[Solar-general] Proprietary products , Ubuntu

Mar Ago 24 02:15:01 CEST 2010

Proprietary products 

Enderandrew (866215) "You often praise proprietary, closed-source products on 
your blog (especially products from Apple and IBM). What is your stance on 
mixing proprietary and open products?"

 Matt: Ubuntu is about choice. While we believe that an operating system is 
best developed with the source code openly available, that does not mean that 
the applications running on it need to be restricted to only those using the 
same development method. Our own users tell us, in large numbers, that they 
would like to see apps become available from the likes of Adobe and the games 
developers. On server the case is even more apparent where there are 
excellent proprietary applications that we would love to make available to 
Ubuntu users and we work to do that. 

 We can't boil the ocean. We want people to adopt Ubuntu Linux, and part of 
that requires us to support the applications that the mass market requires. 
Our focus is to continue to provide the industry's best Linux experience, and 
to make that Linux experience superior to any other platform. This process is 
well underway, and will encourage more and more application developers to 
port their software to Ubuntu. 

 Along the way, we hope that others will follow our lead and open source their 
software, but we intend to lead by example, not force-feed the industry. 
Google, for example, is arguably putting more pressure on Microsoft's 
closed-source approach than any amount of lobbying ever has or will. You can 
argue that Google is only doing this out of self-interest, to which I 
reply, "Exactly." Once the industry recognizes its self-interest in open 
sourcing software, we'll have even more from which to choose. 

 I love great software, whatever its license. But I joined Canonical because I 
believe the open-source development model can create better software than 
closed alternatives, and I'm determined to prove that. 

http://interviews.slashdot.org/story/10/03/02/186206/Matt-Asay-Answers-Your-Questions-About-Ubuntu-and-Canonical?art_pos=8