Will Ubuntu Lead Free Software?
When Mark Shuttleworth talks, the free and open source software (FOSS) world listens. As founder of Ubuntu and its commercial arm Canonical, he heads the most popular Linux distribution in the world. Even more importantly, he is an articulate and innovative thinker. For these reasons, he was a logical choice for the closing keynote at the first LinuxCon a couple of weeks ago, and his view of what free software needs have been widely reported. However, what few people seem to have done is analyze his keynote for accuracy, or to ask what interests his vision represents. I am not referring here to the sexism in Shuttleworth’s speech, in particular the remark about “explaining to girls what we actually do.” The implied exclusion in the remark is a legitimate concern — which I share — but the issue has already been dissected at length.
When Mark Shuttleworth talks, the free and open source software (FOSS) world listens. As founder of Ubuntu and its commercial arm Canonical, he heads the most popular Linux distribution in the world. Even more importantly, he is an articulate and innovative thinker. For these reasons, he was a logical choice for the closing keynote at the first LinuxCon a couple of weeks ago, and his view of what free software needs have been widely reported. However, what few people seem to have done is analyze his keynote for accuracy, or to ask what interests his vision represents. I am not referring here to the sexism in Shuttleworth’s speech, in particular the remark about “explaining to girls what we actually do.” The implied exclusion in the remark is a legitimate concern — which I share — but the issue has already been dissected at length. All I can add is that I am disappointed that Shuttleworth refused to apologize, but I feel that he partly redeems himself by the fact that Canonical CTO Ma
