Mark Shuttleworth on Wubi and Open Source on Windows and Mac
Mark Shuttleworth blogs about Wubi, a new tool for easily installing Ubuntu on a Windows machine.
He points out the value of making it easy for users to access Free Software, even if they run it on Windows: “I believe in bringing free software to people in a way that is exciting and empowering to them, and one of the key ways to do that is to show them amazing free software running on their familiar platform, whether that’s Windows or the Mac OS.”
Once again, Firefox has broken ground for the cause of all open source software. Shuttleworth writes, “Firefox, for example, is an inspiring free software success story, and I’m certain that a key driver of that success is their excellent support for the Windows environment. It’s a quick download and an easy install that Just Works, after which people can actually FEEL that free software delivers an innovative and powerful browsing experience that is plainly better than the proprietary alternatives… And users love it – users that may then be willing to take a step closer to living in the GNU world entirely.”
This gives me a renewed impetus for Project Smith, which I have picked up to work on once again.