Jim Cheetham wrote:
Well, looking at the people involved seems promising. The company behind it is backed by Mark Shuttleworth (the SA Thawte person, IIRC), and already employs several people who contribute to Debian at a high level.
Ahh. That explains the African-sounding name then. Ubuntu. Anybody know what it translates to? OK Ok I'll google before asking. Well, look at that. Highest search result tells us:
http://www.fact-index.com/u/ub/ubuntu.html
Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a South African ethic or ideology focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other. The word comes from the Zulu and Xhosa languages. Ubuntu is seen as a traditional African concept.
A rough translation in English could be "humanity towards others." Another translation would be: "The belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity." [1].
A longer aim at a definition is this one: "A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed." Quote by Archbishop Desmond Tutu (according to [1]).
Ubuntu is seen as one of the founding principles of the new republic of South Africa and connected to the idea of an African Renaissance.
Cheers, Carl.
