Robbie Ferguson: How awesome would that be? Carrie, do you have a question for me coming into there?
Carrie Webb: Yeah. There’s a question here from UnderDog in the chat room for you Mark. UnderDog would like to know how long do you think it will take for Ubuntu to go main stream on the desktop?
Mark Shuttleworth: That’s an interesting question. I don’t see us being in a major battle for main stream. What we’re in is a battle to produce something wonderful that’s easy to use, that’s powerful and that doesn’t turn things.
In some parts of the world, we see Linux actually shipping on a significant percentage of the computers that shipped. I think in China or something like 30% to 40% in India, it’s been a lot and what’s really interesting to me is that increasingly we see evidence that Windows computers come back for repair? They still have Linux on them.
And so a lot of people thought that Linux is really just a kind of fig leaf for pirated Windows but to my mind, it’s clear. If we can do the functionality that people want, the web, Facebook, basic office applications and summary.
Robbie Ferguson: Category5.TV
Mark Shuttleworth: And they’ll live with it. They’ll use it and that’s the story.
Robbie Ferguson: That’s the great thing as if we’re stepping into this world where it’s not just one operating system and certainly Ubuntu has had a huge role in making desktop Linux something as viable for an end user. I mean I can give this to grandma and she’d be able to use it. You know what I mean?
So I think that’s one of the thing that you should be very, very proud of with Bunted is the fact that it’s so user-friendly and easy for somebody to get familiar with not right out of the box.
Mark Shuttleworth: I’ll pass it on the guys down the hall. They’re the ones who deserve the credit.
Robbie Ferguson: Sure. Yeah. I do that. Now, with you being on site at the Development Summit is there something—we all want to know what is coming for Jaunty. What can we look forward to in the next release of the Ubuntu Desktop Linux operating system?
Mark Shuttleworth: So on the desktop, my sort of interest now is on making themes sort of really strikingly beautiful. I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can elevate the desktop experience and rather than playing catch up to the Mac and to Windows, let’s really push the limits. We can break the rules to a certain extent.
So, we’ll be doing quite a bit of work around the sort of desktop experience, notifications, how applications bring your attention to something that’s not essentially critical. We’ll be doing some work there and starting to invest a lot in the launching and switching experience. How people find applications, how they run them.
In the free software world you know, it’s not necessary for us to be. We can blow the line between the operating system and the application and focus on people wanting to get done because in propriety software world, you have different companies selling products the fact that each piece of software is a separate product.
In the free software world, you know we can integrate all of those things together and just help users focus on what they want to get done. I want to write a letter, or I want to get on to Facebook or I want to just get on to Skype.
So we’re trying to shift the emphasis to take advantage of that and the first pieces of that will show up in Jaunty Jackalope.
Robbie Ferguson: So, we are mainly talking about Eye Candy here? Are we actually talking about the interface itself and the way that the operating system functions?
Mark Shuttleworth: Well, the tricky thing than the interesting thing is to try to pull together Eye Candy and productivity. They’re making something shiny. It doesn’t have nearly as much as making something feel joy to use so that’s the key.
We have a whole bunch of new capabilities and tasks that are showing up as I can in 3D effects, OpenGL but the question is how we can harness those things to actually even more productive and that’s the real challenge for us.
Robbie Ferguson: Very cool. I know that Compiz Fusion Cube has been a big productivity booster for me and not to mention it saved a lot of desk space because I was able to actually get rid of my second monitor because I’ve got four sides to make a cube right so, that really helps me out so. Any other questions in?
Mark Shuttleworth: Isn’t it interesting how just giving special awareness to those virtual desktops? Suddenly, it makes it a real thing.
Robbie Ferguson: Very much so.
Mark Shuttleworth: And then before hand it sort of felt abstract and strange.
Robbie Ferguson: For those who think that the Cube for example is just Eye Candy, it’s really a productivity thing because I’ve got basically like as far as my mind can fathom it, I’ve got like four computer screens and I’ve got access to be able to flip them around and have different applications up on each screens. So, I’m really excited to see what’s going to happen with Jaunty as well.
Carrie Webb: There is a question here in the chat room from Bron. And Bron would like to know your thoughts on the relationship with Debian.
Mark Shuttleworth: So, Debian is a rock effectively and for those who are new to Linux there is a multiple different distributions and often distributions that are build of one another. So somebody will take an existing distribution and modify it and page it to, enhances or focus attention on specific area.
This amazing distribution called Debian it’s probably the broadest, biggest community in free software and Ubuntu is very much based on Debian. So that makes it for complex relationship because we do tremendous amount of work. We got very specific priorities. We got a tremendous lot of attention and a lot of the good stuff that flows in to Ubuntu has actually come from Debian.
So it does create something of a complex relationship right? But we work hard on that relationship and increasingly I am seeing some signs from the Debian community but they are actually appreciative and insightful as to what we bring to that relationship.
So it’s very symbiotic relationship from my perspective. I wouldn’t want to build Ubuntu in any other way than kind of in partnership with Debian and increasingly I think there are Debian guys who are willing to stand up and say that Ubuntu’s existence is being really good for Debian, too.
Robbie Ferguson: And so Ubuntu is giving back to the Debian community as well?
Mark Shuttleworth: We did a quick sort of troll through the Debian tracker and they got something like 3000 bugs that had been conversations between Ubuntu and Debian developers, the latest Debian release and something like 500 of them had patches that had been accepted in land. So, it’s another insignificant contribution to Debian.
Robbie Ferguson: That’s fascinating.
Mark Shuttleworth: I think gradually people are becoming aware of that.
Robbie Ferguson: That’s good to hear. Are there any final questions in the chat room before we move on or do you have any questions Carrie for Mark?
Carrie Webb: I think that was it for the chat room. No, I think that pretty much answers all the questions that I hear the interview with. Thank you so much Mark. It was definitely informative and I know that all the viewers certainly appreciate your idea of philanthropy and how you just want to help every one out. It’s really appreciated.
Robbie Ferguson: Definitely.
Mark Shuttleworth: Wow. If we can bring together amazing technology, amazing sort of social processes and an interesting new business model, I think that’s a win. So thank you very much guys. It’s nice to meet you.
Robbie Ferguson: Mark, thank you very much for being on Category5.TV. Take care.
Mark Shuttleworth: So long.
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