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Ubuntu的世界很精彩
cathayan 发表于 2005年10月01日 11时51分
Cnet的这篇报道非常到位，详细介绍了Ubuntu－－这个新兴的Linux发行版的兴起，开发，以及可能有的问题，当然包括它同它的基础Debian之间的争论。如果想看中文版，DreamLand的翻译也不错。
http://beta.news.com.com/Ubuntu+carves+niche+in+Linux+landscape/2100-7344_3-5886194.html?tag=nefd.top
https://d4e.org/showthread.php?t=64721
【翻译】主题报道：Ubuntu的世界很精彩
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（CNET09/30美西电）一般而言，新发行一款Linux操作系统，而且还能有广大的追随者，并不是件容易的事。但Ubuntu的开发者却做到了。
据粗略的统计，目前Linux的发行版本至少有386种之多，这个数据反应出有大量的开发小组都志在推出自己的Linux发行版，他们为这个开源的操作系统，添加了各式各样的开源软件，都在竭力将其妆点为功能齐全的操作系统。但在Linux世界里，除了大 名鼎鼎的Red Hat， Suse和Debian，其它大多数都名不见经传，因此想要一举成名，绝对不是件容易的事。
Ubuntu起源于2年前，它是由Mark Shuttleworth一手推动的。谁是Mark Shuttleworth？ 10年前他成立了（电脑及网络）安全咨询公司Thawte Consulting，后来以5.75亿美元卖给了VeriSign，不过使他名噪一时的还是，他（自费）乘坐俄国飞船，在国际空间站中度过了8天的时光。
Ubuntu算是Debian的副产品。其出发点是为了让个人电脑变得简单易用，但它也有一个服务器版本。开发者大多是自愿者，也有来自Shuttleworth那间只要50个员工的创业公司Canonical，以及同样是他出资赞助的Ubuntu Foundation（Ubuntu基金会）（Shuttleworth赞助了1千万美元）。他对产品开发有很强的影响力，开发人员都称他SABDFL（self-appointed benevolent dictator for life的简称，意思是自封的仁慈大君）
Ubuntu只出过两个版本，代号为‘Breezy Badger’的第3个版本预计将于10月13日推出。软件还沒上市，但已赢得不少赞誉。 RedMonk公司的分析师Stephen O'Grady这样评价：“这款软件，我极力向Linux新手推荐，不为别的，只为它里面所有的一切都能顺利地运作。” 他还说，Ubuntu的开发社区非常有实力。
Breezy Badger将包括对Linux Terminals Server Project（Linux终端服务器）的支持。这个终端服务器项目深受教育界人士的喜爱，因为低性能的个人电脑，也能通过终端连接方式，分享Linux服务器的强大功能和丰富资源。Ubuntu第3版还推出了一个‘configurator（软件配置工 具）’，电脑商可以利用它，轻易实现软件的定制及安装新的插件。
Jeff Waugh是最早加入Canonical公司的第3号人物，同时也是Ubuntu业务及社区开发负责人。他透露，Shuttleworth的理想就是Linux要保持创新的活力。Linux目前只对高端付费的产品给予支持，而免费产品则没有这个待遇，Sh uttleworth也衷心希望这个情况能有所改观。
Waugh说：“使用Red Hat的服务器版本，你必须得付费才行。但Ubuntu没有这种玻璃天花板的限制，你可以随意使用任何Ubuntu的企业版软件。”
从Linux社区中脱颖而出
Linux商业团体与犹如星星之火的‘开源社区’拉开了艰辛的对抗历程，而Ubuntu正是在这种背景下的崛起的。Ubuntu阵营的开发者有新兵也有老手，他们来自四面八方，有大企业、学校还有需要吸纳投资的创业公司，这支队伍更扩展到世界各地。通过对 开发能力的历练，他们在开发新功能、查找问题、构筑用户基建平台以及制订开发项目的先后次序等方面都能得心应手。
Red Hat有自己的社区开发项目，Fedora。据Red Hat的首席执行长Matthew Szulik透露，前一段时间，Fedora遇到一些麻烦，但现在社区与公司的关系得到缓解。 Novell也有个类似的项目叫OpenSuse，而公司发言人Kevan Barney称OpenSuse的社区远比Ubuntu来得广泛。Sun也如法炮制，为它的Unix产品设立了一个开源项目，OpenSolaris。Sun认为开源社区这种方式，最终能让公司获益非浅。
但真正得益于Ubuntu成功的是Debian这个非商业化的Linux开源项目。Ubuntu是以Debian的一个开发版本，Sid，为基础而发展起来的。Waugh透露，Ubuntu的程序员们在GNOME桌面系统上整合得相当不错，而且也获得了X .org对低层图形系统的支持。
定量分析Ubuntu的具体收益是很困难的。 Ubuntu是免费的，甚至也为用户提供免费的安装光盘（不用出邮费），因此它在IDC（注1)的收益图表上，没有任何数据可查。但它的成功却是有迹可循的。值得一提的是，任何对Ubuntu所作的变动必须经过审批才行，有60个核心人物有这个特批权；而 对Ubuntu的修改作出贡献的更是不计其数。代号Warty Warthog的第1版Ubuntu，其发行拷贝超过了1百40万个。根据专门统计Linux发行版数量的DistroWatch网站透露，对Ubuntu感兴趣的用户人数名列众家Linux发行版之冠。
Ubuntu有一个问题，就是缺少商业伙伴，但这个情况现在也有所改观。VMWare专门从事虚拟机的研制，即能在同一台机器上同时运行多个操作系统，在其最新的VNWare 5测试版中，根据用户要求，就尝试着对Ubuntu进行了支持。据HP女发言人Nita Miller透露，HP有一款面向欧洲及非洲市场销售的笔记本电脑，安装的就是Ubuntu操作系统，而且公司也计划为其它地区销售的桌面电脑提供Ubuntu操作系统。
如果在其未来版本中能提供更稳定的性能，那么获得商业支持应该是容易的。Ubuntu每6个月发布一个新版本，其下一个版本是6.04，代号为Dapper Drake，预计将于2006年4月推出。该版本的桌面系统享有3年的技术支持，而服务器版则有5年的保障。和目前18个月的技术支持相比，这个新的服务周期真的可谓是相当长的了。
这个举动拉近了Ubuntu和几大主要商业Linux产品之间的距离。举例来说，Red Hat及Suse的企业版Linux的主要升级周期是一年半，这样作的好处就是，用户及商业伙伴不用疲于奔命地不断升级。和商业软件相比，Ubuntu还有一个短处，那就是：对服务器硬件及专用软件，缺乏用户认证。商业Linux对Oracle、SAP、 IBM及Dell等软硬件公司都颁布相应的产品认证。
发展的阻力
尽管Ubuntu的成功，帮助Debian提高了声誉，但Ubuntu并没有获得相应的回报。
最大的一个障碍来自Denian的创始人lan Murdock，他也是创业公司Progeny的首席战略主管（chief strategy officer ）。Progeny致力于Debian商业化，也是DCCA（Debian Common Core Alliance，Debian公共核心联盟）的发起成员，其核心目的就是解决基于Debian的Linux发行版之间的兼容问题。但Ubuntu却不是DCCA成员。
Murdock称：“我即赞成也反对Ubuntu。”赞成的原因是： “Ubuntu是非常优秀的Linux发行版。毫无疑问，Ubuntu的成功也促使了Debian的全球化。” 反对的理由则是：“Ubuntu选择了脱离Debian的做法，而不是在Debian基础上加以改进。这不可避免的会出现与Debian不兼容的问题。”
Waugh对DCCA沒什么好印象。他说：“过往有很多失败的地方，但这个联盟并没有显示出有什么与众不同的地方。我们认为它沒什么用。”
然后，Murdock又表示他希望Ubuntu能对Debian起到更直接的帮助作用。他认为：“Ubuntu在偏离Debian的方向上花很大的力气，如果能把这部分精力放到改良Debian上就好了。否则的话，Ubuntu的成果真得很难为Debia n所用。”
但Waugh认为，Debian的出发点有问题，它太过于博大了，蕴含了太多的第3方工具集。他补充说：“Debian由来已久，有自己的文化、社区乃至基本框架。面对这么复杂的项目，你不可能单刀直入地说‘这是我们要作的。。。’”
O'Grady认为Ubuntu的风头盖过了Debian，因此对Ubuntu和Debian之间的摩擦并不感到惊奇。他指出：“Ubuntu名声鹊起，光芒掩过了Debian。”
开发者眼中的Ubuntu
当问及参与Ubuntu的动机是什么时，开发人员迅速提及追求自由是加入开源阵营的目的。
Ubuntu首席技术总监（Chief Technology Officer，简称CTO）Matt Zimmerman如是说：“随着我对开源运动的不断投入，参与到Ubuntu中来是件非常自然的事。我此前有5年的光景是Debiuan的开发者。Ubuntu给人一种机会，能从多个方面打造一个开源的操作系统。”
Waugh补充说：“很多人开始使用Ubuntu是因为它免费，就像能免费品尝啤酒那样（趋之若鹜），然而他们会突然意识到，它能运行的如此流畅恰恰是因为它很自由，就如同你享有言论自由（free speech）那样自然（注2）。”
当然问题总是存在的。 Zimmerman认为：“Ubuntu最不利的恐怕就是，这个项目的历史并不长，却已经处在Linux的前沿地带，如何确保前进的方向，对我们是个挑战。Ubuntu周遭有无数社区和团体，他们意气风发，醉心于尝试不同的新鲜事物，而现实是每一次的前进 ，我们只能选择有限的方面作为尝试的目标。”
Sam Pohlenz负责Ubuntu图形配置工具的开发。由于开源软件对许可证使用的严格规定，Ubuntu的音频视频模块所获得支持很有限。Pohlenz对此非常恼火。
他说：“所有Linux发行版都受到现有多媒体解决方案的限制。”这些工具包可以后期安装，但‘法律问题极大地阻碍了像Ubuntu这样的Linux发行软件的发展。’
Jonathan Riddell认为KDE桌面系统是缺省安装的GNOME桌面系统的一个不错的替代方案，因此他投入到KDE的开发中。KDE是Ubuntu的分支开发产品，属于另一个称作Kubuntu的项目。
Riddle认为：“Ubuntu上没有良好的KDE支持。Ubuntu很显然是一个相当重要的Linux发行版，因此我觉得给Ubuntu加上KDE支持也是必不可少的。”
起码到目前为止，在这个开源项目中，理想仍然是强大的前进动力。项目成立伊始，大家寻求为产品命名。Shuttleworth建议就叫它Ubuntu。
Waugh回忆说：“他（Shuttleworth）说Ubuntu是一个源自非洲的词，意思是‘I am because we are（没有群体就没有个体，注3）’。它强调的是集体（社区）的重要性。彰显的是分享精神与整体意识。当时屋中参加讨论的人都啧啧称奇，纷纷表示首肯，这个词所体现的也正是我们对自由软件和开源运动价值观的认同。”
注：
1. IDC， 全球著名IT及电信行业市场咨询和顾问机构
2. 西方谚语，“Free speech is a free gift ”。而且免费软件，常常用Free as in free speech和Free as in beer，这两个说法来表示，象征着物质和精神方面的自由。 Free是免费，也是自由的表示。 这里Waugh用的是双关。
3. 国内很多地方又译作： 乐于分享
D.N.N.
Ubuntu carves niche in Linux landscape
Published: September 30, 2005, 5:24 AM PDT
By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
It's not easy building a new version of Linux and establishing a large following. But with the Ubuntu project, one team of programmers has managed to do just that.
The fact that there are at least 386 available versions of Linux shows just how many groups want to launch their own "distributions"--Linux combined with other open-source software into a full-fledged operating-system product. But the fact that few people are familiar with distributions other than Red Hat, Suse and Debian is a testament to how hard it is to be successful.
Ubuntu began less than two years ago. It's the brainchild of Mark Shuttleworth, who, in the last 10 years, also founded security firm Thawte Consulting, sold it to VeriSign for $575 million and rode a Russian rocket to spend eight days in orbit at the International Space Station.
Ubuntu is an offshoot of Debian. It began with an emphasis on easy-to-use PCs, but there's also a server version. Development comes from volunteers and those funded by Shuttleworth's 50-person start-up, Canonical, and the Ubuntu Foundation, which Shuttleworth launched with a $10 million donation. The founder's influence is strong--developers refer to him as SABDFL, short for self-appointed benevolent dictator for life.
And with only two versions released so far--a third, code-named Breezy Badger, is due Oct. 13--it has drawn praise. "It's the distro that I recommend to newcomers to Linux because things just work," RedMonk analyst Stephen O'Grady said. And Ubuntu's developer community is fairly strong, he said.
Breezy Badger will include support for the Linux Terminal Server Project, a project popular in the education market that lets a group of low-end PCs share the horsepower of a Linux server. And it will include a "configurator" to make it easier for computer makers to install a customized version and add-ons.
Shuttleworth wanted Linux that was innovative and that wasn't divided into a costly but supported high-end version and a free but largely unsupported alternative, said Jeff Waugh, Canonical's No. 3 employee and a leader of Ubuntu's business and community development efforts.
"Red Hat is essentially charging licensing fees to use their enterprise distribution," Waugh said. "There's no glass ceiling in Ubuntu--no enterprise version you can't touch."
Wooing "the community"
Ubuntu's gains come at a time when the commercial powers of the Linux realm are trying hard to engage the vast and amorphous group loosely known as "the open-source community." This band includes new and experienced programmers at major corporations, schools and cash-strapped start-ups, and it spans the globe. Harnessing its talents can make it easier to develop new features, find bugs, build a customer base and set development priorities.
Red Hat's community project, Fedora, has had some troubles, but the project and the company's relationship to it get "better by the month," Chief Executive Matthew Szulik said. Novell has launched a similar project, OpenSuse, and spokesman Kevan Barney said the company believes that it has "a much broader user community" than does Ubuntu. Even Sun Microsystems, which is making a version of Unix into an open-source project called OpenSolaris, believes that it can benefit from the approach.
But the project most likely to benefit from Ubuntu's success is Debian, a decidedly noncommercial project. Ubuntu is based on Debian's development version, called Sid, and Ubuntu programmers are collaborating well on the GNOME desktop interface software and the X.org low-level graphics support, Waugh said.
Quantifying Ubuntu's gains is difficult. For example, it doesn't show up in IDC's revenue charts, since it's available for free, even for those who want installation CDs sent to them. But there are some signs. For one thing, there are 60 people who are authorized to approve Ubuntu software changes and many more who supply them with the modifications. Ubuntu also distributed 1.4 million copies of its first version, called Warty Warthog. And it tops the reader interest charts at DistroWatch, a site that catalogs Linux distributions.
One thing Ubuntu lacks is commercial partnerships, but there are some early signs that's changing. VMware, whose software lets multiple operating systems run on the same computer, added experimental Ubuntu support with its new version 5 beta, citing customer demand. And Hewlett-Packard sells notebook computers with Ubuntu in Europe and Africa, with plans to expand to desktops in the region, spokeswoman Nita Miller said.
Commercial support might be easier with more stable future versions. Ubuntu releases new versions every six months, and 6.04--named after its April 2006 due date but code-named Dapper Drake--will feature three-year support for the desktop version and five-year support for the server version. That's a much longer life span for support services than today's 18-month duration.
It also brings Ubuntu closer to major commercial Linux products. Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Suse Linux Enterprise Server, for example, get major updates about every year and a half so that customers and business partners don't have to constantly adapt. Those versions have a major advantage Ubuntu still lacks: certification for use with server hardware and software from computing powers such as Oracle, SAP, IBM and Dell.
Friction
While Ubuntu has helped Debian, it hasn't won universal acclaim in that domain.
One significant objection comes from Ian Murdock, the founder of Debian, chief strategy officer of a start-up called Progeny that is commercializing Debian and organizer of the Debian Common Core Alliance, an effort to make different Debian-based distributions compatible. Ubuntu isn't a DCCA member.
"I'm both positive and negative on Ubuntu," Murdock said. The positive: "It's an excellent distribution, and its success is without question growing the Debian universe." But the negative: "They chose to diverge from Debian rather than to extend the standard Debian core, leading to the inevitable compatibility problems."
Waugh is unimpressed by the DCCA. "Nothing demonstrates it's a compelling answer to the consortia that have failed in the past. We don't think that's going to work," he said.
Murdock, however, said he wishes Ubuntu was helping Debian more directly. "A lot of energy that might otherwise be directed at Debian proper is instead being directed at a Debian derivative, so it's harder to share their work than it otherwise might be," he said.
But Debian has problems as a starting point, Waugh said, because it's so broad and includes so many packages. And, he added, "You can't go walking into a project like Debian that has existed for so long, has its cult, its community and its infrastructure, and say, 'Here's how we're going to do it.'"
O'Grady isn't surprised there's friction as Ubuntu steals the thunder. "Ubuntu is rapidly becoming a more popular name than Debian," he said.
Developer's-eye view
Asked about their motivations for participating in Ubuntu, developers are quick to mention the freedoms that come with open-source software.
"I was drawn to it as a natural step in my increasing commitment to open source, after having been active as a Debian developer for about five years prior. Ubuntu represented a chance to explore many new directions in building an open-source operating system," Ubuntu Chief Technology Officer Matt Zimmerman said.
Adds Waugh, "A lot of people start using this because it's free, as in free beer, then they suddenly realize the reason it works so well is it's free, as in free speech."
There are some lumps, though. "Perhaps the worst of Ubuntu is that we are still a relatively young project, and having moved so quickly to the forefront of Linux, it's been a challenge to stay focused on our vision," Zimmerman said. "There is now a vast user community around Ubuntu, full of energy and excitement about a wide variety of different ideas, while realistically we can only pursue some of these at once."
And Sam Pohlenz, who works on Ubuntu's graphical configuration tools, isn't happy about support for audio and video software whose licensing rules prohibit their use as open-source software.
"One thing that plagues almost all Linux distributions is multimedia support 'out of the box,'" he said. Packages can be installed later, but "these legal issues are a rather large stumbling block for growing distributions such as Ubuntu," Pohlenz said.
Jonathan Riddell got involved when he saw a need to make the KDE user interface an alternative to the default, GNOME. The KDE version is an offshoot of the regular Ubuntu code base but is available separately in a project called Kubuntu.
"Nobody was doing good KDE support for Ubuntu," Riddell said. "Since Ubuntu was obviously going to be an important distribution, I felt it important that KDE should be well-supported on it."
And for now at least, idealism remains a powerful force within the project. When the early organizers were looking for a project name, Shuttleworth suggested Ubuntu.
"He said it's this African word that means 'I am because we are.' It focuses on community. It's all about sharing and consensus," Waugh said. "Everyone in the room was just gobsmacked because it really expressed what we believed as free-software and open-source contributors." |
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发表于 2005-10-2 22:39:56
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