Archive for January 16th, 2009

Posted on January 16, 2009 - by jono

Mumbach

It turns out that my mum and Daniel Holbach are very different people. I doubt that my mum is deft at bustin’ out Balkan Beats. Daniel Holbach probably never saw me naked when I was two. I am fairly confident that mum is not familiar with dpkg, and I am certain that Daniel does not love my dad.

They do though have one important thing in common. Today is their birthday!! Woo!

With such an important day before us, I just wanted to share a few words about each of them.

Lets start with my mum. OK, let me cut to the chase: I love my mum. A while back I wrote about how proud I am of my dad. Fortunately I have also been blessed with mum that fills me with pride and joy too. A remarkable woman with a heart of gold and a wicked sense of humour, her selfless persona always puts her family and friends first. Not only this, but she is the perfect companion to my dad. 29 years after they tied the knot they are still hopelessly in love. Having recently got married, they are my inspiration to provide my family with the kind of love and support that I received. Over the years my mum has taught me many things, but of all, I have sought to take her light-hearted approach to life and an always present conciousness of remembering who you are and where you came from. Happy birthday mum, I love you.

Now to Mr Holbach. I first got to really know Daniel when he joined my team at Canonical. Since then not only has he become a great colleague, but a real brother too. Daniel has the attributes that I really admire in person: he is a passionate, funny and entirely down to earth. He always a sense of fun, a sense of excitement and at times, a strangely British sense of sarcasm. That actually caught me of guard when I first got to know him: his German undertones perfectly masked his natural talent as a sarky bugger. You know what, I love my job, and a big reason is that I get to work with such a great team: Daniel brings so much to it. Happy birthday pal, have a great day, and I look forward to catching up with you soon.

What a great day: a day that celebrates two great people.

Posted on January 16, 2009 - by jono

Dutch LoCo Bringing It Home

Just wanted to share a little story about the Dutch Ubuntu LoCo Team.

A while back I had an email from Jan Stedehouder about asking for help with a Dutch computer fair, the HCC dagen. Jan was attending to advocate Ubuntu and spread the word like the rock star that he is. I arranged to send the Dutch LoCo 400 Ubuntu CDs and it was a roaring success: the team not only kicked arse, but took names too. Jan informed me that all the CDs were gone in a few hours.

Jan and the team explained Linux to visitors of the stand, identifying the nuances of our ethos and benefits we have baked into Ubuntu. Aside from the buzz of sharing Ubuntu, Jan and co were also inspired by the diversity of their audience:

“It was good to see people of all ages and nationalities, constantly flocking the various computers with Ubuntu”.

Great work folks! Everyone should give the Dutch LoCo a quick hi-five via the Internet.

I was personally ticked pink that Jan used The Ubuntu Ethos to ask his audience in his presentation to share their own ethos. I can feel the Ubuntu ethos growing. It is fantastic to see LoCo teams driving this ethos forward.

Jan also shared with me how Ubuntu is rocking in Holland. He has just released his first book “Probleemloos overstappen op Linux” (Migrating without problems to Linux). This book is based on Ubuntu 8.04. A second book is also released in a few days and called “Basiscursus Ubuntu” (Ubuntu Basics course). This book targets average Windows users who want to try out Ubuntu. Jan tells me it is a pretty straight-forward, step-by-step introduction on how to install Ubuntu, add software and users, fine tune hardware and deal with administrative tasks.

Great work, folks!