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View Full Version : Wow. Ubuntu really is a commercial distro



DrFunkenstein
March 4th, 2006, 10:35 PM
Did anyone else notice this?
I just was playing around with my dapper install and took a look at the menus.
I discovered that the help item now has a sub menu that consists of
a) System Documentation, which will open yelp.
b) Online Support, which will open help.ubuntu.com
and finally
c) Find local support
Now this last item doesn't link to a page listing local forums and mailinglists, as one might expect, but links to the following page:
http://www.ubuntu.com/support/marketplace


Ubuntu Marketplace

There is a growing network of companies that provide local support for desktops and servers running Ubuntu. Find a company close to you, or get your own company listed in the marketplace.
Global Provider

The premier provider of global escalation support is Canonical Ltd. We recommend that you find a local provider for desktop support, together with an escalation support contract to ensure that critical issues can be dealt with by the core Ubuntu team.

And then you'll find links that will help you find professional support for Ubuntu.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with this, I simply was, eh, surprised to see this integrated into the desktop.

mstlyevil
March 4th, 2006, 11:04 PM
Did anyone else notice this?
I just was playing around with my dapper install and took a look at the menus.
I discovered that the help item now has a sub menu that consists of
a) System Documentation, which will open yelp.
b) Online Support, which will open help.ubuntu.com
and finally
c) Find local support
Now this last item doesn't link to a page listing local forums and mailinglists, as one might expect, but links to the following page:
http://www.ubuntu.com/support/marketplace



And then you'll find links that will help you find professional support for Ubuntu.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with this, I simply was, eh, surprised to see this integrated into the desktop.

I believe they have something like this posted on the main web site also. I will have to look again and find it.

xequence
March 4th, 2006, 11:06 PM
I think its great. Mark has been such a great person and nice giving ubuntu so much money id love it if he could make some money off it.

BWF89
March 4th, 2006, 11:09 PM
What happens if Mark were to say suddenly die in a plane crash or his money runs out.

Who is going to fund Ubuntu then?

xequence
March 4th, 2006, 11:17 PM
What happens if Mark were to say suddenly die in a plane crash or his money runs out.

Who is going to fund Ubuntu then?

Lets get Radiohead to sponsor us.

mstlyevil
March 4th, 2006, 11:23 PM
What happens if Mark were to say suddenly die in a plane crash or his money runs out.

Who is going to fund Ubuntu then?

I believe he made an initial investment of something like 10 million dollars to get it up off the ground and then it would be purely community supported after that.

Pekkalainen
March 4th, 2006, 11:58 PM
The Ubuntu Foundation will continue to finance it. He founded it for that reason alone I belive.

BoyOfDestiny
March 5th, 2006, 03:53 AM
Did anyone else notice this?
I just was playing around with my dapper install and took a look at the menus.
I discovered that the help item now has a sub menu that consists of
a) System Documentation, which will open yelp.
b) Online Support, which will open help.ubuntu.com
and finally
c) Find local support
Now this last item doesn't link to a page listing local forums and mailinglists, as one might expect, but links to the following page:
http://www.ubuntu.com/support/marketplace



And then you'll find links that will help you find professional support for Ubuntu.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with this, I simply was, eh, surprised to see this integrated into the desktop.

This is something good. For non-geeks (and for some reason people who don't google problems), official support is a very reassuring thing. I'm much happier with that business model, because it's optional for those with the time/talent, and the distro itself is Free. :)

EDIT: Just looked over that page, so it's more business oriented, still a good thing I think. Do you think something along the lines of customer support will show up? (if not, the forums are still the best for the average user)