My father has a saying that "success is like a meat grinder, lots of different meat goes in, but it all comes out looking and tasting the same". Its a pretty jaded view, but time they say is the greatest teacher and hes almost as old as dirt now so who knows maybe he's got something.
There is no doubt Ubuntu is the most successful Linux desktop on the market today, and while technically they aren't actually on the market I wouldn't be surprised if that was their next step, after all Redhat which is on the market has been doing quite well and is by far the leading Linux distribution when it comes to servers and enterprise.
Yet Ubuntu's success, like all success, has come at a cost and just like a choice cut of meat thrown into the grinder it seems they have mixed themselves with their competitors to a degree that it is becoming more and more difficult to tell them apart.
Some of you who read this might think I'm being a little over the top, but lets look at a few things.
Did you know that Microsoft makes and contributes to open source software, and so does Apple? Guess what, Ubuntu now makes a closed source product called Ubuntu-One, and they've even said they are working on a Windows version. Ubuntu still far out weighs their proprietary competitors when it comes to open-source, but it is a lot less true today that it was a few years ago, things are changing and the differences are beginning to blur.
You may have heard that Ubuntu decided to switch their default browser search tool from Google over to Yahoo after Yahoo offered to cut them a check, but what you may not have realized is that Yahoo uses Microsoft Bing as their back-end search tool.
I never thought I'd see the day when a Linux distribution would be serving Microsoft search results by default, even though it is through the thinly veiled disguise of Yahoo.
Does Ubuntu not know that Microsoft is their competitor and would like nothing better than to destroy them?
Does Ubuntu not know that Microsoft search has been shown to favor itself over its competitors?
Did they forget that Google is Linux powered?
Just because advertising for your competitor makes you some money in the short term doesn't make it a smart business move in the long run.
I really wish I knew what was happening over at Canonical, and while these compromises in themselves aren't earth shattering they do raise questions about whats coming next, and it seems that I'm not the only one raising doubts regarding Ubuntu's future, and if as I speculate a public offering may be in their future will they have the strength to remain true to their ideals and obligations to the community at that time given that already they seem to be making compromises.
4 replies:
This is a bother for me. Ubuntu is a brilliant operating system and has became sort of a social community behind it. Why would they switch to Yahoo! like that? I personally believe that is the worst thing for Ubuntu to do.
As you have stated "Google is Linux powered" they seemed to forget the purpose of what Google has been doing. Google is all about open source software and providing help to an open community like Ubuntu. Google runs the Ubuntu operating system in their offices and is using their systems for Chrome OS.
Ubuntu really needs to focus on their current partnership with Google and move forward with Google, their best parter, at their side.
By the way, just to give credit I have got to this post via Twitter. Nice explanation!
Thanks for the comment Mario, and thanks for letting me know you found it through twitter, I'm a bit of a twitter newb actually so I'm glad it works. :)
Very good post and thanks for linking to my article. Im making a follow up as I had the pleasure of speaking with Jono Bacon. Im certainly looking forward to the future Ubuntu and I will explain further in the article (where I will link to yours)
Thanks for the interesting read!
Kind regards
Goblin.
http://www.openbytes.wordpress.com
Good article Alex.
Mark Shuttleworth has been scratching his head for years now, trying to come up with a profitable route for Canonical. Canonical is similar to Google in their very early days - much loved, and losing money hand over fist for lack of a commercially profitable business model.
Mark tried to get profit from Canonical's support desk, but after trying to use them for a year, I would be shocked to hear of their making a success of it. While some staff are good and care (the best tended to leave), others are weak and have been infected by their team leaders dis-service mindset. It's a shame to see a commercially good idea fall on its face. I do hope that Canonical find a way to make a profit so that it doesn't have to rely on Mark's millions.
Post a Comment