Ubuntu's Shuttleworth: Planning to Overtake Apple
Last summer, Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of the Ubuntu distribution and of Canonical, Ubuntu's commercial sponsor, challenged the free and open source software (FOSS) to deliver a desktop experience superior to Apple's.
Now in the process of introducing the first steps in meeting this challenge, recently Shuttleworth took the time to talk to Datamation about the origins of his interest in usability, the difficulties in implementing it, and the organization and road maps he’s creating to focus upon it.
To a casual observer, Shuttleworth's focus on usability might seem less than a year old. However, Shuttleworth himself describes it as the latest stage in a lifelong interest.
"Thinking very carefully about what you are trying to deliver is essential in a successful process," he says. "Personally, I've been fascinated by product design for a long time. I'm drawn to companies and processes that deliver great product. If you look back at the work I've been involved in elsewhere and in Ubuntu, there's a consistent pattern of trying to make things simpler, clearer, and more useful."
Shuttleworth explains that usability was the main reason for Ubuntu standardizing on the GNOME desktop. Specifically, Shuttleworth was drawn to GNOME because of its Human Interface Guidelines, which, while not officially adopted for many years, were unofficially a major influence on GNOME developers.
- Login or register to post comments
- Printer-friendly version
- 1584 reads
- PDF version
More in Tux Machines
- Highlights
- Front Page
- Latest Headlines
- Archive
- Recent comments
- All-Time Popular Stories
- Hot Topics
- New Members
digiKam 7.7.0 is releasedAfter three months of active maintenance and another bug triage, the digiKam team is proud to present version 7.7.0 of its open source digital photo manager. See below the list of most important features coming with this release. |
Dilution and Misuse of the "Linux" Brand
|
Samsung, Red Hat to Work on Linux Drivers for Future TechThe metaverse is expected to uproot system design as we know it, and Samsung is one of many hardware vendors re-imagining data center infrastructure in preparation for a parallel 3D world. Samsung is working on new memory technologies that provide faster bandwidth inside hardware for data to travel between CPUs, storage and other computing resources. The company also announced it was partnering with Red Hat to ensure these technologies have Linux compatibility. |
today's howtos
|
Recent comments
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago