So, it is without further ado that I introduce my next victim guest. Silver Fox is generally a quiet member of the Ubuntu Beginners Team, but does good work within said team which goes – largely – unnoticed. I thought it would be appropriate to try and bring these to light for others to see.

1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

I am a professional web developer and database administrator living and working in the UK.¬†¬† I don’t really have much family but I do have a good number of friends.¬† My hobbies include running, badminton and just lately photography.¬† I also keep a blog where I post pretty much anything on my mind.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

The earliest computer I remember “playing” with was an acorn electron.¬† I got fascinated by how what you typed somehow made sense to the computer (certainly didn’t to me). I got it into my head to try and work out how this all works.¬† After much time and effort I had to give up, I just didn’t “get it”.

I can’t remember what I was doing after that but I picked up the computer interest sometime around windows 3.1.¬† Again I was drawn to the programming side ,¬† with fond memories of writing applications in qbasic.¬† This time I seemed to get on better with it and stuck the course.¬† Years later I found myself with a ÔªøBSc (Hons).

Linux was a bit of a background noise initially to me,  I had heard people mention it but I was not sure what to make of it at all.  I finally took a jump after some serious problems with Microsoft Vista.  A colleague suggested I try Ubuntu (I believe I caught the end of 7.10).  Since then I have tried many distros but a firm favourite would have to be Ubuntu (and those based on it).

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

I joined Ubuntu Forums in June 2008,  though I lurked for a period before hand. Here is a link to my profile.   I try to help anyone I can, even if its pointing them to a howto.   I especially try to help those who post in Absolute Beginners Talk.  These are the people I can relate to most,  totally stuck and feeling lost.  I consider myself a beginner at best but I would like to think I must have learnt something by now about Ubuntu

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

I am an Ubuntu Member. Here is a link to my wiki page.  My main involvements are with the Ubuntu Beginners Team.  I am in my second term of leading the IRC focus group. This group aims to provide real time support to those who require help.   I have other activities listed on my wiki page for those who would like an in depth breakdown.

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

Currently I am mainly using Ubuntu and #! Crunchbang Linux at home.  From time to time I boot into Fedora and Zenix.

My favourite application would probably be Firefox.   Its usually one of the first application I run when I turn on my computer

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

My fondest memories on the forum are two little words, Thank You.  I get great pleasure from knowing that I helped someone.

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

I have had some success in introducing people to Ubuntu. A few of my friends are now happily running the operating system with me serving as immediate source to help if it goes wrong (very little has )

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?

ÔªøI would like to see awareness of Linux increase to the point where I can talk to “Joe Public” about Linux and to not get a blank look back.

9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

Hello and welcome   The community is fantastic.  Never feel like you are alone when tackling a problem.

1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

I am Jono Bacon, the Ubuntu Community Manager working at Canonical for three years now, I am 30 years young and an Englishman living in the Bay Area, California with my wife, Erica. My parents live in Northern England and I have a brother living in Northern England and another brother living in the Isle Of Man. I was born in the north of England in North Yorkshire, raised in the south in Bedfordshire and and studied at Wolverhampton University in in the Midlands, graduating with a 2:1 in Interactive Multimedia Communication, going on to become a a journalist writing for a number of Open Source magazines and websites and writing a few books. I then became an Open Source consultant for the UK government-funded OpenAdvantage before moving to Canonical to become the Ubuntu Community Manager. My hobbies include writing, recording and producing music, videogames, movies, writing, travel and relaxing with friends.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

I got interested in computers when I was a kid playing with a Commodore 64. I used to play games on it and try to write simple little programs in BASIC. Computers fascinated me, and my interest in video games (I was an epic Sega dork) got me into first learning BASIC and then learning C.

When I was 14, complete with bowl haircut, jack ups and large white socks, I went to night school to learn C and got more and more interested in the technology behind how software works, despite largely sucking at C. Shortly before I left for University my brother Simon came to stay for a few weeks and got me interested in Linux, specifically Slackware 96. Although it was ultra-technical, what really fascinated me was the concept of a global community of passionate contributors working together to build an Operating System that we could all share. I went to University and immediately formed a Linux User Group in my new home and progressively got more and more interested in Linux, starting to contribute to projects and then starting to write for magazines. I heard about Ubuntu when it was known as No Name Yet and it really captivated me: it really represented something I had been dreaming about – the fantastic technical foundation of Debian, but a different focus on integration, usability and ease of use.

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

My primary involvement in Ubuntu at the beginning was getting to the know the community, contributing bug reports and feedback and co-writing The Official Ubuntu Book. At the time I was spending most of my spare time knee-deep in the GNOME project and working with local Linux communities in the West Midlands, and my interest in Ubuntu grew from there.

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

I am an Ubuntu Member, and proud to be one! I contribute in a range of areas. I lead a team at Canonical that is tasked with helping to produce a rocking community to participate in and we work on a wide range of projects as part of that role. My contributions include team management, governance, software development, some translations, bug triage, raising awareness of Ubuntu and creating new initiatives to get people involved.

Outside of Ubuntu I like to develop community best practice with The Art Of Community and the annual Community Leadership Summit, do some podcasting with Shot Of Jaq and FLOSSWeekly, videocasts with At Home With Jono Bacon and Severed Fifth: Live In The Studio, record Creative Commons metal with Severed Fifth and work on some software projects such as Lernid, Acire, Python Snippets and some other projects.

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

I naturally use Ubuntu as my Operating System, both on my desktop as well as on the server that hosts my site and a range of other sites I run. I have so many fave applications – I love Empathy, OpenOffice.org, The GIMP, TomBoy, Scribus, Thunderbird, Docky, Network Manager, Gwibber, Quickly, Glade, and many more. As for least fave, I am not really sure I have a least fave – there are so many programs I haven’t got to yet.

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

Fondest memory is a kid who emailed me telling me how he walked five hours from his village in Africa to an Internet cafe to to work on Ubuntu for an hour and then walked back. He emailed me telling me it was worth the effort and that he loved Ubuntu.

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

Fairly well, I think. Basically anyone who is not an Ubuntu user gets the advocacy pitch from me about how Ubuntu would rock their world. Many have tried it, which is what I consider a win, and a bunch have switched. Some don’t, which is fine, but my first goal is to have people take a sip of Ubuntu before they drink the rest of the bottle.

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?

I want to see free software, delivered via Ubuntu, become the most ubiquitous platform in the world for users and developers, available to all, respecting local languages and culture, and inspiring innovation and sharing.

9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

Welcome to the Ubuntu community and welcome to the start of awesome journey in which we can all put a brick in the wall to create an incredible free software platform. I look forward to meeting you all!

1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

I’m Paul Tagliamonte, a 20 years young hacker. I live in Ohio, Boston native, working on my undergrad in Turology. That’s Computer Science to the less hip. My favorite hobby really boils down to writing software that looks good, functions good, and gets out of the way. Other then that, I love playing Bass Guitar, music in general and skiing. If I had to plug top three favorite bands ( and I will ), I’d have to say Air, Tycho and Black Moth Super Rainbow.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

Sheesh. What a question. I’ve always loved computers, there is even a photo of a 5-year-old me typing on a DOS terminal ( don’t tell anyone! ), with my feet not even hanging off the end of the chair in a shoebox somewhere. I got into linux when my Mother brought me home some Mandrake GNU/Linux 8.1 CDs in 2001. For those keeping track at home, I was in middle school. I stuck with Mandrake through 9.1, 10.1, and 2006. During that time I switched to Debian GNU/Linux 3, and switched totally over to Debian at 4. Along the way I threw Ubuntu, Gentoo and CentOS into the mix. When I got out of High School in 2007, I installed Ubuntu on my brand new laptop, because, well it just worked right out of the box. It all went downhill from there!

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

It took me about a year to try to venture into the Ubuntu community. I had tried to get into the Debian community, and really found it harsh and unaccepting. I kicked off into the Ubuntu Forums, and “felt the love”. I got hooked within the first day, and really started to get exited. I messaged ( the great ) bodhi_zazen about working with the UBT ( although then it was the Ubuntu Forums Beginners Team ), about 10 guys strong at the time. I found them to be a bunch of really down-to-earth guys. Not much has changed accept the name ( Ubuntu Beginners Team now! ), and the member count. In 2009, I took over as Ohio Team Contact, following in the footsteps of vorian and jacob. I love working with my LoCo, we have a really strong community, and I could not be happier.

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

Sure am. I have been working with the UBT ( Ubuntu Beginners Team ) for over two years now. On the side, I code and I have been starting to sink my teeth into packaging. I picked up rights as an Uploader for Fluxbox in Debian, and I figure I’ll start submitting more patches to both Debian and Ubuntu, and get even more collaboration between Ubuntu and Debian. I am also the Ohio Team Contact, and really love my Local Community, big shout-out to my Ohio brothers and sisters!

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

Well, let’s see here. My primary box ( Loki ) is running Zenix 9.10, Ubuntu 9.10, Kubuntu 9.10, Debian Unstable, Fedora Core 6 and Mandrake 9.1. Long story, I’ll skip over those. My secondary box, Metatron is running Ubuntu 9.10, and has an empty few gigs for an LFS build in a few days. My Book Computer ( Che ) is running Nkrumah, my own little branch of Slax just for that motherboard. ( it’s actually just a motherboard inside a hardcover book, awesome, I know. )

In the past I’ve been known to run Fedora ( although I cut that off at around RC 7 ), Gentoo, Wolvix, and Slackware.

I love mplayer, elinks, gnome-do, and g++.

I don’t like rhythmbox muchly anymore, that plugin system really kills me, same goes for the current build of amaroK, although the old version was one of my loves.

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

I’d say my most treasured memory is the first time I met the folks in #ubuntuforums-beginners ( now #ubuntu-beginners ). It has really stuck with me through the years. Second to that, I’d say seeing my face on Planet Ubuntu for the first time. I can’t say that I have a bad memory in the community, truly a rarity in the F/OSS world.

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

Amazing is the only word I have to describe it. In fact, my roomates ( a largely non-technical household ) have been able to use Ubuntu on their machines without any problems for a few months now, and even are at the point of diagnosing and working around their own issues. My circle of friends has really embraced it, and that’s not even counting the Computer Science majors! It’s almost not even fair how much Ubuntu sells it’s self as a computing platform.

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?

I’d like to see more efforts in the wider F/OSS field to adopt a CoC ( or analogous document ) to really aid collaboration between projects. It’s always frustrating to meet those people who know their stuff but act pious, and think they are better then everyone else.

With Ubuntu, I’d love to see more upstream work, it’s all too often I hear about Debian Developers who don’t get the Ubuntu patches because the MOTU fear that the DDs hate the them. I’d love to see Ubuntu become a bit more stable, perhaps that’s something we can all start working to achieve as a community. Another idea is to keep new features out of our releases until we are sure they won’t bork machines. We should not loose focus that we are doing really well, and I think we have a model that works. Small corrective actions is what we need, not huge swings of the wheel.

9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

Pray you don’t have Broadcom, or ATI!

Really though, I would say that there are always bugs, and always issues. Don’t get too caught up with knowing everything, and I know going from going from a power-user to a novice again can be hard, but stick with it. It’s well worth it. Rely on the community, the UBT is always here to help ( </plug> ). Never stop learning, and don’t forget that even a modest know-how is worth it’s weight in gold, so try answering a few questions on the forum!

1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

My name is Daniel Holbach, I’m 30 years old, male, still enjoy living in Berlin, Germany. Live together with Murphy, my dog, work for Canonical in Jono Bacon’s community team. I like wandering around in the city, reading, all kinds of music, learning languages, good food and lots of other things. I DJed every now and then, playing Drum&Bass music, but haven’t for some months now and I miss it already. Another thing on my thing “TODO list” is: more holidays.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

We had a computer at home for as long as I can remember and I always liked toying around with it. I think I wrote my first program in Basic or Pascal, when I was 11 or 12.

The first Linux I looked at was a SuSE 5.x and I was intrigued by the idea of people writing code for the greater good and sharing it. It took me a bit longer until I decided to remove Windows from my computers and stick with Linux. It was Debian Potato which I fell in love with and I spent a lot of time with.

I was lucky enough to meet Michael Vogt in Dortmund where I was studying and I still remember how he told me about “No Name Yet” over a beer and that I should try it.

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

When Ubuntu had its warty release I was busy with my thesis and I found that I needed a newer version of a library for what I was working on. I knew that it would involve packaging and Michael and S√©bastien Bacher helped me a lot to get the job done. It took me a bit to figure the packaging out and I was amazed that S√©b and Michael stayed that calm with me during the whole time. It wasn’t anything like what I expected from Open Source developers.

In the meantime I had read about Ubuntu’s goals, especially from a community perspective and I excited me a lot that this was so clearly codified and everybody was working together like that. I definitely wanted to be part of it.

The community was much smaller back then, so it was easy to stay on top of almost everything that was happening (Ok, I was neglecting my thesis a bit at that point). I helped out with supporting users on IRC and on the mailing lists and after some encouragement started to help out with packaging and trying to think of ways to best organise all the technical tasks in our slowly growing community.

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

I became an Ubuntu member after my first uploads and first attempts at writing TODO lists for all of us. I was really passionate about fixing packages not only on my machine for myself, but for thousands of users. This still exictes me today.

When I joined Canonical I helped out in lots of different areas: I helped Séb with the maintenance of Desktop packages. I helped with some of the planning for the MOTU team, I was involved in setting up Bug days and the Bug Squad, I even packaged Artwork for some time. The work was pretty diverse and I always enjoyed it.

I’m glad I’m now part of the Community team, Jono’s four horsemen. Where I mostly work with the Developer community, but lots of other parts of the community as well. Since last cycle I’m part of the Ubuntu NGO team too, which tries to help non-profits and charities to help more effectively by making Ubuntu work better for them.

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

Exclusively Ubuntu. I’m a fan of Thunderbird3, of python, Django, GNOME and lots of other stuff.

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

There’s many great memories I remember: my first upload to the archive, the first user who thanked me in a bug report for fixing their bug, when Mark invited me to UDS. Everytime I get to know so many brilliant and wonderful people. When I was flash-hugged at UDS. When I DJed with James Westby at the last night at UDS Prague. I could go on for hours.

I can’t really say there’s any “worst moment”, but maybe it’s all the small moments where we forget what amazing things we’re doing together and we need to remind ourselves.

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

Here in Berlin I find a lot of people converted to Ubuntu already. Just the other night I was in a bar where the computer that played the music was running Xubuntu or when I was talking to somebody and she asked what I did for a living and I asked “Do you know about Linux?” and she said “Oh you mean Ubuntu – yeah, I’ve been using that for ages now, it’s awesome!”

Also an Ubuntu T-Shirt works wonders here.

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?

Even more Ubuntu users, even more Ubuntu community members.

9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

It’s such a great feeling to realise that you can help out easily and make a difference, not just for your own good, but also for others.

1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

My name is Rich Johnson, aka nixternal. a/s/l would be 35, male, Chicago, IL, USA. I have a 13 year old daughter. I am some sort of software developer by trade. I have a few degrees, of which only¬† the most minor one is in Computer Science. My other degrees are all business related with an emphasis in management and marketing. For fun, when I am not hacking on Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Debian, or KDE, I like to cycle. I am an aspiring Lance Armstrong, or as my dad calls me, “Blimp Armstrong”. You know, since I am a bit bigger than Lance.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

I became interested in computers around 1980, right after we moved to Chicago from southwestern Michigan. I started with all the most common ones that those who are older might remember. TRS-80, Commodore Vic 20 and 64, Apple IIe, 286, 386…you get the point there. I became interested in Linux while in the Navy either at the end of 1993 or the beginning of 1994. It was one of the¬† first Pentium computers, can’t remember the speed really. It was a Packard Bell Multimedia something or other. I got it home and neither the sound or the modem worked. After researching the¬† Internet very slowly, I came across Slackware GNU/Linux. The next day at work I decided to go ahead and download all of the floppy images. From there my love of Linux started and I started¬† contributing any way I could. I would say around 2005 I finally switched over to Kubuntu after hearing all of the hooplah of Ubuntu. I had been a user and contributor to KDE since the beginning almost, so that is why I chose Kubuntu. The community is what drew me in, and finally during the Dapper release I started contributing to the project.

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

I have never been a big forums person for one reason or the other, so my contributions there are definitely very very small. In Ubuntu I got involved in 2005. Currently I am a MOTU and Core¬† Developer, with about 95% of my contributions being Kubuntu/KDE packages. I am also a member of the Ubuntu Community Council, MOTU Council, and the America’s Regional Membership¬† board. I am also one of the community leaders in the Ubuntu Documentation Project where myself and Jonathan Jesse run the Kubuntu documentation currently. The great majority of the work I do¬† in the community is pretty much developer oriented, however I also help with community stuff whenever I can. On the community side I founded and still lead to this day the Ubuntu Chicago LoCo¬† Team.
4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

Yes I am a member. Most of my contributions are developer oriented as a part of the MOTU and Core Developer teams.

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

Kubuntu and Debian are the 2 distros that I use the most. I also have openSUSE, Fedora, Arch, Slackware, Ubuntu, and Edubuntu installed on various machines in my little hacker space. My most  favorite application is a tough one. I am a huge fan of Yakuake, Kate, KDevelop, Amarok, Kile, Konqueror, and some others. Least favorite would probably be Firefox or OpenOffice.

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

Fondest memory from the forums is many. Every problem I have ran across has pretty much been solved with the help of the forums. I am a GNOME dummy, so when breaking my Ubuntu box the¬† forums have been a tremendous help. My fondest memory from Ubuntu is without a doubt participating in the Ubuntu Developer Summit last year. It was awesome finally getting to meet the people I have annoyed for the past 3 or so years. I don’t have a worst memory of the forums at all. My worst in Ubuntu would be helping to convince the switch to KDE 4.0 so darn early. Sorry for that one

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

When I was taking my computer science college classes I was very successful with getting people to switch. Most of the crowd I associate with in Chicago already use one flavor of Linux or the other. I got my brother to switch, but that wasn’t to hard to do, he had no other choice. Since switching him he does not call or bother me with fixing his computer. Now if only the others would take note, as I am tired of fixing Windows screw ups by them all.

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?

I would definitely love to see the whole “year of the Linux desktop” thing stop. I would love to see less fanboys and more active contributors. I would love to see Linux succeed, don’t get me wrong, but there is still a while to go before then. Those “I’m a PC and I’m a Mac” commercials work here in the US. I think that once Linux gets at least 2% of the desktop market we can start to hope to become number 2 by going after Mac. In Ubuntu, I would love to see the hooplah of bug number one go away. Bug number one is Microsoft, and we haven’t even handled Mac yet. But most of all, I would love to see more contributors. The Linux community is so easy to get involved in, whereas it isn’t as easy to be a part of something as large. I don’t know anyone who is fixing Microsoft or Mac bugs just because they can.

9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

Patience young grasshopper. Windows and Mac have spoiled users, and quite a few new users come to Ubuntu expecting the same exact experience. There are still spots in Linux and Ubuntu that are not on par with Windows or Mac. Having patience and definitely an open mind will make your experience better. Don’t be afraid to break it. Unlike the others, when you break Ubuntu or Linux, you can usually fix it up, and know that the forums and IRC have plenty of people who are willing to help you fix it. Also, if you have a problem when you first start with someone, remember that someone is only one and doesn’t represent the entire community. I hate to say this, but remember that 99.9% of the people who are helping you are volunteers. The reason I hate to say that is because I feel a lot of people use the volunteer excuse as a reason not to do something. Jeesh, I just realized that was more than one, sorry.

1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

I’m a 49-year-old male of British & Dutch heritage, married to a “preacher’s kid” of Samoan heritage (NZ born), and we live in Porirua, New Zealand. Mrs Lisati was born locally (Porirua), and I was born in Hastings, NZ. Although we both grew up in the Auckland region, we didn’t get to meet until the early 1990s some time after we had both moved to the Wellington area – I moved for work-related reasons (IT, programming for a company which at the time had branches in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch (?)), and Mrs Lisati moved down with her family.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

I first became interested in computers back in the 1970s, when the internet was relatively unknown to the general public, and when a desktop computer was almost as rare as a hen’s teeth. My first hands-on experience was through a job during school holidays, as an operator for a mainframe by Burroughs. A year or two later the high-school I was attending purchased a desktop by Wang. I think they were one of the first schools in the area to buy a computer that they were happy to let the students use.

An interest in Linux, and Ubuntu in particular, came many years later. This was initially out of curiosity but later as an alternative to Windows for everyday use (email, surfing, basic wordprocessing etc). I started using Ubuntu regularly in 2007 with the 7.04 release (“Feisty Fawn”) and have had at least one machine with it installed ever since. The purists might wince, but I keep Windows around because I’ve paid good money for some Windows software with a feature set I like to help with video editing.

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

I first joined the Ubuntu forums not long after installing Ubuntu for the first time. This was towards the end of June 2007. Although I seem to have been indulging in discussions in the community cafe a lot lately, I sometimes mess up and actually find a question posed by another forum user that I can actually answer. In spite of the bean count and the length of time I’ve been using the forums, I still consider myself to be a beginner.

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

I’m not currently an Ubuntu member, and have no immediate aspirations to be one, but I have been known to browse the forums for unanswered posts.

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

As I type my laptop is dual-boot, Vista Home Premium & Ubuntu 9.04, and has the only Linux distro on my home network (the other machines, both desktops, are XP and Win98SE). When Ubuntu is up and running, it’s usually Evolution & Firefox that I have running. With XP & Vista it’s usually some video editing or DVD authoring software.

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

The thing I like about the forums is the generally friendly atmosphere and the wide range of knowledge expertise that is represented.

If I am mistaken in my response to another user’s question, there is usually someone else who is able to help set things straight.

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

A couple of the in-laws have been exposed to Ubuntu when they’ve come to pick my brains, and a t-shirt from the Canonical store has prompted a couple of comments from people I’ve met.

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?
9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

“It might not be exactly the same as what you’re used to: don’t be scared to ask questions.”

1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

My name is Benjamin Mako Hill. I am 28 years old, male, and I live in Somerville, Massachusetts just outside Boston. My day job is doing research at MIT. I am a fellow at the MIT Center for Future Civic Media and am currently doing work on a PhD somewhere between the Sloan School of Management and the MIT Media Lab. My research focuses on using social science to build a better understanding of community dynamics in free software communities so we can help support them better!

Most of my hobbies revolve around free software and free culture communities and that is where I spend most of my spare time. When I can come up for air, I also like to bike and cook and I am a voracious reader.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

I’ve been interested in computers as long as I can remember. My first computer was an XT somewhere in the early or mid eighties. I learned to program in BASIC and played games and it was lots of fun. I started using free software when I was 12 or 13 and was using GNU/Linux during the first couple years of its life. I was involved in the BBS community around Seattle where I grew up and then in the early consumer-accessible Internet in the early 90s.

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

I was part of the founding members of the Ubuntu team back when Canonical was called “No-Name-Yet.com” and when the team was called “The Warthogs.” I was Ubuntu’s first community managers, I think its safe to say — ¬†things were more complicated back then and we didn’t really have job descriptions.

Unlike Jono Bacon, who was hired right after I left, I wrote code and did some technical package work. That said, my core responsibility was growing the Ubuntu community during the first year. That certainly happened, although I doubt I deserve too much credit!

I did a community related stuff including handling the distribution of all those millions of CDs that were sent out for free (I wrote the first version of ShipIt). I also wrote the Code of Conduct, designed most of the Ubuntu governance systems, and lots more! Early on, I even got to send out the first announcement of Ubuntu when our first beta version was ready! That was pretty exciting and a huge honor given all that has happened!

I worked at Canonical for about a year and a half and then left to go back to graduate school at MIT and to work on the One Laptop per Child project as part of my research there. Of course, I have stayed involved in Ubuntu by serving on the Ubuntu Community Council where I still serve (having just been re-elected!). I have also authored the Official Ubuntu Book (now in its 4th edition) and, more recently, the Official Ubuntu Server Book where I helped provide a little support for the excellent work of the book’s first author, Kyle Rankin. ¬†I’m very proud of both books!

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

I am! In fact, I’m pretty sure I came up with the idea for membership in the project and I definitely am the one who defined the process through which membership would happen originally. Things have changed a lot, and are much improved, as lots more folks have gotten involved.

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

I use Debian and Ubuntu and not too much else distro wise although Fedora’s committement to free software keeps attracting me. I use lots of software. ¬†I primary work at the command line (zsh) as I don’t really like using a mouse. ¬†I use the ion3 window manager, mutt, vim, and irssi most of the time. My day job is an academic so I do most of my programming these days in R and make extensive use of Zotero as well which are my two current favorites, I suppose.

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

I have so many fond memories of Ubuntu from the early days. Remembering Ubuntu when it was small project is crazy. We’ve grown so much in such a short period of time, it’s shocking.

One of my favorite moments was when we at Canonical realized that the forums, which were created by the community, had taken off so wonderfully. It was an amazing sign of a successful community that the forums (unofficial at the time!) would be created and grow to such a wonderful resources with no input or involvement from us. It was such a wonderful sign of an empowered community.

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

Lots! These days though, I hardly know anybody that doesn’t use free software (and Ubuntu in particular)! That’s one reason that I am excited by the OLPC project, and more recently, by SugarLabs. Although I think the interpersonal sell is still the best, I think there are lots of structural steps we can take to make introducing people easier in general and that seems to be where I’ve been putting my energy more recently. That goes doubly for young people!

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?

I’d just like to see the phenomenal growth keep up.

9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

I think that some people in our community have lost sight of the principled reasons we started out down this road. Although in many situations that’s OK, I think it’s critically important that we remind ourselves about why we are doing what we are doing. These principles go back to GNU and the Free Software Definition but extend to Debian and its social contract and, finally, to Ubuntu and our own philosophy documents! We come from a strong lineage of principled driven projects and we shouldn’t let our growth distract from that!

We’ve created great stuff, and that’s important because it helps bring lots of people into our projects and gives our projects users, credibility, and legimatacy. But we need to remember that, when we
started, we weren’t the best. ¬†Of course, we weren’t anything yet! What we had was vision, passion, and a drive toward principles. A big part of that was a passion for software freedom. Another part was a passion for respect and civil interaction and humanity toward others. ¬†Another part of that was a drive for technical excellence. All three have been essential ingredients to our success and we can’t forget any of them.

If we’re going to continue to succeed, we need to be focused on those ideas. We should treat the great stuff we produce as a way to bring folks to a bunch of a wonderful, powerful ideas, and not as an end itself.

1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

My name is Jim and I’m located in Williams Lake, BC Canada. My parents who are in thier late 70′s soon to be 80 live with me along with 1 ¬Ω year old Golden Retriever on 3.5 acres just out of town.

I am a certified heavy equipment mechanic and I have a computer repair certificate from Control Data Inc., that I earned in 1989.

I have held various jobs over the years, from an open pit mining equipment mechanic, to a home entertainment equipment repair technician, to being a field service engineer (their job classification) for Pitney Bowes and NCR. The last job I held working for someone else was as a tow truck driver.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

My dad bought a used Commodore Pet back in the early 80′s, we never could get it to work properly, so eventually it became part of a project for Pitney Bowes, creating plastic id cards for hospitals. The second computer my dad bought was an Apple II clone, that we spent hours typing in programs from magazines, and eventually started creating spread sheets with Visicalc. I went on to an Apple IIg clone and eventually IBM clones.

I first started using Linux in 1998, when I saw an advertisement for RedHat 5.2 in a local computer paper. Back then high speed access wasn’t generally available, but one of the local Office Supply Stores stocked various boxed distributions, I went through 3 versions of Mandrake, plus a couple of others that I don’t remember any more. In 2000 I was involved in the private beta test of Xandros. I still have the manuals and cd-roms for all the boxed versions I bought.

I started using Ubuntu, when I saw an ad on a web page saying that they would ship you free copies of their latest version, a few weeks later I received a package with 25 copies of Warty. I never could get it to work properly on any of my equipment, so I went on to PCLinuxOS.

When Dapper came out I decided to give it a try, and have been using Ubuntu as my main OS ever since.

As far as hobbies are concerned, computers seem to be my main obsession these days.

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

I joined the forum in 2006, but really didn’t become active until 2008, I had an enforced holiday, and had lots of time, so I started answering questions, and I must have done well enough as I was asked to become a moderator in the spring of 2009.

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

I am not an Ubuntu member yet, but I plan on becoming a member in the next 6 months.

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

I am currently running several versions of Ubuntu on all but two of my computers. They run everything from Hardy server to Karmic to a custom version I created using the Jaunty mini.iso.

My favorite application is vlc and I really dislike Evolution.

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

My fondest memory is the thank you’s I’ve gotten from helping other members. The worst has to be some of the responses I get when giving a member an infraction.

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

I haven’t had much luck converting others to Ubuntu, as I am of the opinion that you should use whatever works best for you.¬† That being said most of my friends are either non-computer users or they only use computers at work.

I am considering starting a LUG if there is enough interest locally.

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?

I would like to see more computers sold with Linux pre-installed, most specifically Ubuntu.

9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

When things don’t work as expected, relax, don’t get in a panic. Take some time to check out the forums, as most problems have been solved several times over.

1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

My name is Nathan Handler (nhandler). I live near Chicago, Illinois, USA, where I am an active member of the Ubuntu Chicago LoCo. I am currently a full-time student, and I enjoy contributing to Ubuntu and programming in my free time.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

I have always had an interest in computers. About three years ago, I decided I would make the switch from Windows to Linux. I tried out several different distros. It was Ubuntu’s great support for my hardware, and their excellent forum that convinced me to install it on my computer. I had already been using many open source applications on Windows, so the switch to Ubuntu was not too drastic. Thanks to the help of many users on the forum, I soon had Ubuntu setup the way I wanted it. After that point, I never went back to Windows.

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

I became involved in the forums shortly after installing Ubuntu. The very active forum was one of the reasons I chose Ubuntu over some other distros. As soon as I had acquired enough knowledge to start helping out, I began answering questions. This eventually led to me joining the Ubuntu Beginners Team, where I currently serve on the Ubuntu Beginners Team Council, and the Ubuntu Unanswered Posts Team. I have always had an interest in programming and development. With the help of many great developers, I began patching and packaging applications. These activities would lead to me becoming an Ubuntu Contributing Developer in July of 2008, a MOTU in December of 2008, and a member of the MOTU Council in
March of 2009. During that time, I also joined many other development-related
teams.

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

I am an Ubuntu member. I gained my membership by becoming an Ubuntu Contributing Developer. I am also a Kubuntu member. I mainly contribute to Ubuntu as a developer. However, I also contribute to many other non-development teams.

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

The only distro that I currently use is Ubuntu. However, I do plan on installing Kubuntu and Debian in the near future. Most of the software I use is for Ubuntu development. However, some other applications that I regularly use include Firefox, vim, irssi, and screen. I do not have a least favorite application.

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

This is a hard question to answer. I would have to say that everyday is filled with fond memories. I really enjoy getting to work with so many great people to improve Ubuntu. This fun and friendly community is one of the things I like the most about Ubuntu. My worst memories are when I need to deal with users who insist on not following the rules and guidelines that exist to keep this great community running smoothly.

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

I have had some success converting a few friends to Ubuntu. They were very impressed with the level of support provided on the forums and on IRC. They also enjoyed having thousands of applications only a few clicks away.

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?

I would like to see awareness of Linux and Ubuntu increase to the point where I can walk up to a random person on the street and talk about Ubuntu and/or Linux without getting a blank look back. Eventually, I hope to see Bug #1 marked as ‘Fix Released’ on Launchpad.

9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

I would tell them to join a team. Joining a team is a great way to meet other people who share similar interests. It is also an excellent way to begin contributing back to the community.

1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

My name is Elizabeth Krumbach, I’m elizabeth on the forums and pleia2 on IRC and Twitter. I live near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA and work as a Debian Sysadmin. In addition to my Ubuntu work, I run the 700+ member strong Philadelphia area Linux Users Group which has 4 chapters, each hosting one meeting per month.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

I’ve been interested in computers since the early 90s when my uncle gave an old IBM 8086 to our family. Through high school I’d collect old hardware, much to the chagrin of my mother who wished I’d get out of the house more often. Things really took off in 1998 when we finally got online and I began coding websites and scripting for my IRC client.

I was introduced to Linux by a friend in the summer of 1999, and with the help of my boyfriend began running it full time in the winter of 2001. In the fall of 2001 I switched from Red Hat to Debian, dabbled in Gentoo for about a year, switched back to Debian after tearing my hair out over compile times and discovered Ubuntu in the spring of 2005. I’ve been using Ubuntu and Debian exclusively ever since.

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

I became involved in the Ubuntu Community in March of 2006. Having been a casual user for the past year I started my contributions by becoming involved in the Ubuntu Women Project. At the time there were two distinct projects calling themselves this, I sought to join the “IRC and Forums” portion with the new group that was founded and approved by the Community Council and boasted a website, wiki and mailing list.

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

Yes, I became a member in May 2007. While working with Ubuntu Women I was also doing some work upstream doing packaging in Debian, and began working with the Ubuntu Pennsylvania Team which I’m still heavily involved with. From there my involvement expanded to become involved with the USTeams Project, Ubuntu Classroom and more recently the Ubuntu Community Learning Project and Ubuntu Beginners. Within these projects my focus tends to be related to organization, advocacy and Sysadmin tasks. I’m also a member of the Ubuntu Americas Membership Board.

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

On my laptops and desktops I tend toward Ubuntu and my servers (firewall, Xen server, VPS) primarily run Debian. We also deploy Debian almost exclusively at work.

My favorite applications are probably vim, irssi and screen.

And least favorite? I am terrible with tagging my mp3s and oggs, so one of my greatest frustrations in recent years is music applications which only catagorize and sort based on said tags. For a long time I was just using mplayer at the command line, I now use audacious, a fantastic replacement for old xmms that doesn’t insist upon tagging!

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

I only get to pick one good memory? There are a number that spring to mind, but it’s always very exciting and rewarding when a new Ubuntu Member applicant comes before the Americas board with a lot of good testimonials and people in channel supporting them. The board typically has a wiki page, LaunchPad stats and specifics of whatever the potential member has focused on, but having real people there cheering you on, publically thanking you for your work and telling us directly how valued your work is makes a huge difference and is very inspiring.

Ubuntu is full of extraordinary people doing amazing work and being awesome to each other, but there have been some unfortunate sexist incidents over the years which I have to put in my small “worst experiences” pile. I can’t begin to explain how demotivating it is to have you work questioned or belittled simply because of your gender.

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

This isn’t my focus, but in general reception of Ubuntu has been positive. Last weekend I set up Ubuntu for my boyfriend’s mother, and at work we have a 15-system desktop deployment of Ubuntu for a cargo logistics office (read: non-techies, these are just regular users). Since I work as a sysadmin for a living, I sometimes get calls from friends asking me to help them with their virus-ridden Windows PCs, and when I agree to help it’s under the condition: If I can’t fix your Windows PC without a reinstall, it’s getting Ubuntu installed. For users who primarily just surf the web, use webmail and sometimes edit or read an Office Document this has been very successful.

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?

I’d like to see bug #1 fixed! Ubuntu has really been a shining star on the Linux scene these past few years and has broken down many of the barriers for casual users. Now with virtualization taking off, I am more and more frequently hearing stories like “I was stuck on Windows because of QuickBooks, but now I just run it on Windows in VirtualBox” problem solved! I am hoping that this trend will continue, and that software companies will warm up to Ubuntu and start releasing directly for it rather that having the user be burdended by a virtualized environment to use their product.

9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

Welcome! And if you have questions about anything in Ubuntu, please ask and don’t get discouraged. Whether you’re on the forums, mailing lists, IRC or elsewhere, the Ubuntu community is a great one and eager to help users find the right tools to be successful.