The Unexpected (good) side effect of using Ubuntu

I am a Ubuntu believer, as one of those total converts for almost two years now Ubuntu has answered my every computing need. Even Ubuntu games are coming of age and I find myself not even using Wine but sticking to the native Linux games. Sure I knew the power of Ubuntu and run many of the critical applications my company relies on, on that very platform. Then something happened that I never expected. Slowly but surely as I involved myself with the Ubuntu community I started learning more about the world getting to know cultures and people from everywhere. I started this blog and then joined the Planet Ubuntu Users in doing so I met gouki I’m pretty sure from Portugal this guy runs the Planet Ubuntu Users, love his website it’s simple but fantastic. One day my post on the planet stopped working while trouble shooting this I found out that a few others post had stopped working as well one of those was Isabelle Duchatelle from France, was this person some kind of smart her post have taught me a thing or two, after a few emails back in forth we found the issue and where back on the planet as usual. Soon after I starting getting heavily involved in my local Ubuntu Users group and while asking some questions here and there I had some correspondence with the legendary Jono Bacon from the United Kingdom a man I found who is always willing to help or turn you on to a band you never heard of, for a guy like me who loves music that alone is worth talking him. Because of Ubuntu I got involved with Software Freedom Day, Document Freedom Day, and Open Discussion Day. All of which has introduced me to people from Nigeria, Malaysia, India, South America, and a host of other countries. What has happened with me on the local level is just as amazing my Local Ubuntu Users Group in New Mexico has become an official group and have started some pretty successful projects of our own. I’ve also gotten involved with the US Teams and met some great people like Aaron Toponce. So what’s the side effect you say? Well, when I used Windows I was in a cocoon plugging away day after day I sure never cared about a Bill Gates blog like I do a Mark Shuttleworth blog, and while I love other Linux distributions, ( I live in New Mexico so there is a special place in my heart for Gentoo ), Ubuntu has brought me into a community, a community of people that really do want to make computing free and open. A community that treats the newbie as respectfully as the seasoned users. I’ve learned so much in the past couple of years and this year I’ll be presenting at Ubuntu Live (hey guys in charge of Ubuntu Live, think we can get that registration price down a little) where I’ll be able to shake hands and say thank you to the community I’ve come to love. So I’d say a pretty good side effect for a guy who two years ago had no idea where Nigeria was.

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