Who am I?

Kubuntu

History

"The signs are there that this (Ubuntu) could be something big, more so than the likes of Linspire, Xandros, or Lycrosis. Unlike those companies, they (Canonical) understand Free Software and open development. It is likely to be a GNOME-based job, but maybe there is a KDE developer out there who is working for them without letting on. If not I'm always available." - Jonathan Riddell (Canonical Employee - Kubuntu Lead Developer)

2.5 years later and here we are. We just released 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) and are staring down the barrel at 8.04 (Hardy Heron).

Who are you?

Are you a developer?

We Need You!

Are you an aspiring packager?

We Need You!

Are you a seasoned Linux veteran?

We Need You!

Are you brand new to Linux?

We Need You!

Hey, is this the Microsoft support channel?

No! But we have something better...and guess what? We Need You!

Do you see a particular theme here? I don't want so make it sound like Kubuntu is hard up for people, but seeing that we are such a small group of developers, packagers, documentors, and users, we can always use more.

What do you need new users for?

If you or anyone you know has

• Just started using Linux
• Is thinking about using Linux

Then we can definitely use your help. How is probably your next question. New users for one bring in a much narrower view of what they can do with their computer and are probably used to just one operating system, whether it is Microsoft or it is Apple. We can use these brand new users in so many ways. For one, take a week and play around with the LiveCD. Let us know what you DON'T like about it, why you don't like it, and what you think the developers can do to get it to a point that you would like it better. We are wide open to ideas, and truthfully after spending the past 13+ years with Linux, new users have much better visions than us developers do. Me for instance, I am rather old school. I am not a fan of eye candy, GUI front ends for command line utilities, and especially restricted drivers, codecs, and applications. Imagine a distro if I made it, it would be archaic, but it would have KDE! Though I am not a fan of that stuff, new users are. It took me a while, but I now see just how important Compiz and Beryl have been with the attraction of new users. New users don't want to be in the command line all of the time either, and new users like 3D graphics and want to listen to their MP3's. But there is much more than new users want and expect with an operating system, and it is that we want feedback about. Who knows, after a bit of time with Linux, you might become one of our core developers.

What do you need .... for?

Developers are a necessity. Without them, there wouldn't be software.