Hi all,

see this :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsjMbWXIcoA

Very nice. I have changed the thread title to prevent any animals being scared and have moved it to it's own special place.

That made me LOL.

Define "help"?I know I'm new to Linux and picked up Ubuntu as the most user friendly of the lot. I've been preaching it to my friends since. So maybe canonical aren't the biggest contributors codewise, but help people get hooked onto Linux systems?

Most user friendly of the lot? What did you try before Ubuntu?
About Canonical-What's their end game maybe to become the next Apple!

How many of your friends have you hooked on Ubuntu? It's not about getting people hooked, If you always take from but not give back you end up Broke and thats what some wants Linux and free software to be. Just think about it!!

The thing is, I'm not a programmer. I haven't the aptitude or the knowledge. What can I give back? The distro I had some experience before(about a month) was Suse, and find Ubuntu to be much more intuitive.

As to "hooking"- my SO and one other friend. I usually bring it up when someone wants a new computer.

I'd call making a distro that is very popular and appeals to many newbies as helping Linux, even if they don't contribute ANY code to the kernel.

But I thought Canonical does contribute code to kernel as well. And even they do not contribute as much code to kernel as some others, they still are contributing spreading Linux. Most of the first timers to Linux usually go the Ubuntu way and quite correctly so. It is one of the most used Linux distribution. And I find it appealing and absolutely useful with no cost bearing. And I doubt Canonical will go Apple way. The philosophy for both the companies tend to be very different.

While I am not a big fan of Ubuntu they have done a lot to bring Linux to the unwashed masses. Including the several hardware vendors that sell system with Ubuntu preinstalled.

Not very long ago I was saying that Ubuntu was good for the larger Linux community because it "tamed wild Debian" and granted access to the awesomeness of Debian Linux for us ordinary non-geeky end-users.

But since I started with Ubuntu, every release seems to just get buggier and buggier in their quest to be "all things to all users" (admittedly a worthy goal, just perhaps not achievable yet). It's plagued with experimental - even beta - software that is troublesome for even experienced Linux users. Using newbies as unwitting beta-testers unawares is just unforgivable. And I think part of the reason is that Canonical insists on a rigid release schedule, so stuff kinda gets rushed to release ready or not.

Ubuntu is probably okay for newbies if they stay "one release behind" the most current one, since it takes several months of updates and stuff to make a release truly stable enough for ordinary desktop use by ordinary computer users. The only other li'l piece of advice I would have for Ubuntu users would be to set your Update Manager to accept only security updates! Ignore the "recommended" updates. There's a zillion "b0rked after update" threads in the Ubuntu Forums (here and at their own site) that testify to the truth of my words.

-Robin