Talk:Canonical Ltd.
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This article was nominated for deletion on 23 March 2007. The result of the discussion was keep. |
[edit] Embrace and extend?
I've reverted an addition about "controversy" and accusations of "embrace and extend" tactics, because there didn't seem much to back it up. Firstly, it used "weasel words" like "Some argues that"[sic] (see Wikipedia:Avoid weasel terms), which have the effect of shirking discussion of who says it, and why; then, a reference was added which looks to me more like the middle of a flame-war than an "Insight on Canonical's contribution model" — at best a heated political debate.
All that being said, I've no idea whether the alleged "controversy" does actually exist, and there may be a better reference out there, and a notable person or group who has made the accusation. Google is a bit of a blunt instrument for this, because "canonical" is a rather common word (especially in geek jargon), so I could only try [unsuccessfully] to use things like "Canonical Ltd" "embrace and extend". So, anyone with further insight on this, feel free to contribute it. - IMSoP 14:49, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] What's the objective?
That's something interesting to discuss, but definitely not in the main page (thanks IMSoP).
- On Ubuntu wonders if Ubuntu is "good" or "bad" wrt Debian and argues the Ubuntu is trying to get more independant from Debian.
- Is Ubuntu a debian derivative or is it a fork? discusses the same issue.
- In [1] it is said that Mark Shuttleworth said: "Canonical does aim to make some money in support. Additionally, he hopes to get some government grants to build localized distributions".
- Tom Lord mentions Bazaar as a "takeover" [2] ("Arch has been a successful project, culminating ultimately in its "takeover" by Canonical corp. who have adopted it as a cornerstone of their business."). The exact reasons for the fork are difficult to figure out ([3], [4]).
- [5] makes a parallel between Canonical's LaunchPad and Google's way to give acces to data, and the freedom-related issues. Possible consequences are mentioned, although no real conclusion is reached. He mentions decentralisation as a fix.
- The fact the company develops unreleased ASP (Application_service_provider) software (LaunchPad, Rosetta, Malone) is disturbing. This is considered a non-free practice by some, for example Affero designed a derivate version of the GNU GPL to address this issue - this license is considered as a prototype for the GNU GPL version 3 by the FSF. I remember about LaunchPad being freed in the future, I cannot find references to that.
--
Anthony Towns, the Debian release manager (who is also the author of "On Ubuntu" linked above), comments at [6] that Shuttleworth's statement about "planning" to free LaunchPad is very vague. Thayvian 05:12, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
There's also some potentially relevant information on Mark Shuttleworth's Ubuntu user homepage: [7], see eg the answer to 'If you don't make a commercial "Ubuntu Professional Edition", how can Ubuntu be sustainable?' which talks a little about the Ubuntu Foundation/Canonical distinction, although not in great detail. Thayvian 07:09, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Profitability?
At its current definition, this looks more like a charity donating money for free software efforts. Any information on the profitability and where revennues are coming from will be highly appreciated. (not precise, I understand such information may not be public yet)
Information on profitability has not been released. Canonical earn revenue from providing support, training and certification of Ubuntu. See http://www.canonical.com/support for example dsas 18:12, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
The interview at http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/9927/1090/ (entitled "Ubuntu is not a charity") is one of several which answer this question unambiguously Mdz 23:41, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
