<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-7" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <title></title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> <font size="+1"><tt>...<br> </tt></font> <p class="storybody"><b>Ubuntu has received quite a lot of positive press, what do you think of this?</b> </p> <p class="storybody">Yeah, we seem to have really struck a cord with people. I wouldn't have expected at this early stage to be so widely reviewed and tested and have had such a positive reaction from the community. I guess that's partly because we're building on the very solid foundation of Debian and it is very popular, and also because we're taking it in a whole new direction which has really struck a cord with people. </p> <p class="storybody"><b>How have you been able to so successfully win over Debian enthusiasts?</b> </p> <p class="storybody">I think they recognise that Ubuntu embodies all of the things that Debian embodies. It's committed to being free. All of the applications are free software applications. It's committed to the open source process, so the way we develop is very much the same way that Debian has grown up and the same way that many other community-driven distributions work, in the sense that all of the decisions are made online in e-mail and in forums so that all people can participate. Our conferences are all very open, so I guess it feels like a very familiar place for people comfortable in a Debian environment. When they come over, they recognise the places and faces and tools. But they also recognise that we have a bit more freedom than Debian in terms of making compromises to get our release out in terms of choosing specific applications and specific architectures. One of the great things about Debian is that it stretches across all architectures and tries to cover every piece of software in the open source world. While we retain all of that, we do differentiate and choose favourites. And that means we can be slightly more efficient in terms of getting it down and getting it out there.<br> ...<br> </p> <p class="storybody"><b>What's next for Ubuntu?</b> </p> <p class="storybody">The next release, breezy badger is due out in October and the big focus there will be taking our laptop support focus to levels that I think will rival Windows. We want to make it almost guaranteed that if you buy a laptop in the store, it will just work with Ubuntu. </p> <p class="storybody">We're also teaming up with the LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project) guys to make sure that Ubuntu works really well in a lab or school environment where you have 20 or 30 computers that you'll be using almost as terminals and you'll be able to effectively install Ubuntu just once on one computer and then get it all out over the campus. The LTSP guys are hugely excited about integrating their work deeply with Ubuntu so that whichever operating system you prefer you can stick whatever you want on the server and still use the Ubuntu management process.</p> <p class="storybody">....<br> <a href="http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1774372754;fp;16;fpid;0";>http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1774372754;fp;16;fpid;0</a><br> </p> </body> </html>