Interviews: Matt Asay Answers Your Questions About Ubuntu and Canonical

“Adoption stories and influences
by eldavojohn (898314)”Every so often I see an adoption story about
so-and-so taking up some open source solution and sometimes I think
‘Wow, French government? Now it’s really going to take off. This is
it. It’s time.’ And then I wait. And wait. Are these stories at all
positive for the project? I mean, you would think with states and
governments using Ubuntu or Red Hat that it would catch on like
wildfire if the savings are there so why isn’t that happening? I
know Microsoft sends out a lot of Wormtongues to stick in the ears
of important people. Do you plan on targeting governments in a
similar manner? Does/will Canonical work on making a presence in
things like the EU Commissions where we’ve seen corporations
collecting members in their pockets?”

“Matt: No, we have no plans to turn Wormtongue. We do, however,
have aspirations to play Frodo. 🙂

“Ultimately, governments (good ones, anyway) are established to
reflect the voice of their citizens. At Canonical, we believe that
real, lasting change happens from the bottom up, as citizens within
government and IT and those served by it clamor for change. We try
to help this along by working with government organizations,
including open source-friendly lobbying groups, to promote free
markets and expanded choice through free and open-source software,
but I personally believe that individuals will make the
difference.”

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