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View Full Version : Contributing to Ubuntu = Working for Canonical for free?



Santaji
June 6th, 2011, 08:46 PM
This thought occurred to me some time ago, Canonical owns the Ubuntu trademarks, Canonical markets/advertises Ubuntu, They earn money from Ubuntu by providing support services for it, And through Ubuntu One which is a part of the OS. They make all the major decisions and stuff.
So when somebody contributes something to Ubuntu, Is it like them working for Canonical and not getting paid for it? I really like Ubuntu and the direction Canonical is taking it in and everything, But to me it seems like they have brainwashed people into working for them for free.
Please share your thoughts about this.

wojox
June 6th, 2011, 08:51 PM
How much did you pay for your different versions of Ubuntu?

You can't give a little back?

You don't necessarily have to. No one is forcing you. :P

KiwiNZ
June 6th, 2011, 08:56 PM
Ubuntu was started by and funded by a large donation from one person. The servers here are funded by and supported by Canonical. The international conferences are funded by Canonical. Remember all those free Ubuntu CD's? pay for any ? no ...funded by Canonical. :rolleyes:

I guess Canonical should pay all it's users to install Ubuntu.

Ghost|BTFH
June 6th, 2011, 09:28 PM
Yeah, I don't think you're gonna find a single supporter for your line of logic there, OP.

Canonical was built (correct me if I'm wrong here people) by a philanthropist, not a capitalist (Like say, I dunno, Novell) and the whole philosophy has been to create a F R E E operating system for the world that Just Works(tm) and is community driven.

I am who I am because of who we all are.

Ghost|BTFH

JDShu
June 6th, 2011, 09:34 PM
Canonical is supposed to be profitable, it is not a charity. And I think most of us hope that they do succeed even if we may not agree with their methods in some cases. Ubuntu itself is a somewhat distinct entity, although it's obviously heavily funded by Canonical. Besides Canonical, there is a vibrant community around it that would likely still be there even if Canonical ceased to exist.

Canonical can go bankrupt. As an open source project, Ubuntu can never disappear, theoretically.

tgm4883
June 6th, 2011, 09:37 PM
Unless you are contributing to the artwork/design of Ubuntu, you aren't "working for canonical for free".

I contribute to Ubuntu by writing certain applications and working on Mythbuntu (community distro). I don't get any money from Canonical, but I don't think of myself as "working for free". To say that I don't benefit (by getting my software into peoples systems, by learning so much from other OSS projects) from the progress that Canonical has made with Ubuntu is disingenuous.

lulled
June 6th, 2011, 09:39 PM
Well, being open and free is part of the Linux culture. It is what it is because there are people willing to help to get helped. It's a circle. I help here and I'm helped there.

collisionystm
June 6th, 2011, 09:44 PM
Canonical can go bankrupt. As an open source project, Ubuntu can never disappear, theoretically.


Thank god its so popular in Europe. I cant imagine my life without Ubuntu. It makes my every day computer experience a better place

Gremlinzzz
June 6th, 2011, 10:48 PM
This thought occurred to me some time ago, Canonical owns the Ubuntu trademarks, Canonical markets/advertises Ubuntu, They earn money from Ubuntu by providing support services for it, And through Ubuntu One which is a part of the OS. They make all the major decisions and stuff.
So when somebody contributes something to Ubuntu, Is it like them working for Canonical and not getting paid for it? I really like Ubuntu and the direction Canonical is taking it in and everything, But to me it seems like they have brainwashed people into working for them for free.
Please share your thoughts about this.

This isn't work its fun like a game :D
a free game!

aysiu
June 6th, 2011, 11:01 PM
What kinds of contributions are you talking about, exactly? If you offer a bug fix for Network Manager, it benefits anyone who uses Network Manager, not just Ubuntu users. That's the whole point of open source. Ubuntu doesn't write all this stuff from scratch. They use the same open source software Red Hat and Mepis and Arch and Gentoo all use.

AlphaLexman
June 6th, 2011, 11:21 PM
Are you promoting Ubuntu? Are you telling your friends, relatives, co-workers, and even your enemies about the open source project, the free software foundation, or even Ubuntu?

Do you wear labels on your clothing? Carry products with labeling on them?

It is called advertising. And the return on advertising (something) is greater than the return you personally contribute (maybe nothing). So in the end, the company (Canonical) wins.

Smilax
June 6th, 2011, 11:30 PM
I guess Canonical should pay all it's users to install Ubuntu.


yes, +1

that would be more acceptable.



Yeah, I don't think you're gonna find a single supporter for your line of logic there, OP.



here's one, me.

tgm4883
June 6th, 2011, 11:45 PM
yes, +1

that would be more acceptable.





here's one, me.

/sarcasm

Don't worry, I fixed your post for you ;)

Smilax
June 7th, 2011, 12:14 AM
Don't worry, I fixed your post for you ;)


very good.;)

castrojo
June 7th, 2011, 12:21 AM
"Contributing to Ubuntu = Working for Santaji for free?"

tgalati4
June 7th, 2011, 12:23 AM
I work for beans.

Now I have the shakes.

AlphaLexman
June 7th, 2011, 12:24 AM
"Contributing to Ubuntu = Working for Santaji for free?"

+1

What comes around, goes around!

Thewhistlingwind
June 7th, 2011, 02:06 AM
Sure, I think that's the wrong way to look at it though.

By helping a corporation like canonical, you help the FREE GNU/Linux project win. In a way your working for the Linux community more then anyone else.

swoll1980
June 7th, 2011, 03:17 AM
I guess Canonical should pay all it's users to install Ubuntu.

They should send techs to our houses to install it for us too. What's with this whole "install your own OS" garbage? Come on Ubuntu; get with the program!

vehemoth
June 7th, 2011, 03:30 AM
I would rather help upstream projects if I could. Try and help more the linux community than just ubuntu users.

radar920
June 7th, 2011, 03:35 AM
I have the complete opposite feeling, i always feel bad that i don't have the knowledge to help out. I just try and read as much as i can and stay out of the way.

athenroy
June 7th, 2011, 03:50 AM
No one knows for sure what lies ahead. There is always the chance Canonical pulls a Red Hat, shuts down Ubuntu and sells an enterprise version, I suppose. In the meantime, we get a free operating system and do a lot of beta testing, because in reality that is what we are doing. In any event, for the most part, it works to our benefit.

weasel fierce
June 7th, 2011, 05:21 AM
By this logic, Intel and HP are working for Linus Torvalds for free

arpanaut
June 7th, 2011, 06:35 AM
OMG! What a devil that man is.

Legendary_Bibo
June 7th, 2011, 06:51 AM
I'm not working when I contribute, what happens is I make something for myself that I like and suits me then I upload it to gnome-look like everyone else to share it. We're just making things for ourselves then we share it. Sharing is caring yo!

Gnome-look is easy to upload stuff to and it's nice and clean, and very easy to navigate, if it was a pain in the butt to upload (those size limits are annoying and the fact that you can only upload one file, and the rest have to be from somewhere else is annoying as well) then I doubt you would see as many people sharing their work.

Oxwivi
June 7th, 2011, 07:08 AM
By this logic, Intel and HP are working for Linus Torvalds for free
+99 Hilarious!

If you contribute to Ubuntu, you're helping free software not Canonical. Likewise, Canonical is doing the same, though their contributor agreement has been subject to much debate.

Santaji
June 7th, 2011, 07:51 AM
I know my logic is probably flawed, But i just wanted to see what other people thought about this, So thanks for replying to the thread everyone.

nzjethro
June 7th, 2011, 09:16 AM
Interesting thought. I guess ~14 free OSes (or updates at least) has to be pretty good payment. Especially when, if you don't want to, you don't have to give anything back. I guess that's the whole point of the open-source community; you contribute what and if you can (whether it be code, bug testing, writing in these forums, anything) and if everybody gets on board you have something fantastic. I'm pretty lousy at programming, but I'm learning, and some time down the track I'd love to contribute part of an application or something.

Docaltmed
June 7th, 2011, 12:04 PM
Since I can't put two lines of code together without mucking something up, I mostly work for Canonical for free by being so charming and witty on the forums.

mips
June 7th, 2011, 12:05 PM
So when somebody contributes something to Ubuntu, Is it like them working for Canonical and not getting paid for it?

No. It's like volunteering for a charity/NGO helping out because you want to help and not because you expect to get paid :roll:

mips
June 7th, 2011, 12:08 PM
No. It's like volunteering for a charity/NGO helping out because you want to help and not because you expect to get paid :roll:

There are actually people out there that have a passion or interest in things and VOLUNTEER their time & skills because they enjoy doing so.

Smilax
June 7th, 2011, 12:48 PM
There are actually people out there that have a passion or interest in things and VOLUNTEER their time & skills because they enjoy doing so.


well, not the chuggers anyway.

get paid to ask you for money,
which goes to Charity,
which gives the money to chuggers
to go and ask you for money

fuduntu
June 7th, 2011, 01:32 PM
there are actually people out there that have a passion or interest in things and volunteer their time & skills because they enjoy doing so.

+1

Ken UK
June 7th, 2011, 01:45 PM
I really hope Canonical do well and only get bigger because for Linux to get anywhere big I really think it needs some sort of central full time resource directing it, otherwise you end up with more and more forks and people going off in random directions not always working together as well as they could.

The beauty about it is if Ubutnu became the new Windows and Canonical became like Microsoft then people would just take Ubuntu and fork off with something new, they don't have 100% control like Microsoft. If you make something that becomes part of ubuntu its still yours, its everyones! You could always take it and go somewhere else too, you are not giving, you are sharing.

I don't use Ubuntu just because its free, the same with Open source software, I wouldn't mind paying for it (although that does add the extra pain of buying new updates and licence managing etc.) but I use them because they are good and you can do what you want with them, its so much easier and hassle free. You get features which typical commercial systems wouldn't because it wouldn't be in their interest finacially like supporting alternate systems eg. file types.

forrestcupp
June 7th, 2011, 03:18 PM
Canonical is supposed to be profitable, it is not a charity. And I think most of us hope that they do succeed even if we may not agree with their methods in some cases.Right. And they haven't achieved profitability yet, so it's not like they are making a bunch of money off of our free contributions. Canonical is still investing more than they are bringing in.


Ubuntu itself is a somewhat distinct entity, although it's obviously heavily funded by Canonical. Besides Canonical, there is a vibrant community around it that would likely still be there even if Canonical ceased to exist.This is what people don't understand. Ubuntu is a completely separate community driven entity than Canonical. Canonical is separate from Ubuntu, but they contribute a lot of money and development to the FOSS project. They make their money from other things, like professional support services and other projects like Ubuntu One. They aren't making any money from Ubuntu itself.


"Contributing to Ubuntu = Working for Santaji for free?"Lol. That's an excellent point. :)

3Miro
June 7th, 2011, 03:51 PM
I use Ubuntu.
I have the skills to make Ubuntu better.
I want to make Ubuntu better for myself.

However, since Canonical is probably going to make money form it and I will be doing it for free, I will not improve my system.

:D I think this is the definition of socially destructive type of thinking.:D

When I contribute to Ubuntu, I contribute for my own interest. If Canonical makes money out of it, then it is a win-win.

uRock
June 7th, 2011, 04:02 PM
I am not working for Canonical, I am working for me and this is what I want to do for a few minutes a day. In return I have Ubuntu.

Santaji
June 7th, 2011, 05:29 PM
No. It's like volunteering for a charity/NGO helping out because you want to help and not because you expect to get paid :roll:


There are actually people out there that have a passion or interest in things and VOLUNTEER their time & skills because they enjoy doing so.

I understand why people want to contribute to a Open Source project like Ubuntu.


This is what people don't understand. Ubuntu is a completely separate community driven entity than Canonical. Canonical is separate from Ubuntu, but they contribute a lot of money and development to the FOSS project. They make their money from other things, like professional support services and other projects like Ubuntu One. They aren't making any money from Ubuntu itself.

How is Ubuntu a completely separate entity then Canonical? Canonical owns the Ubuntu trademarks, When somebody contributes to Ubuntu the copyright is assigned to Canonical. I like Ubuntu and i appreciate the work the community and Canonical is doing, Especially Canonical's Design Team. But i feel Ubuntu is mostly a product of Canonical, And when somebody contributes some code or documentation or bug fixes or whatever it is a bit like them doing free work for Canonical. I don't see anything wrong with people working for free, But doing free work for a for-profit company seems a bit weird.

tgm4883
June 7th, 2011, 05:33 PM
I understand why people want to contribute to a Open Source project like Ubuntu.



How is Ubuntu a completely separate entity then Canonical? Canonical owns the Ubuntu trademarks, When somebody contributes to Ubuntu the copyright is assigned to Canonical. I like Ubuntu and i appreciate the work the community and Canonical is doing, Especially Canonical's Design Team. But i feel Ubuntu is mostly a product of Canonical, And when somebody contributes some code or documentation or bug fixes or whatever it is a bit like them doing free work for Canonical. I don't see anything wrong with people working for free, But doing free work for a for-profit company seems a bit weird.

As I mentioned in a previous post and was apparently ignored, other than official Ubuntu Artwork/Design, what would you contribute to Ubuntu that wouldn't actually be contributing to an Open Source project (eg. Gnome, Gwibber, Kino, MythTV, etc)

Santaji
June 7th, 2011, 06:32 PM
As I mentioned in a previous post and was apparently ignored, other than official Ubuntu Artwork/Design, what would you contribute to Ubuntu that wouldn't actually be contributing to an Open Source project (eg. Gnome, Gwibber, Kino, MythTV, etc)

Sorry, I did not notice your previous post.
What if i contribute some code to fix a bug in Unity, I know i would still be contributing to a open source project, But the copyright for my code would be assigned to Canonical. Maybe it's not such a big deal as i think it, But it seems weird to me.
If i could, I would happily contribute to a open-source project like Gnome for example without thinking twice, But i would hesitate about contributing to Unity. Not because i don't like Unity, I think it's great. But i feel it would be like working for Canonical for free.
It's the fact that my code would belong to a for-profit organization that bothers me.
Again, I might be just making a big deal out of this and maybe it really does not matter.

uRock
June 7th, 2011, 06:41 PM
If you write code for Unity, then any OS offering Unity will be able to use it. Unity is not copyrighted. Unity is Open Source and any OS can use it.

forrestcupp
June 7th, 2011, 07:10 PM
How is Ubuntu a completely separate entity then Canonical? Canonical owns the Ubuntu trademarks, When somebody contributes to Ubuntu the copyright is assigned to Canonical.

This quote is taken from the About Ubuntu web page (http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu):


The governance of Ubuntu is somewhat independent of Canonical, with volunteer leaders from around the world taking responsibility for many of the critical elements of the project. It remains a key tenet of the Ubuntu Project that Ubuntu is a shared work between Canonical, other companies, and the thousands of volunteers who bring their expertise to bear on making it a world-class platform for the whole world to use.
Canonical is a for-profit company who created and supports the Ubuntu Project, which is a non-profit FOSS project. It's true that Canonical owns the Ubuntu trademarks, but that only consists of things like the names and logos. They don't own the software. Even Unity is Free Software. Just because Canonical created Unity doesn't mean that it is owned by them and it's not open source.

If you contribute to software or support, you're contributing to the Ubuntu Project, which is open source. If you contribute to the official artwork or logos (which isn't likely), then you're contributing to Canonical. Making 3rd party wallpapers and themes doesn't count because Canonical isn't using them in their official distributions.

mips
June 7th, 2011, 07:24 PM
If you contribute to the official artwork or logos (which isn't likely), then you're contributing to Canonical.

And should Canonical cease to exist the trademarks will be transferred to a trust in order to protect them for the communities sake.

Smilax
June 7th, 2011, 07:50 PM
copyright for my code would be assigned to Canonical. Maybe it's not such a big deal as i think it, But it seems weird to me.



Again, I might be just making a big deal out of this and maybe it really does not matter.


hey, it is a big deal, because, if it wasn't, why would they ask you to agree to there terms.

AlphaLexman
June 7th, 2011, 09:00 PM
But the copyright for my code would be assigned to Canonical.
You should see how many different copyrights are available: Comparison_of_free_software_licenses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_free_software_licenses).

3Miro
June 7th, 2011, 09:05 PM
You should see how many different copyrights are available: Comparison_of_free_software_licenses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_free_software_licenses).

AFIK all Canonical code is either GPL v2 or GPL v3.