5 Years of Ubuntu

Yesterday was 5 years to the day from the first Ubuntu release, Warty Warthog. 8 days from now we will have the eleventh release, Karmic Koala. I say "we" because I work for Canonical now. While I don't have the historical context that those who have been working on Ubuntu from the beginning have, I do share a sense of wonder at what the last 5 years have been for Ubuntu.

I don't work on Ubuntu at Canonical; I work on Launchpad. But I still feel very much a part of the development process of Ubuntu, just because Ubuntu is so tightly bound to Launchpad. I have to say, too, that Canonical is unlike any company I have ever worked for. Everyone I work with -- literally everyone -- is smart, kind, generous, motivated, and generally a pleasure to work with. To me, this speaks to the heart of what Ubuntu is and what it means to me. Community, collaboration, and a more human computing experience are not just concepts weaved into Ubuntu, but literally, it's the ethos of the people involved in the project and in Canonical.

So my day to day experience of using Ubuntu and hacking on code that contributes to shipping an Ubuntu release is an experience of the best parts of humanity and software development. And I'm quite glad for the opportunity.

Here's to the last 5 years of Ubuntu! I hope I can keep this front-row seat for the next 5, and beyond.

Link | Posted by deryck on October 21, 2009 | 0 comments