1. Ubuntu user centric focus acts bottom-up by Serge van ginderachter

2. Who am I? ● serge@vanginderachter.be serge@ginsys.be ● system engineer & ict infrastructure consultant for kmo/pme @ginsys.be – originally in pure microsoft shops as mcse – gradually started differentiating with open source ● ubuntu-be.org activist

3. the name ancient Zulu word meaning: “humanity towards others". "I am what I am because of who we all are". Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu put it this way: "It means you are generous, you are hospitable, you are friendly and caring and compassionate. You share what you have."

4. the founder ● Mark Shuttleworth ● Long-time Debian Developer ● Founded Thawte in 1995 ● funding HBD Venture Capital in South Africa, ● funding The Shuttleworth Foundation ● started Ubuntu, the Linux distribution, in 2004

5. °2004, ubuntu ● early 2004: Mark founded the Ubuntu project ● aim: produce a high quality desktop (and server) operating system for everyone ● developer community which consists of both: ● Canonical employees and volunteers ● Community-Support and Professional Support ● free live cd's

6. get the facts ● based on Debian development branch + giving back ● Regular half-yearly predictable releases ● GNOME Desktop ● strong relationship to the philosophy of Free/Open Source Software ● localization and accessibility ● LPI Ubuntu Certification Training

7. Canonical: the company ● HQ in Europe, 130 employees working in 18+ countries. ● employs people known and active in the community, community leverages development capacity. Everyone collaborates ● services include 24x7 support and professional services, engineering services

8. the ubuntu foundation ● founded in Juli 2005 ● started off with a capital of 10 Mio. US $ ● makes sure that Ubuntu will be available and supported over a longer time. ● enhances the commercial commitment of Canonical Ltd. ● works as a 'trust'.

9. ubuntu: commitments ● Ubuntu will always be free of charge – no separate Enterprise- or Professional versions. ● Best Support of Localisations (>95 languages) ● 6 monthly releases, with 18 months of free Security support. ● distribution and support of Free and Open Source Software.

10. hardware support ● Intel x86 ● AMD64/EMT64T ● PowerPC ● Excellent Hardware Support on Notebooks. – Deals with hardware manufacturers (Sun, Dell) ● community ports for IA-64, Sparc, PARISC (hppa)

11. server features ● Server community is up and running ● IBM DB2 certification ● dedicated server optimized kernels ● SSL/TLS by default ● five years support on the server for Ubuntu LTS 6.04 and upcoming 8.04 (hardy) ● ISV start to provide support ( Zimbra )

12. releases ● release every 6 months (Gnome desktop) supported for 18 months ● Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) 3 years desktop support and 5 years on the server. – Ubuntu 6.06.2 LTS (Dapper Drake) – Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy), 7.04 (Feisty), 7.10 (Gutsy) – Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) – Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)

13. Ubuntu: growing up ● Ubuntu is still young: roughly 4 years old (first release in October 2004) ● quickly became one of the most popular distributions ● thanks to the focus on ● a friendly installer ● a useable desktop

14. focus on usability ● focus on the user ● focus on the end-user ● not every user is a guru ● it should “just work” ● let the user choose what is important: http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/ (think impact from Dell Ideastorm)

15. from the ground up ● started with strong focus on “Desktop User” ● making it easy, useable and accessible ● starting with a desktop product ● same philosophy for servers ● how dit Microsoft (start to) conquer the PC? ● Redhat: not interested in desktop (until now?)

16. enterprise support? ● not yet ● still young, needs to grow, to mature ● probably not for TOP 500, yet ● A-brand hardware: mostly Redhat, Suse ● A-brand ISV's: mostly Redhat, Suse – providing mostly RPM packaged software

17. advantages ● vs. Debian: third party support ● thanks to Debian: build upon largest distro ● very big community ● Debian again: seamless upgrade path ● community + enterprise = same Ubuntu not a separate distro like Redhat <> Fedora

18. commercial vs community ● Ubuntu is a community distribution ● supported by a commercial company ● community or enterprise = same version ● more liberal approach ● no need to choose support at install ● start with community, buy support later

19. small business? ● KMO/PME <> Enterprise ● more flexibility ● more user-friendliness ● Ubuntu maybe is a good (or better) choice in small business environment

20. thank you! download this presentation: http://ginsys.be/linuxworld2008