I’ve always wanted to be a Linux guy, using and supporting as much as possible the philosophy of Free, Libre Open Source Software, but every time I’ve been put off by the amount of time involved in getting simple things done (one should NOT have to go to Google to figure out how to add fonts to the system) and the fact that the graphical experience was either too mundane or so effusive that it actually got in the way of the user experience.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a developer and a power user, but I’d much rather be spending my time being productive than tweaking in a terminal to infinity.

So a few years back, Ubuntu came onto the scene declaring that the user should never have to go into the command line to do routine stuff and, over the past few years of releases, has slowly made Linux easier and more intuitive to use.  Now they’re setting themselves the lofty goal of targeting Apple in terms of user experience.

The idea of a freely available operating system fostering the growth of technology in the developing world and the embrace of open standards has always intrigued me.  The more I read about Mark Shuttleworth, the more I like him.  My favorite quote from his recent OSCON keynote: “The great task in front of us over the next two years is to lift the experience of the Linux desktop from something that is stable and robust and not so pretty, into something that is art.” Art!  From a Linux guy!  This guy really should be on Apple’s Think Different commercial.  He’s one of those people who’s crazy enough to think he can change the world.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I love my Apple computer and doubt I’ll be switching my primary OS any time soon.  Apple has set a wonderful precedent in user experience that others will be hard pressed to exceed and also embraces some of the same open source philosophies that I do.  But I’ll definitely continue to keep my eye on Ubuntu and the inspiration that Mark Shuttleworth brings.  After all, Steve Jobs has never been to space.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 7:59 am and is filed under Source Code. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.