, but it wouldn't exist without those before

Look what I've found:

.. I'm scared that you broke into my flat. I've had the exact same three CDs until I misplaced them the last time I thoroughly cleaned. Now I know where they went!

You rocks! Ubuntu rocks (in the past)!

These covers looks to be for music CD with these ear plugs aside.

* josuah does the traditionnal Ubuntu dance, listening at these CDs. _o/ \o/ \o_

(23-08-2017, 04:01 AM)josuah Wrote: These covers looks to be for music CD with these ear plugs aside.

* josuah does the traditionnal Ubuntu dance, listening at these CDs. _o/ \o/ \o_