Author: Nikolai Sivertsen
According to the Ubuntu development team and Ubuntu Community Manager Jono Bacon, the Ubuntu derivative Gobuntu has been sucking up too many resources and will therefore be dropped in favour of an installation option in Ubuntu that installs only free software.
Almost a year ago the Ubuntu developers founded Gobuntu in order to offer a version of Ubuntu that did not include any proprietary components. Gobuntu was supposed to be a distro that stringently followed the guidelines of the Free Software Foundation. Free software licenses allow users to study the source code and modify the software to their liking without any limitations. Many people refuse to run proprietary software because they do not want to be limited by a license in what they can do with their computers.
In the default configuration Ubuntu includes few components that can be characterized as non-free, such as a few binary-only firmware components and drivers, and Gobuntu does away with these. Ubuntu lacked enough resources to maintain Gobuntu, but the project will not be abandoned entirely.
Bacon emphasized that the Ubuntu Project will continue to support a distro that is made entirely of free software. The upcoming version of Ubuntu, scheduled to be released in late October and codenamed Intrepid Ibex, will carry an installation option that installs only free software. Updates of all Gobuntu components will be merged into the mainline branch.
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