Ubuntu, Buttons, and Democracy

[ Thanks to James
Maguire for this link. ]

“When Ubuntu drinks, the free and open source software
(FOSS) community gets a hangover. The distribution is so
influential that its every development sends echoes rippling
through the greater community. How else to explain how a simple
change in desktop themes should spark not only debates about
usability, but about how decisions are made in FOSS?

“This latest proof of Ubuntu’s influence began when, a day
before the interface freeze for the upcoming Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu
10.04) release, the Ubuntu Design and User Experience Team
announced a new set of default themes for GNOME’s default window
manager Metacity. Instead of the familiar browns of the Human
themes that Ubuntu had used with only minor changes since its first
release, the distro would be shifting to a set of themes called
Light.

“Furthermore, the Light themes would be integrated into new
branding efforts by Ubuntu and Canonical, its commercial
counterpart. According to Mark Shuttleworth, Ubuntu’s founder and
benevolent dictator for life, the new theme “includes a fresh,
lively Orange, and a rich, mature Aubergine, which work well
together. The use of Aubergine indicates Commercial involvement of
one form or another, while Orange is a signal of community
engagement. . . . We also identified shades of Aubergine that are
more consumer, or more enterprise — the darker shades mapping to a
stronger emphasis on enterprise work.””

Complete Story