Forum Upgrade

[WordWolf]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(philosophy)

"Ubuntu is an ethic or humanist philosophy focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other. The word has its origin in the Bantu languages of Southern Africa. Ubuntu is seen as a classical African concept. "

"An attempt at a longer definition has been made by Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1999):

“ A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed. ”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu further explained Ubuntu as follows (2008):

“ One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity.

We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity."

Nelson Mandela explained Ubuntu as follows;

“ A traveller through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food, entertain him. That is one aspect of Ubuntu but it will have various aspects. Ubuntu does not mean that people should not address themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve? ”

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"The "Ubuntu" distribution of the Linux computer operating system is inspired by the concept, based on the premise that it "brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world."

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All existing computer operating systems (for virtually all PCs in the world)

are variants of either Windows (Microsoft's product),

or Mac (Apple's product),

or Linux.

Windows and Mac are owned by single companies. If you want to deal with the O/S, you have one source only.

Windows is the most widespread (thus, the most-owned and more programs are written for it),

but is the least satisfactory of the 3 O/S' families in terms of stability, size, and so on.

For those who want to free themselves of the one-company license system, there's Linux, or to be more specific,

there's all the different "distros" of Linux. Some are owned by a company and that company offers support

(like Fedora, whose freeware version is Red Hat, or Linspire, designed for Windows users, whose freeware

version is Freespire). Some are specialized, like the tiny ones designed to use almost no space and fit on a

pendrive.

Ubuntu is a freeware Linux distro that's widespread, and designed for the average user to be able to understand

it. That means the only advantages Windows has over it are familiarity-and anyone can learn Ubuntu-

and number of compatible programs- although many programs DO have Ubuntu versions.

A separate discussion is about programs designed to make programs for Windows work for Linux.

(I don't know enough on the subject to say much that's useful about that.)

So, about Ubuntu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu

"Ubuntu (pronounced /uːˈbuːntuː/[3] oo-BOON-too),[4] is a computer operating system based on Debian GNU/Linux. Ubuntu's goals include providing an up-to-date, stable operating system for the average user, with a strong focus on usability and ease-of-installation. Ubuntu has been selected by readers of desktoplinux.com as the most popular Linux distribution for the desktop, claiming approximately 30% of their desktop installations in both 2006 and 2007.[5][6]

Ubuntu is composed of multiple software packages distributed under free/open source licenses, especially the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) so that users are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change, develop and improve the software. Ubuntu is sponsored by the UK based company Canonical Ltd., owned by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. Instead of selling Ubuntu for profit, Canonical creates revenue by selling technical support and from creating several proprietary services tied to Ubuntu including Ubuntu One, Landscape and Launchpad. Canonical is yet to turn profitable, however. By keeping Ubuntu distribution itself free software and open source, Canonical is able to take advantage of the talents of outside developers in Ubuntu's constituent components without developing the entire operating system itself (which is based primarily on current Linux kernels)."

http://www.ubuntu.com/

"Ubuntu is a community developed, Linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. It contains all the applications you need - a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more."

" * Ubuntu will always be free of charge, including enterprise releases and security updates.

* Ubuntu comes with full commercial support from Canonical and hundreds of companies around the world.

* Ubuntu includes the very best translations and accessibility infrastructure that the free software community has to offer.

* Ubuntu CDs contain only free software applications; we encourage you to use free and open source software, improve it and pass it on."

[pawtucket]

Well it seems that the only person with IE 6, has an alternative way of accessing the forums.

We will announce when we do the upgrade, I believe the forums have to go offline when we do it.

[GT]

I guess we'll do it tonight.....as long as I don't drink too much in the process..... :)