You may not agree with everything that they do, but Canonical is the most interesting company in the tech industry today. They have a vision, a wild vision, of a single user interface back by open source software running on all computing devices, both personal and professional. Cloud infrastructure, basic servers, workstations, laptops, tablets, phones, and televisions could, if Canonical plays its cards right, be powered by Ubuntu and the Unity interface. I find this fascinating, and bold. Ubuntu is not just another distribution, it is a vision of what computing could be.
I’ve been an advocate for using open source software in the datacenter for years. As a systems administrator, I see first hand both the business and practical day-to-day management benefits that open source brings. But, for my personal computing needs, I’ve tended to waffle a bit. I’ve been a fan of Apple since 2003 when I bought my first iBook, and it’s been a wild ride to see them skyrocket to the top. I’ve developed a couple of Cocoa applications, one that I know of that’s used quite a bit, and generally thought of myself as part of the Apple community. I partly attribute my love and understanding of design to my time spent with the Mac. There were times when I did not always use a Mac, but one has always been around.
