Only time (and
a growing number of home, small, and medium business and enterprise Ubuntu users)
will tell if Ubuntu can manage to succeed without adopting a free/paid community model
such as those of Fedora/Red Hat, openSUSE/SUSE, and Freespire/Linspire.
Freedom and responsibility??”Endeavors with goals such as freedom and equality as
guiding lights can sometimes suffer from a lack of control. As philosophically inspired
distributions become more popular, technical discussions can sometimes spin out of control
to become almost religious discussions. Ubuntu seems to resist the response that some
profit-oriented Linux projects ultimately resort to: "Because we say so," but the line between
openness and determinism is a tough one to walk.
Ubuntu??™s leadership has done a good job setting up a structure to make hard decisions in
a free environment. For example, Ubuntu now has a Community Council (to create teams
and projects, as well as leaders for each team) and a Technical Board (to guide the technical
direction of Ubuntu). There is also now a Code of Conduct (www.ubuntu.com/
community/conduct) presented to keep everyone participating in the project on the
same path.
Ubuntu has prospered and increased in popularity far beyond the initial excitement inspired by
being the new kid on the block.
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