What this means to me.

I had this long response to Jono’s call for what Ubuntu means to me but as I read it over and over again it read like some long manifesto or other political document that no one wants to read so I think I’ll just sum it up without some hand-wavy thing.

Ubuntu to me means a bunch of things. If I were to distil it down to one word it would be “friends”.

It means taking the time to help your friends who need help even though you’re dead tired and need to go to bed. It means driving to Ohio and Toronto to help spread the word even though you don’t really have to. It means offering a spare bed or floor space at a conference to someone who needs it. It means standing at a booth for over 10 hours because you freaking love it.

Strange thing this Ubuntu Ethos. I have been involved with Linux for a long time, and been involved in LUGs and other user groups. But it wasn’t until Ubuntu where I felt the need to get involved and drive in the snow to go to a bug jam. I’ve never felt the need to go to release parties for anything other than Ubuntu. I wonder why that is.