Where I’m At

The past several weeks have gone by in a flurry for me.  Changes seem to be happening every day, and one place that has fallen by the wayside is my volunteer involvement in Ubuntu.  In fact, I am no longer running the system, but instead have a Windows and Mac mix at my fingertips.

I first want to apologize to those I worked with; I pulled away from the project so quickly and deleted my Gmail, Twitter, this blog until I realized that it apparently was not deleted, and other online accounts.  Now that I realize that this blog has not been deleted, I feel I should give at least some reason to my quick pullout.

Some remember that a while ago I was trying to pull off an Ubuntu Developer Network.  Upon the discovery of a newly created site a few weeks ago, I met with the creator and talked about the site, and offered my help.  After a few weeks of inactivity and no promotion through the community, I asked some hard questions in an email.  I wondered if I had been kept out of the loop, or perhaps something even worse.  The response I received was extremely defensive, and after ticking off the right person, my future in the Ubuntu community was cooked.  I was done.  I couldn’t stand another internet fight — I’ve already been through three this year.  With college right around the corner I also knew that I was not going to be able to be involved with the Ubuntu community as much as I have been. I just wished I could have left on better terms, kept friendships, and stay at least somewhat connected while I was at college.

Just in the past six months people in my own project were willing to use me, to take my ideas hostage, and even fight against me because of my beliefs.  Yeah, this past year has been a LOT of fun.

Thankfully I am free; I have started using other systems and broadening my horizon from a small niche system to a larger world.  Windows, Mac, and Linux are there, but no longer am I fully pro-FLOSS.  I see FLOSS as a constantly-changing software, but something that will have constant trouble breaking into the mainstream because the communities are not professional enough to make it happen.  They are busy surfing the ‘net, debating on obscure chat channels, and screaming about the fact that Microsoft has a lock on the market.  Good luck with that combination!

I deleted all of my online accounts because of these past fights.  People still wanted an argument to hope that they might win and feel better about their pathetic lives.  I deleted friends off facebook, not because I did not like them, but I was getting messages due to the connections I had.  I was done with it.  At eighteen, I was ready to get out among my peers and enjoy my life instead of trying to find joy in something I used to love doing, before it became all business politics and hate mail from supposedly mature rational adults.  Recently, I have just been trying to lay low and keep away from all the mess.

On a rather interesting note, getting out of the Linux world for a while has really helped put things into perspective.  It’s almost interesting to find that Linux is really not out there that much.  I have only heard of it one or two times from the main news channels, and those involved Google trying to enter an already saturated market with a new netbook operating system.

I still have a bunch of Ubuntu stuff, and since I have a feeling I won’t be welcome to any more Linux/Ubuntu events because of my impromptu departure and recent events, I will be happy to send it off to those whom I worked with.  Just drop me a comment and I’ll give you my new email.

This blog will get rennovated with a new focus not just on Linux, but the computer world in general.   Once again I apologize to all those I considered friends in the Ubuntu community.

Regards,

Jon