So I put some photos up on Flickr in the Ubuntu Artwork Group:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40566121@N07/
Ubuntu has called for public submissions to find new screen savers for the
forthcoming update of its software - an operating system called Karmic Koala.
I don't know anything about Ubuntu. So I Google. It's a community-developed
open source software.
For those of you who doubt my qualification for writing about operating softwares -
I totally understand.
But I do know what open source software is: freeware - everyone likes free downloads.
Ubuntu, though, has a greater purpose than promoting itself like other market forces
which attract customers and readers using giveaways...
free Flash icons, free typeface, free music, free wallpapers, free slideshow programs,
free audio editing programs:
bla-blaa-blaa! Listening to the Twitter it's obvious that free apps make
the world go a round and a round...
It's the word itself - Ubuntu - which unsettles me. Certainly not friendly like an apple.
Turns out Ubuntu is a Zulu word meaning "humanity to others" which Wikipedia
says is at the heart of the Ubuntu philosophy:
"I am what I am because of who we all are".
That I like. "Ubuntu." Sounds better now. Though not as good, Mazoombi.
It's a bond - like a pinkie promise or a secret handshake - between us
initiated into a tribe created by my nieces.
Squeals of hello, quickly followed by a hushed whisper of the password: "Mazoombi".
GRINS from ear to ear. Contact established.
Iconic brands have that connection with their customers.
Apple doesn't even have to work to sell the i-Phone. i-Phone = "Mazoombi".
Something not only Ubuntu aspires to. But is Karmic Koala ... "the way?"
Software freedom, based on the greater principle of public benefit to all humanity.
It's the same principle people use to argue when they oppose the patenting of
genes by those who would prevent competitors from using their work to progress
science and humanity.
Most people don't acknowledge a lofty ideal until they walk
smack bang into it like a closed glass door.
To walk through the door they have to open it.
I acknowledge the door but I don't want to walk through it.
">I"> paid for software that works why would I download Ubuntu?
People don't like the bugs in Microsoft and they fear what they will
find in something called Ubuntu.
It's all about the bugs ... that's the upshot of what I'm picking up on.
Instead of Karmic Koala, Ubuntu should release the Karmic Swine -
a black pig, a viral campaign to spread Ubuntu around the world faster.
The Ubuntu Artwork group on Flickr has over 900 photos vying to
become new Ubuntu screen savers, and right now I think my gum
leaves are the only entries that have any association with Koalas.
It's more about zen and peace, sunsets, spirals, calm seas and angels sing.
I'm looking at Ubuntu's Artwork Catalog I don't think my gum leaves
are what they're looking for at all.
"Find your inner Koala": https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Catalog
Now I'm thinking: when lazy Koalas're awake - and that's AT NIGHT
when they're grunting LOUDLY - they're not that serene at all.
I had a dachshund who died at the hands of a sharp-clawed
koala in the middle of the night.
((( And yes, I know!! More koalas get ripped up by big dogs
than little dogs get ripped up by Koalas - BUT!...!!!)))
Whatever.
The open source software group is looking for new wallpapers
for it's forthcoming edition which they've called Karmic Koala.
Have a look: http://www.flickr.com/groups/ubuntu-artwork/ Find your inner Koala.
