Re: Ubuntu with AMD64 Support

[Daniel James <daniel@mondodesigno.com>]

Hi Tollef,

> | I don't think the development model is as democratic or open as
> | mainstream Debian either. I mean, if you wanted a particular
> | feature in Ubuntu but a certain well-known millionaire and space
> | tourist was dead against it, do you think it would be implemented
> | in his distribution? : )
>
> We're usually open to ideas

Just to clarify, when you say 'we' do you mean that you work for 
Canonical, or are an Ubuntu project member?

> and you should have _really_ crazy 
> ideas for them to be rejected outright.

I expect that's the case, but what happens a few years down the line 
when there's a fundamental disagreement? When I was a Red Hat 5.0 
user last century, I really bought the idea that Red Hat was a 
community-oriented company, and at that stage I simply didn't forsee 
that the stable distribution would become 'enterprise only' with a 
price tag to match.

I'm not saying that the same thing will happen to Canonical, it's just 
an example of what can happen when interests diverge over time.

> (And if so, we are working 
> on tools which should make it really easy for you to make ubuntu +
> your crazy modifications and support that sanely.)

That's very interesting - I'll keep an eye on that.

> we _are_ an open community who wants people to join and
> help out.

I'm sure that's the case, but the degree of openness is relative - I'd 
say the Debian project and Microsoft are the polar opposites here, 
with everyone else somewhere in between. I don't think you can run a 
business as a democracy, and that's not a criticism of Mark 
Shuttleworth. I'm sure if I was funding a Linux distribution out of 
my own pocket, I would want to be able to make the key decisions 
about it too. 

Cheers!

Daniel