blog entry: "Ubuntu and Debian"

[Daniel Robitaille]

On 7/7/06, Matt Zimmerman <mdz at ubuntu.com> wrote:

> > Correct me if I'm wrong, but Mark started Ubuntu in the first place
> > because he had ideas about how to make Debian far more successful and some
> > extra money lying aroudn that he wanted to contribute to making Debian
> > more successful, and Debian wasn't interested.

I would think the best place to find the reasons why Mark didn't
invest directly in Debian is in his wiki entry
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MarkShuttleworth (in the section titled "Why
are you funding Ubuntu, instead of giving the money to Debian?")

> That is not accurate; it was Mark's decision to create a new project, rather
> than attempting to steer Debian in a different direction.  There were
> various reasons why this made the most sense, not least of which because
> pursuing a more specific goal (as Ubuntu does) would not have been
> appropriate for a project like Debian which has a much broader focus.


The closest page on the official web site to potential goals for the
Ubuntu project  I seem to find is the philosophy one:
    http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/philosophy

And I have to say that after reading that page once again, I can see
why some people would think that there seems to be a disconnect
between these noble goals ("Ubuntu is a community driven project to
create an operating system and a full set of applications using free
and open source software" and some of the more recent high-visibility
news from the project, namely the inclusion  of Sun Java and Opera.

Even Mark's wiki entry seems to indicate that there was a clear
decision to steer Ubuntu away from close-source software like Opera:

"I believe that free software brings us into a new era of technology,
and holds the promise of universal access to the tools of the digital
era. I drive Ubuntu because I would like to see that promise delivered
as reality."

I have nothing against close source stuff (as it happens, I'm writing
this email using the close source OS WinXP via the close-source
google's gmail  web interface), but I think there is a bit confusion
out there about what is really the main Ubuntu project goal:

  to create an OS capable of fixing Bug #1? (i.e, not having Microsoft
#1 for market share)
or
 to create the best free/open source OS for anyone to use as they see
fit for their needs.

I personally can see including Sun Java and Opera helping with the
former, but not really with the later.  And probably many people
around here  think that if we achieve the later, the former is
achievable as well.

-- 
Daniel Robitaille