Posted on 01/31/2006 12:04:16 PM PST by N3WBI3
Google is preparing its own distribution of Linux for the desktop, in a possible bid to take on Microsoft in its core business - desktop software.
A version of the increasingly popular Ubuntu desktop Linux distribution, based on Debian and the Gnome desktop, it is known internally as 'Goobuntu'. Google has confirmed it is working on a desktop linux project called Goobuntu, but declined to supply further details, including what the project is for.
It's possible that it's just one of the toys Googleplex engineers play with on Fridays, when they get time off from buffing the search engine code or filtering out entries about Tiananmen Square.
It could be for wider deployments on the company's own desktops, as an alternative to Microsoft, but still for internal use only.
But it's possible Google plans to distribute it to the general public, as a free alternative to Windows.
Google has already demonstrated an interest in building a presence on the desktop. At CES Las Vegas this month, it announced the Google Pack, a collection of desktop software bundled together for easy downloading.
The pack includes many apps which compete directly with the Windows bundle, such as Google Talk, Google Desktop, Mozilla Firefox, the Trillian instant messenger client, RealPlayer, and Picasa photo management.
Going the whole hog and distributing a complete desktop software suite would merely be another step down the same path.
However, entering the desktop software world would be a huge step. Making Goobuntu as easy to use as XP will require a lot more development. It's unlikely to be ready for showtime any time soon, and it's possible Google itself hasn't finalised where the project should go.
Whatever Google's intentions, the input of Google engineers and developers, writing new features and fixing bugs, will be a huge boost to the Ubuntu project.
Ubuntu, funded by the South African internet multimillionaire and occasional cosmonaut Mark Shuttleworth, is already emerging as a leader in the desktop Linux world.
It has built considerable momentum in the Linux community, and is starting to appear more widely. Shuttleworth is seeking to persuade white-box PC manufacturers to start shipping machines with Ubuntu preinstalled.
It is top of the Distrowatch download chart, is installed on up to six million computers, and doubling every eight months, according to estimates from Shuttleworth's company, Canonical.
It has spawned a number of different offshoots, including Xubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu (for schools).
The word Ubuntu means "humanity to others" in several African languages, including Zulu and Xhosa. It's one of the founding principles of post-apartheid South Africa. The origin of the word 'Goobuntu' is not clear, though it does not appear in online Zulu dictionaries.
The Goobuntu.com domain has been registered in the past couple of days, though presumably not by Google. It now redirects to a Cuban portal. Perhaps Google will have to think of a new name for the system before they launch it to the wider public. ®
Your article also states that MS again failed to meet analysts' expectations, and that profits per share were marginally better than these expectations.
I didn't say they were losing money--I said they were hurting. This is true--MS is a monopoly!
They should be having obscene profits at their stage--they have been wiping any other company that makes similar products off the board one by one for the past decade. Clearly they aren't performing as rosy as you dream.
I've taken economics and got excellent marks in it. It doesn't take anyone with an advanced degree to realize that record profits would exceed expectations on all accounts. What your article said is that MS stayed out of the red, as opposed to the rest of the tech sector--which mainly comprises of chip makers, hardware manufacturers, and the software market, which Microsoft has a death-grip on.
That said, your article says absolutely nothing.
According to you, Linux is only a kernel, so my statement is correct, Google Earth is not compatible with Linux. Don't start twisting your position around in the hope of finally winning a point.
And you are very quick to point to cert advisories for apache from CERT and call them 'Linux Problems'...
Record profits, year after year. Yet the MS haters always claim they're going down the toilet, LMAO. Maybe one day, but definitely not yet. Keep living your dream, I guess, you obviously have no interest in reality.
CERT categorizes vulns by family, nothing more. And the combined *nix family has many more holes than the Windows family, which is all I've ever claimed.
See, here's a perfect example, that shows you were wrong when you said I called them "Linux Problems".
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1496919/posts?page=124#124
Here's another. And another. Are you going to admit you put inaccurate words in my mouth?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1494768/posts?page=21#21
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1494768/posts?page=23#23
Couple more.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1483076/posts?page=45#45
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1483076/posts?page=207#207
Keep dreaming. Record profits don't equate into "marginal profits per share." Marginal profits equate into marginal profits per share.
With all due respect, it is clearly you who doesn't seem to be interested in reality. So, for the time being, I'm going to upgrade my Slax kernel--to 2.6.15 in case you're interested.
Two more. Seems as many times as I posted it, you could have remembered correctly what it was. Or at least done a simple search before you made the obviously incorrect accusation I always referred to them as "Linux problems".
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1481956/posts?page=28#28
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1481139/posts?page=43#43
You guys are quite the comedy!
"I really don't hate Microsoft, I just constantly deny their record profits every year are actually worth anything."
"I really don't like Richard Stallman, I just live every single day of my life by his principles."
Since the basic concepts of profit and the stock market are above and beyond your understanding, I'll consider it futile to explain it any further.
Finally, you say we're emulators of RMS? Ask anyone here if they support RMS and his initiatives. For at least the second time: I don't because IMO he's taking Free Software to a crazy level.
I'm serious--quit with the dumb hijinks. They are a big nuisance around here. I don't mind you here with us--but you have to either post intelligently, maintain civilty and keep things respectful, or leave.
Funny stuff! Say, are you still using your dad's computer, or did you ever get one of your own? Seriously. You said something about loading an O/S on there, just wanted to make sure you checked with him first if you were still using his. Thanks.
The report you mentioned:
Adobe Version Cue for Mac OS X Elevated Privileges -> is acrobat 'windows'
GNU GZip Directory Traversal -> is winzip windows?
But this is what you always do you get caught in a bald faced lie:
"Google Earth is not compatible with Linux": Caught
you try to weasel out of it with uninformed techno babble "you need a windows emulator": Caught (WINE is not an emulator)
You then try to say its not compatible with the kernel and pretend thats what you meant, Caught: Google Earth needs non-kernel OS code to run on windows
you finally revert to misusing numbers: Compares anything and everything packaged with any one of hundred os Linux/Unix releases to only the contents of a MS CD.
you do all this to get out of the the subject off of your original lie/mistake "Google Earth is not compatible with Linux"..
Anyone at all who sees enough of you on the tech threads knows this..
Quite true, and we laugh at you for it since it's been refuted often yet you keep repeating it. What's that phrase? Stuck on stupid?
Well that and your extremely large number of inaccurate and idiotic posts.
Begone, foul troll.
All that is......... he's showing you that he's lost the argument.
That's what happens, when you have no other choice but to make it up. Like what the media does these days................
So you're not going to admit you were lying when you said I referred to the Cert report as "Linux problems"? Why not?
I can install the OS once the thing's paid off in full.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.