Ubuntu as a family

[Alan McKinnon]

On Wednesday 24 May 2006 16:58, Michael R. Head wrote:
> On Wed, 2006-05-24 at 03:42 +0200, Alan McKinnon wrote:
> > On Tuesday 23 May 2006 16:39, Carroll Grigsby wrote:
> > > > It definitely means just that in this case. Google do use
> > > > Ubuntu internally, but I wouldn't be surprised if those PhD's
> > > > were having a contest to see who could build a gRedHat or a
> > > > gGentoo the fastest.
> > >
> > > On a more serious note: I know that Google uses Linux
> > > extensively in their own operations, but do they make any
> > > contributions back to the community?
> >
> > Not that I'm aware of.
>
> Any reason these don't count? http://code.google.com/projects.html

Other than that I'm not aware of them, no.

> > It's a bit odd considering that the 100,000+
> > servers that make up Google run a Linux kernel with a custom
> > filesystem and yet a Google Earth that runs on X is apparently
> > beyond them...
>
> I'm not sure how those two examples of software equate.

They don't. It's a social issue, not a technical one. Google's 
back-end runs on Linux for reasons of cost. There's an entire 
category of searches categorized just for Linux. But Linux is not a 
priority for their popular downloadable tools (toolbar, Google 
Earth). It just seems odd that a company so aware and so clued up on 
Linux basically ignores Linux desktops. Kinda goes against the geek 
culture don't you think?


-- 
If only me, you and dead people understand hex, 
how many people understand hex?

Alan McKinnon
alan at linuxholdings dot co dot za
+27 82, double three seven, one nine three five