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. ®
LOL, which one, supposedly? You're welcome to take up the cause, since it's completley lost every point so far.
Bantering with 'im while trying to rebuild my Linux live CD probably wasn't a good idea, lol.
Are you still tying to distract about how pretty much everything you have said today has been debunked? About Google Earth, Needing an Emulator, ....?
I don't have to pay $3000 in room, board, housing, etc. that I had to do last year. My tuition is only a couple grand, but I still have to use federal student loans to completely pay for it. I have to pay for it later, but right now, it's how I can afford to pay for my schooling. There's nothing wrong about that.
I transferred into and attend a two-year junior college across town, and I'm on track to graduate this spring with an AAS. Next fall, I move to a four-year campus to finish my bachelor's degree, and then afterwards, probably law school.
GE simply acts like a Lib--retreating to personal attacks when he senses the argument is lost. If he continues, I may very well use that button, if you get my drift. I don't want to, but I will if I have to...
I hear ya, I spent three years in the dorms and decided to spend the last one at home to save the money and eat better meals..
I transferred into and attend a two-year junior college across town, and I'm on track to graduate this spring with an AAS.
Something I would recommend for anyone not accepted to their dream school. Sure if you get into ND, or an Ivy League go and take the debt. On the other hand, if youre more interested in post grad studies some day or dont get the school of your choice go to a community school get the gen ed's out of the way and go to university later.
If he continues, I may very well use that button, if you get my drift. I don't want to, but I will if I have to...
Use of that button will put in good company ;) I feel an obligation to use it when he goes overboard on an OSS thread..
Just don't tell GE about FreeNX...
Quit changing the subject, you haven't admitted your lie in this post yet. Are you going to, yes or no?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1568848/posts?page=44#44
I haven't lost a single argument on this thread, especially not to you. If you don't want comments about still living with your parents, start acting like you've finally grown up.
You went from Google Earth wont work on Linux, to you need an Emulator, to 'I just meant the kernel, to read the cert reports and somehow I am the one changing the subject?
GE, you do know Denial is a river in Egypt, right?
If you don't want comments about still living with your parents, start acting like you've finally grown up.
They're inappropriate because they are absolutely irrelevant to the thread. You're just retreating to ad hominem attacks, and if you continue, I will have no other option than to seek the appropriate means to end it.
((((((LOL, which one, supposedly?))))))))
I wasn't really paying attention to your petty little argument with him, just as I'm sure most of the time people don't pay attention to my petty little arguments.(including the ones I've had with you)
I happened to catch post #53 though, and this post of yours is classic of the type of knee-jerk that any poster at some time or another has used when they've lost an argument.
Set up a straw man that you yourself then can tear down in order to..... whatever your goal is. Here are your words from #53.
((((((((((("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.")))))))))
I didn't catch the poster saying either of these statements. That's just what you WISH he'd have said because that's your pre-conceived notion about any/all linux user(s).
((((((You're welcome to take up the cause, since it's completley lost every point so far.))))))))
LOL, nah. He's got his favored arguments, I've got mine. No doubt you and I will be sparring again soon enough.
:-P
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