The author of this article is basically saying that Facebook is vulnerable to failure because the mass of people might leave and join another service. The reason for that happening would be to join a free and open network, but as I stated before (without evidence) most users don't care about a company owning their data anyway - so it's not going to happen.
I am saying the first part. I am not saying that users will necessarily leave because they want to join a free network. If you read my post (or even the little bit quoted above) you will see that I suggest that folks might also leave for a sexier proprietary service.
I care deeply about free and open networks and I'm actively engaged in advocacy to encourage other people to care about this also. I think, to differing degrees, many people do care about these fundmental issues. But I also think the real political implications of using particular technologies are pretty opaque to many users.
This particular essay was just trying to argue that suggest that people are being unimaginative if they throw their hands at the idea of Facebook's network effects. I hope it's eventual replacement is more free and more fair. But I don't think it has to be. It might very well be worse.
It sounds like perhaps your order got lost in the mail or something. Why don't you email info@shipit.ubuntu.com and ask to be resend CDs.
We are shipping thousands of orders a week and the vast majority are arriving without problem.
There has been discussion on the list and the autopackage maintainer has come onto Ubuntu lists and explained that autopackage is perhaps not the Solution To All Problems that some people think it might be.
We'll certainly support autopackage but we're not going to base the distribution on it. It is, after all, not designed to do that anyway.
No, it does not. I suspect he had a problem with our first prerelease install CD, not with the Live CD that was seperate from his Live CD issues. In any case, the Live CD code is all new now and no, it will not write anything to disk or torch your MBR.
There is a server installation option. It will not install any services in any default install. But then again, when I build a server, I want to start with a blank slate and install what I want anyway.:)
Like last time, we're also sending out free pressed CDs in the mail (gratis CDs, gratis shipping). If you want them, you can sign up for them at http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org
I'd like to remind you, folks, that it's year 2005 we're talking
about here. Every god damn Windows app can accept unicode, and Windows
itself can accept any language in five mouse clicks.
Try the preview of the new version released several weeks ago. A
Unicode world has been both the default and assumed everywhere in
development Ubuntu for nearly six months now. You can select a
language at the GDM screen and get it up and running with full
internationalization quite easily. The language-support and
language-package project that Ubuntu is running is doing great things
for l10n but help from those communities that speak the language and
use the input methods is going to be essential.
But UL seeks to do all development directly within the Debian
organization, in order to achieve maximum transparency and public
participation (a better explanation is in the UserLinux white
paper).
There are lots of possible valid criticisms of Ubuntu but I'm not
sure a lack of transparency and barriers to public participation are
among of them. As a member of both Debian and Ubuntu, I think I can
speak to that.
Debian actively uses a private (developer only) mailing
list. Ubuntu does not. Similarly, it it is much more difficult
to become a Debian developer and get upload privileges than it is to
get similar rights with Ubuntu.
There was a community meeting and the voice of the community was he heard. Try reading a more recent thread on Ubuntu-Users for the full story. For example, this message.
You're probably confused because the image on the Ubuntu site is not updated yet.
I think you're oversimplifying each of the projects out there. I know from my work with Debian that Debian itself means a lot to many people. Debian has a lot of things people like -- tons of packages and a great package management system for example -- but that's not enough for everyone (or even anyone).
For many, Ubuntu may be little more than Debian with frequent time-based releases and a more polished desktop -- which alone is a benefit over other distros and even windows
For others, it will be the emphasis on translation and internationalization that seals the deal.
Since many of the developers on Ubuntu are Debian developers, we're going to start by making a distro that has all of the things we like about Debian and puts them in a easier, more managable package that fixes some of the most frequently heard problems and annoyances with Debian that are tough to fix within Debian for a variety of reasons.
There are a number of distros out there. If you're curious, download an image and try it out.
If you like what you see and you think Ubuntu is promising, join the lists and file bugs when things annoy you and help make sure it stays attractive and gets better.
Downloading the CD is free. Getting the CDs shipped to your door is even free in this case. You'll never know which of the Debian-derivatives is the one you want until you try them.:)
There's an entire HOWTO on this distributed by the Linux Documentation Project. It's the Free Software project management howto and you can pick it up at:
Slashdot Mirror
The author of this article is basically saying that Facebook is vulnerable to failure because the mass of people might leave and join another service. The reason for that happening would be to join a free and open network, but as I stated before (without evidence) most users don't care about a company owning their data anyway - so it's not going to happen.
I am saying the first part. I am not saying that users will necessarily leave because they want to join a free network. If you read my post (or even the little bit quoted above) you will see that I suggest that folks might also leave for a sexier proprietary service.
I care deeply about free and open networks and I'm actively engaged in advocacy to encourage other people to care about this also. I think, to differing degrees, many people do care about these fundmental issues. But I also think the real political implications of using particular technologies are pretty opaque to many users.
This particular essay was just trying to argue that suggest that people are being unimaginative if they throw their hands at the idea of Facebook's network effects. I hope it's eventual replacement is more free and more fair. But I don't think it has to be. It might very well be worse.
The editor changed it and it's no longer strictly true. Apparently, someone from the FSF has mailed about this.
I meant copyleft. How embarrassing. :)
It sounds like perhaps your order got lost in the mail or something. Why don't you email info@shipit.ubuntu.com and ask to be resend CDs. We are shipping thousands of orders a week and the vast majority are arriving without problem.
We'll certainly support autopackage but we're not going to base the distribution on it. It is, after all, not designed to do that anyway.
No, it does not. I suspect he had a problem with our first prerelease install CD, not with the Live CD that was seperate from his Live CD issues. In any case, the Live CD code is all new now and no, it will not write anything to disk or torch your MBR.
I may try these debian based distro's. How stable are they? Are they relatively bugfree?
I think you'll be pleasently surprised. If you find bugs (especially if you use a development snapshot), we've got a bug tracking system as well.
Fun codes names are so that we don't take ourselves too seriously. Much more dangerous IMHO. ;)
There is a server installation option. It will not install any services in any default install. But then again, when I build a server, I want to start with a blank slate and install what I want anyway. :)
Like last time, we're also sending out free pressed CDs in the mail (gratis CDs, gratis shipping). If you want them, you can sign up for them at http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org
I'd like to remind you, folks, that it's year 2005 we're talking about here. Every god damn Windows app can accept unicode, and Windows itself can accept any language in five mouse clicks.
Try the preview of the new version released several weeks ago. A Unicode world has been both the default and assumed everywhere in development Ubuntu for nearly six months now. You can select a language at the GDM screen and get it up and running with full internationalization quite easily. The language-support and language-package project that Ubuntu is running is doing great things for l10n but help from those communities that speak the language and use the input methods is going to be essential.
But UL seeks to do all development directly within the Debian organization, in order to achieve maximum transparency and public participation (a better explanation is in the UserLinux white paper).
There are lots of possible valid criticisms of Ubuntu but I'm not sure a lack of transparency and barriers to public participation are among of them. As a member of both Debian and Ubuntu, I think I can speak to that.
Debian actively uses a private (developer only) mailing list. Ubuntu does not. Similarly, it it is much more difficult to become a Debian developer and get upload privileges than it is to get similar rights with Ubuntu.
You're probably confused because the image on the Ubuntu site is not updated yet.
I think you're oversimplifying each of the projects out there. I know from my work with Debian that Debian itself means a lot to many people. Debian has a lot of things people like -- tons of packages and a great package management system for example -- but that's not enough for everyone (or even anyone).
For many, Ubuntu may be little more than Debian with frequent time-based releases and a more polished desktop -- which alone is a benefit over other distros and even windows
For others, it will be the emphasis on translation and internationalization that seals the deal.
Since many of the developers on Ubuntu are Debian developers, we're going to start by making a distro that has all of the things we like about Debian and puts them in a easier, more managable package that fixes some of the most frequently heard problems and annoyances with Debian that are tough to fix within Debian for a variety of reasons.
It's XFree86 at the moment but the packages will be going into our development branch as soon as it opens. :)
There are a number of distros out there. If you're curious, download an image and try it out.
:)
If you like what you see and you think Ubuntu is promising, join the lists and file bugs when things annoy you and help make sure it stays attractive and gets better.
Downloading the CD is free. Getting the CDs shipped to your door is even free in this case. You'll never know which of the Debian-derivatives is the one you want until you try them.
To get those free CDs shipped to you, you can go directly to this link:
http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org
We've got torrents online. They are here:
I would know. I wrote it.