Linux is free as in beer. Yeah, and speech too, but I'm concentrating on the beer right now. The same is true for Ubuntu's brand of Linux. You can download a free beer, er, I mean a free ISO image of the latest Ubuntu from the Ubuntu servers, burn that ISO, and install it on as many PCs as you want. You can then hand that CD to a friend and let them do the same. I've done this countless times over the years. I've also paid for Linux many times over the years and frankly, I don't object to do... more »
In every major culture, there are subcultures. Within those subcultures, you may find other, smaller, groups interested in something that seems completely unrelated to the larger group. An individual may tell you they hate loud music but later you catch them rocking out to AC/DC. These aren't contradictions. They are non-intersecting curves of interest that have nothing to do with each other. Or to put it another way, one doesn't have anything to do with the other. So it is with cultures of f... more »
See the difference?A few days ago, Mark Shuttleworth took some time to address critics who scoff at Canonical's contributions to GNOME and the Linux kernel itself by sharing his thoughts on the subject in his personal blog. The post, titled "Reflections on Ubuntu, Canonical and the march to free software adoption", reflecting on Canonical and Ubuntu's contributions to the world of free and open source software. There are a couple of interesting stories, some obvious rationalization,... more »
I'm going to do something a little unusual today and get myself into a little bit of trouble. *chuckle* *snort* Unusual indeed . . .This collection of words is a bit of a rant, I'm afraid. It's about what some call preaching to the choir or more specifically, not preaching to the choir. The Ubuntu Linux crowd prides itself on being a glowing example of the Free Software community at work. Actually, the Free Software community as a whole prides itself on being a model of the ultimate distrib... more »
 And that goes for Canonical and Ubuntu as well. Yeah, I'm talking to you too, so listen up. Picture this scenario . . . Say you've got yourself a nice computer, be it tower, notebook, or whatever, and it has a dual core 64 bit chip. It's a pretty cool system and it came with Windows 7. After much hounding and friendly ribbing from your Linux-pushing friend, you decide you're going to load up Ubuntu. So you wander over to the Ubuntu desktop site to download your desktop Linux ISO where... more »
When are you ever going to grow up?! Act your age!When you're a kid, all you want to do is grow up. When you get old enough to realize that being older isn't all it's cracked up to be, people invariably point out that you should start acting your age. I used to throw out the following argument as a retort. "But if I'm 24 now (later it was 30, 37, 42, and so on) and I act this way at 24, then by definition that's acting my age. Right?" I've been using that argument as long as peop... more »
In the last couple of years, I find myself returning time and again to discussions about cloud computing, what it means, where it's going, and what the implications are for both business and end users. Meanwhile, many of you reading this have happily upgraded your Ubuntu Linux systems to release 10.04 (aka the Lucid Lynx) complete with what some argue is the best Linux desktop ever. I tend to run Kubuntu which essentially means that I'm using the KDE desktop instead of GNOME (though I do use... more »
Surprise, surprise!Canonical and Skype appear to be setting us up for the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Recent updates to the Ubuntu partner repository now shows Skype as a supported package. It's all there in that magic word, partner . Skype is now a Canonical partner. Given how often I've complained about the lack of a credible open source VoIP client under Linux, this smells an awful lot like good news. Perhaps with Skype opening up to Open Source and Canonical, the days of the Linu... more »
I'm going to start this Ubuntu-User blog entry with an apology combined with a bit of an explanation. I'm going to talk about Facebook. Yes, me too -- I'm sorry.You all know what Facebook is, of course.With nearly 3 out of ever 4 intelligent beings in the known universe having their own Facebook page, it's a social networking behemoth. Facebook is so cool and so popular, everyone has either done it, is doing it, or plans on doing it. But a cursory scan of the news will tell you that it's not... more »
Okay, I might be exaggerating about the whole betrayal and murder thing. But this story is about FOSS in Calgary. And it is about COSSFEST 2010. We did, however, kill a few beer. Does that count? And we did have a panel about the death of somebody . . . or something. Muah hah hah!Sorry, I'll come in again . . . This past weekend (April 9th and 10th), I had the great pleasure to attend COSSFEST 2010 in Calga... more »

The expanse of space surrounding Planet *buntu is getting busier and busier. As a result, achieving a stable orbit is particularly difficult when you're easily distracted. Consequently, Marcel Gagné's blog looks at pretty much anything and everything that orbits Planet *buntu. News, howtos, rumors, opinions, controversy, tech tips, helpful hints . . . you'll find it all here. Oh look! A shiny object!

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