Ubuntu 2
"I am because we are" is the most elegant translation I've heard of the Nguni word "Ubuntu", where Nguni is the collective name for a group of Southern Africa languages including Xhosa and Zulu. It's a beautiful sentiment, sometimes also translated as "humanity to others", with implications that extend much further. It lies behind much that is deeply appealing about African culture. It's also the name of a new version of Linux.
Ubuntu Linux is arch-lucky-geek-that-we'd-all-like-to-be Mark Shuttleworth's new GNU/Linux distribution. (Actually there's a lot of Free Software luminaries behind it, but Mark was the instigator). I've had some near-misses where I've got to know and collaborate with people who work with Mark, but I've actually never met the guy. This is probably A Good Thing as I'd have to resist the envy-driven urge to let out a primal yell and scratch out his eyes!
Anyway I spent a couple of hours yesterday installing and getting to grips with Ubuntu, and it *rocks*. It's the first version of GNU/Linux that I've tried where I'd really feel comfortable giving it to any reasonably competent computer user as a replacement for either Windows or Mac OS. It's all in the details, and these guys have put a lot of thought and energy into making a distribution that gives you just one application for each task, and integrated them into a nice clean computing environment. I'd wager that most Windows user would quickly feel more comfortable using this than they ever did using a Microsoft OS.
In fact it's so good that I think I can forgive Mark all his ridiculous good fortune and offer him a hefty pat on the back for bringing together all this goodness in one package (the name, the philosophy, the software - even the pseudo-erotic imagery).
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Good luck to ubuntu! As far as I understand the concept, ubuntu, which has many names, is the essence of what clearly distinguishes us humans from all other animal species. One could also call it the force of empathy: it goes far beyond the instinct of self-preservation or the preservations of one's family, tribe or nation. For instance, there is no animal I know of that will imperil itself to save a member of another family or tribe, let alone a member of another species, but time and again we hear of instances of a man/woman defying all kinds of danger to save another living being, even if it's only a cat. We should cherish this human quality, because it is so beautiful and uniquely human that even Darwin, that giant of the theory of evolution, didn't dare mention it because it didn't fit into his eat-or-be-eaten scheme of things. This emerging force is a nature's work-in-progress project. Alas, the regressive conservative forces, forces of social inertia, still have enough control over society to not to let this powerful evolutionary force, which so many of us feel within ourselves, break out and flood the world with goodwill.
Ubuntu is what many of us have, and some don't. This, in my opinion, is as good a dividing line getween good and evil as any.
Russ from Berlin
Ubuntu is very powerful and I'm just now learning the intricacies of it, albeit 4 years later.