Dear Ubuntu User Reader,
And I am a developer. I guess. Of sorts. I have written code, especially for articles. Most of the time it was "pedagogical" code, in that I wrote it to teach something, such as how to control external hardware using a web version of Scratch, or how easy it is to write an apps for a given mobile OS. But, even stuff designed for teaching has real-world applications. Thus, the Snap! expansion that I created to be able to access the Raspberry Pi's GPIOs actually works, as does the implementation of Conway's Game of Life
for FirefoxOS [1] – which even got into the store.
I am also a documenter. That's actually my day job. Apart from editing for Ubuntu User
, I write for its sister publications, Linux Magazine
and Raspberry Pi Geek
, blog professionally for OCS-Mag [2] (OCS stands for Open Content and Software
, by the way), and shadow-write for Free Software-dealing companies and organizations. I also get into heated written arguments on the virtues of FLOSS on the Internet, but I'm not sure if that counts.
I'm a beta tester – a.k.a. a sucker for bleeding-edge versions of funky Open Source apps. As soon as a new version of Blender, Inkscape, Synfig, LibreOffice, or whatever gimmicky software catches my attention is released, I'm all over it. If it's not in my distro's repos, I'll go download a package from the project's site. If there is no package, I'll grab the source files from the Git repository and compile it myself. Unsurprisingly, experimental software often doesn't work as expected. When I hit a hitch, I'll check around, see if anybody else has the same problem, maybe even drop into a chat room and talk to the developer. I might file a bug report. I suppose that also puts me on the quality control team.
And, I do marketing. I talk about Free Software whenever I can, in public at conferences or on the radio; in private at parties (yes, I know: I'm a blast at social gatherings – I don't quite get why I'm not invited to more). I wax lyrical on the technical, social, and personal benefits, and explain to anybody who wants to hear about how Free Software is the last line of defense that protects our waning digital rights, and will help save the world to boot. It so happens that I also believe these things, but how I reach these conclusions is a matter for another article.
Because, this is not "Meet the Editor" day. The point I am trying to make is not about me (although I am the nearest and clearest example I have at hand right now). It is about how somebody like me – somebody who is not an engineer by any stretch of the mind, who has a Diploma as a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language for Adults
as his highest qualification on his résumé, who never stepped onto a college campus as a student – can still contribute something back to the Free Software community.
It is about how in Free and Libre Software, because of its status of a heritage for the whole of humanity, most posts are open and there are not half enough people to fill them. Sure, developers! developers! developers! are the stars of the show and are featured on the stages of most FLOSS-related events, But, as in any other industry, the whole Free Software "company" can't sustain itself with its stars alone. The beauty of the whole thing is that the customers are also the employees, as well as the stockholders, so we are (or should be) vested in the progress of the technology and the advancement of the apps and underlying operating systems and firmware.
It is about the fact that, although the lines between vendor and customer are clearly defined within the proprietary software world, they are so blurry in Free Software as to be non-existent. You should not look upon Free Software as something handed just to you to consume, but as something you can and should make your own – as in your own business, your own product. And, you should contribute to make it better. After all, Free Software thrives on collaborative and complementary skills.
Why not add yours to the mix?
Paul C. Brown,
Editor in Chief
