Today I was reading a recent article on Forbes website by a supposed ‘contributor’ named Federico Guerrini. Forbes, as you may know, is a popular place for people to go to try to get ‘informed’. His article followed perfectly a kind of template that these ‘tech writers’ for popular media use when discussing Ubuntu.
The format, and you may have seen it before, looks like this:
- I love Ubuntu
- Ubuntu is great
- Here are my recent articles to prove that I can talk tech and have credentials
- Hardware, blah, blah, blah
- Comparison with other operating systems, blah, blah
- Other operating systems are ‘just a little better because they have more apps’
- Apps are oxygen to our lungs and the reason that I live
- <critical missing information about where the future is going
- <critical missing information about non-tech things that matter to our world>
Are you serious, Federico?
Do you not remember when computers first arrived? There were three ‘apps’ – a clock, a calculator and word processor. Oh, wait. No, there was also a game – Oregon Trail on a paper thin floppy disk thing – and it took 10 minutes to load… And people were excited because these computers had the potential to change the world.
I remember just a short time ago when the most amazing mobile operating system was Nokia and Blackberry and now they are nearly distant memories. And they all ‘had apps’.
Apps? Seriously, Federico?. We need to move on past the apps, buddy.
Apps are just the fruit of people’s time and effort and a bunch of lines of code. They are the result of people believing that the future of said operating system is strong enough and worthy enough or able to pay enough to compensate their time invested in writing the code. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.
So *the core issue is not the number of apps* but the faith of the people who write the apps and in what OS they believe in. And you have clearly demonstrated, Federico, that you speak ‘I love Ubuntu’ out of one side of your mouth but on the other side you say ‘Ubuntu isn’t as strong as the others’. These two messages cannot mix, but you try.
If Ubuntu was not in a fully functional, market-ready condition and still in the lab, I could more understand your position and your ‘warnings’ to stick to horrible operating systems, but, you are now out of line because Ubuntu is officially in the market – and really good, too, and standing up just fine against the big boys in terms of everything except number of apps.
Apps? Seriously? We need to move on past number of apps. Especially when half of the apps on these established operating systems, and the operating systems themselves, steal your privacy and hurt your family.
It’s not about whether what you write about is true or not, either. What you wrote about is true. It’s what you did *not* write about that matters. You did *not* write about how android and ios are really bad for you and your family and the world. You didn’t write about that in your article. You didn’t share the truth about how the privacy of the users of these systems are being raped and their information pillaged. You didn’t even touch on it. And that’s not very nice to people who don’t know, Federico. Especially when you do know. And if you say you love Ubuntu, you do know, Federico.
But what is most saddening, is that you didn’t write about the bright future of Ubuntu and where it’s going.
Ubuntu and convergence will merge all your devices into one. It will be the go-to operating system for the world and very soon, too. Major operating systems have even started to try to work Ubuntu into their operating systems (behind the scenes of course) because they know their funeral date is near. You also didn’t mention how Ubuntu is the *safest* operating system on the market. It is respectful of privacy and its users. It doesn’t do things to you without asking. You also didn’t mention that Ubuntu is community built and that the community will continue to shape the system (including the mobile) into something that the people actually want, not what a bunch of boardroom execs want to push out.
Ubuntu is the best thing to ever hit the world of computing, and if you say that you like/love Ubuntu, you need to share the truth when you write, not just pander to these well-funded corporations and media outlets.
I know you are scared to step out of the boat alone. I know it’s scary to come out against the masses, but I dare you, Federico, to use your God-given creativity and a little courage and write the truth in your next article and help change the world into a better place and inspire the world to help us get past the dysentery of Oregon Trail.
