[ale] GA Ubuntu intrvw w/ Mark Shuttleworth on line

[aaron]

Nick Ali and Joshua Chase (Josh) from the Ubuntu Georgia
Loco Team < http://ubuntu-georgia.org/ > recently managed
to wrangle a lengthy interview with Mark Shuttleworth for
an Ubuntu podcast:

http://ubuntupodcast.net/2009/04/02/ubuntu-podcast-episode-24-mark- 
shuttleworth/

The front half was mostly about features for the pending
9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" release.  This included talk of
big advances in the Ubuntu server offering, a special
note being inclusion of EC2 (aka Amazon) compatible cloud
computing support with "eucalyptus":

http://highscalability.com/eucalyptus-build-your-own-private-ec2-cloud

The back half of the conversation has some informative and
candid discussions of Ubuntu community issues, especially
in relationship with other GNU Linux distros and developer
communities. For me it affirmed Shuttleworth's sincerity
and commitment in making Open Source more accessible to
the world, and the side note that he was a Debian developer
for 10 years before starting the Ubuntu project was a
"news to me" moment that further confirmed his integrity.
All in all, he comes across as an extraordinarily down to
earth and personable fellow.

There was a little bit of history talk as well, stemming
from Nick's observation that Ubuntu 9.04 will be the 10th
release of the distro and, in October, the 9.10 release
will mark Ubuntu's 5th anniversary!  I think it is amazing
what this organization has done for free software in
that span and I expect even more impressive things in
the future.

Associated note is that we are working toward an
Ubuntu 9.04 install fest for May 23rd and will post
more official announcement once we confirm the venue.

peace
aaron
ALE Event Coordinator (etc.)