This forum is not open source.

[rillian]

I thought the whole point of Ubuntu was to be open source. Well according to this site it is not: https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/foru...in-open-source.

[TheFu]

Welcome to the forums.

A small point - MS-Windows is Open Source for China and Russian govts. Open Source just means that people can look at it. In the Linux/BSD/GNU communities, we really should press for F/LOSS, which includes many more rights - the right to modify and the right to redistribute our updates. THOSE are important.

Ubuntu certainly leverages OSS, but that isn't the point. The point is to make a set of distros that are usable by humans. Sometimes that means making compromises. While F/LOSS tends to be preferred, important features and usability are more important.

Look in the Software Center. You'll see commercial software in there.

Canonical Ltd. is a "for profit" company. Making a profit is important, so the company can continue. I haven't read that Canonical is actually making a profit yet, though they do have lots of cash flow.

If you want a distro that stresses being F/LOSS (OSS isn't enough), then look at Debian or one of the BSD-based versions.

Lastly, 99.99999% of the people here do not work for Canonical. We are just volunteers. That includes the forum moderators. Canonical developers seldom visit here either, BTW.

[ian-weisser]

You are mistaken about "the whole point of Ubuntu".
See https://www.ubuntu.com/about/about-u...our-philosophy

You are, of course, free to suggest Open Source alternatives that meet the community's needs...and are worth the pain of such a transition.

[deadflowr]

Here:
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=724506

[coffeecat]

No, vBulletin is not open source, it is proprietary. So what? It was the best forum software that fulfilled the needs of the forum founders back in 2004, or thereabouts, and still works well enough for our needs 13-14 years later. With such a huge database accumulated over those many years, and the labyrinthine structure of sub-forums, usergroups and permissions that have been built up, we will not be changing the forum software any time soon.

However, your comment "the whole point of Ubuntu was to be open source" implies a fundamental misconception about the philosophy of Ubuntu and the wider Open Source ecosystem. Previous posters have addressed this point, but if you want to explore this more deeply, you are welcome to start a discussion thread in Ubuntu Linux and OS Chat.

In the meantime, the forum will continue to run on vBulletin - period. If it's any consolation, the operating system that the forum server is running is, of course, Ubuntu.

[rillian]

Okay I see what you all mean. I suppose vBullitin is not all bad due to it allowing you to edit the source code once you've brought it. But I would rather it was all FOSS.

[QIII]

I think you would find that a great number of us are not zealous FOSS/FLOSS evangelists. You are more likely to hear "use what works for you" around here. Personally, I don't think there is anything necessarily superior or more ethically attractive about FOSS/FLOSS than commercial software. There is only the financial reward -- which may not be worth the loss of functionality.

I don't remember making any vow to the opinions of the FSF when I started using Linux.

[rillian]

OK. As a side note what is FLOSS/LOSS i have heard of FOSS but not this.

[rillian]

Also TheFu I tried out xman it is so retro

[Frogs Hair]

The iSP I'm using isn't FOSS based software either though it does provide a means to get here and participate.