Re: [tlug] What, no Perl programmers around here? ;-)

["Lyle H Saxon" <llletters@example.com>]

On 8/27/06, Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com> wrote:
> On 26/08/06, Shannon Jacobs (6881) <shannon.jacobs@example.com> wrote:
> > My current impression is that the Ubuntu people are at an extreme position,
> > striving to make Linux even more 'user-friendly' than Windows, but without
> > the driving motivation of securing humongous monopoly profits.
[From Josh]:
> Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of the Ubuntu Linux project, came to
> Tokyo a while back, and a few of us met with him. As he described it,
> Ubuntu's primary focus is to create a free alternative to Windows for
> people in low-income situations. Obviously, the user and usability is
> pretty central in Ubuntu's list of concerns, but I get the sense that
> Ubuntu is primarily trying to compete with Windows on price.

I was one of those present, and my opinion was that Mark Shuttleworth
has poured a lot of money into Ubuntu, but nobody has an endless
supply of cash, and so while he's working towards making Ubuntu (via
the server side) pay for itself, the initial consideration was not a
simplistic one of "competing on price", but rather bringing computing
to the vast numbers of people in the world who are shut out due to
Microsoft's horrible overpricing and illegal overwriting of their
licenses.  (Now a certain professor resident in Japan here will come
riding to the defense of the indefensible... I wonder why he does
that?)

Lyle