I’m an an avid user of Google and it’s other services. So i decided to blog about this year’s April Fools Prank by Google.  The last Google April Fools day prank i fell for was Gmail Paper

Google April 1,  2009 ‘Releases’

Youtube

New Viewing Experience for Youtube Users

Google Chrome

Now you can view Google Chrome with 3D

CADIE

CADIE-Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity  You can get more information Here,

gBall

A Prototype Ball to be used with Australian Premier League

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%27s_hoaxes

i came across this from another website & i liked it so much. I hope you also find the commands cool

1. watch terminal star wars

To start this article off right, no Linux user can claim the status of geekhood unless they’ve seen Star Wars ASCII-style. To watch a fascinating version of Star Wars via the Terminal, type:

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

…and press ENTER.

2. kill a process

It’s an embarrassing situation to have a browser fail to open due to the “process is already running” error, only to discover you’ve no idea how to kill that process (or any others, for that matter). To kill a process, open the Terminal and type:

ps aux

…and scroll through until you find the process you need to kill. The beginning of the data line will have a process ID number. Locate that number and type:

sudo kill -9 processID

…replacing processID with the actual number. Voila! Process terminated.

3. View Latest Log Messages

What to see the latest log messages? Type:

tail -f /var/log/messages

4. disable system beep

Linux insists on beeping at you; this isn’t just any beep, however–it is a system beep, impervious to the mute button on your computer. If the startling, abrupt sound is like nails raking over a chalkboard to you, then this trick will let you kill that little beep forever.

Type:

sudo rmmod pcspkr

…and enjoy the silence.

5. rip dvd

While your friends, trapped in the infernal shareware trap that is Windows, grapple for an easy way to rip their DVDs, all you need is one tidbit of code. Insert the disc into your optical drive, then open the Terminal and type:

dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/cdrom_image.iso

…the disc will be saved as an ISO.

6. mount iso files

Lets say you’ve acquired a program’s ISO and lack an optical drive (or a black DVD-R); how shall you run it? By mounting it in a ‘virtual disc drive’ of sorts. To mount as ISO, open the Terminal and type:

mkdir /mnt/iso

…to make a directory for it, and then:

mount NAME.iso /mnt/iso/ -t iso9660 -o loop

7. Monitor Non-SSH Network Traffic

A good pass time when bored and a better way to see what is happening on the network, type:

tcpdump not port 22

8. encrypt files

If you keep any sort of sensitive data on your machine, encryption is your best chance at keeping data pickers from sneaking around your files and perusing the forbidden info. If you’re running Ubuntu, you can just right-click a file and choose ‘Encrypt File’. If you’d like a different option, install GnuPG. Once it’s installed, open the terminal and type:

gpg -c filename.doc

…after which you will be prompted with:

Enter passphrase:

Repeat passphrase:

…choose a password you will remember, as you can’t recover it. To decrypt a password, enter:

gpg filename.doc.gpg

…you’ll be prompted to enter the password you chose and open the decrypted file.

9. filter websites

So your kid brother or new guest or workers are visiting certain websites you don’t want them to access. How do you block these sites? Open the Terminal and type:

gedit /etc/hosts

…replacing gedit with your favorite text editor. A file will open. In that file, add:

127.0.0.1 website.com

…replacing website.com with the actual website name, and they won’t be able to access that website.

10. Download a Website

You might find a website so good you just have to save it to a hard drive. Other times, you might need to archive a website before it goes under and find it easiest to download the entire site at once. To do this with the Terminal, type:

wget http://www.website.com/

…. to download it all.

11. log off other users

Is someone on your network doing something they shouldn’t? How would you like to bump them off the system without them knowing? To do this, open the Terminal and type:

skill -kill -u username

…replacing username with the actual system you want to shut down. This will only shut down their programs and then log them off, but it’s enough to get the point across.

12. run multiple x servers

Running multiple X servers allows you to run your own graphical interface when you’re using the computer, and allows a different user to run their own interface when using the computer. To accomplish this task is a bit more involved then this article wishes to cover. To view an excellent, in-depth tutorial on accomplishing this, visit:http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=213756

13. Compile Source Code

At some point, you’re going to need to install something that isn’t compiled. You need to know how to install this, and it’s not as hard as it seems. This method should work; there are times that it won’t, however, as compiling code can be a time-waster.

Start by downloading the tar.gz and saving it to your desktop. Open the terminal and run:

tar xvzf program.tar.gz

…this will unpack the archive. Now CD to the desktop by typing:

cd desktop

…then enter:

./configure

…then:

make

…and finally:

make install

…to install the program onto your computer.

14. Sniff Your Wifi

Maybe it’s curiosity, or maybe you have a real need, but either way, it’s useful to be able to ’sniff’ your wifi; i.e, analyzing use, detecting networks, and detecting intrusions. There are a few different types of sniffers available, but the most popular one is Kismet. To install it, run:

sudo apt-get install kismet

…or the equivalent installation syntax for your distro. You’ll find the program in your Internet menu.

15. Monitor Live Data

This command will be enough to entrance any geek for hours. With this, you can monitor real-time shifting data on your system via the Terminal:

watch -n.1 ‘cat /proc/interrupts’

16. Blocking Ads

Do you ever get tired of seeing Google ads, particularly adsense? Some users try to mix the adsense in with actual links to maximize clicks, which can make it difficult to navigate a website. Other common ads come from DoubleClick, etc. If you want to block those ads from working, you can do so by entering the following:

gedit /etc/hosts

…and adding:

127.0.0.1 http://www.doubleclick.net/

….and any other sites you don’t want to work.

17. Block IP Addresses

If you’re running a server and having issues with a particular user, you can block that users IP address using IPtables. To install iptables, run:

sudo apt-get install iptables

…or whatever the equivalent is for your distro. Once installed, you can block an IP address by running:

iptables -A INPUT -s IPADDRESS -j DROP

…replacing ipaddress with the actual address.

18. Create a Ramdisk

Just the mention of a ramdisk might make your geek senses tingle. If you’re in need of super fast read speeds, you can make a ramdisk easily using this command:

mkdir/ ramdisk

mount none -t tmpfs -o size=128M /ramdisk

….to make a ramdisk that is 128MB in size. To make a different size, enter a different value.

19. hide your ip address

We won’t speculate on the reason you may want to hide your IP address, but it’s something every geek needs to do at one point or another. There are a few methods to do this, but by far the best and easiest method is using the wonderful onion-routing system that is Tor.

To install Tor, go to TORPROJECT.ORG and download the version for your distro. Install it according to your distro, then repeat the process with Privoxy

Now, I’m going to add the instructions straight from the Tor Project website so there’s no confusion on what to do next (as a mistake could mean your IP is still visible):

“Open Privoxy’s “config” file (look in /etc/privoxy/ or /usr/local/etc/) and add the line forward-socks4a / 127.0.0.1:9050 . to the top of the config file. Don’t forget to add the dot at the end.

Privoxy keeps a log file of everything passed through it. In order to stop this you will need to comment out three lines by inserting a # before the line. The three lines are:

logfile logfile

and the line

jarfile jarfile

and (on some systems) the line

debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request

Depending on which default config file you have for Privoxy, you may also need to turn off enable-remote-toggle, enable-remote-http-toggle, and enable-edit-actions. You’ll need to restart Privoxy for the changes to take effect.”

Finally, install the Torbutton add-on in Firefox so you can toggle Tor on an off in the bottom right corner of the browser.

20 Watch System Logs

If you’re trying to get a device running or program working but something is going bonkers, it might be in your best interest to watch the system logs and see what’s being reported. To do this, type:

tail -f /var/log/messages

21. check system uptime

If you need to know how long your machine has been running, a simple system uptime command will give you that info, along with users and a few other tidbits of info. To check system uptime on Linux, open the Terminal and type:

uptime

…yep, it really is that easy.

22. start a geeky fire

If creative art-types curl up in front of a roaring fire for inspiration, where do left-brain geeky types go to get the creative juices flowing? How about a roaring ascii fire in the Terminal? To get the fire blazing, type

sudo apt-get install libaa-bin

…and to run the fire, type:

aafire

…in the terminal.

23. automatic backup

Automatic backups allow you to make sure your files are always backed up and safe from sudden loss or accidental deletion. The goal with backups is to be able to select files and have then update regularly. The method to do this is too involved for this article, so visit this excellent link to learn how: http://linuxgazette.net/104/odonovan.html

24. Check Processes Others are Running

In the same vein as terminating a process, why not check up on what other’s are running? To take a peek at your computer-mates running apps, open the Terminal and type:

ps aux | grep – v `whoami`

…and while you’re at it, why not kill the process free up some CPU?

25. Launch a Program from Terminal

After manually installing an app, you might discover that the pesky little program disappeared; no matter what you do or where you look, it seems impossible to add it to the system menu. For just such a time, you’ll need to know how to run a program using the Terminal. Type:

appname

…replacing appname with the name of the actual program you wish to launch. Note that when you launch an app via this method, the Terminal must remain open for the app to keep running.

26. Fix a Screwed-up Terminal

If you play around in the Terminal long enough, you’re bound to screw it up at some point. You’ll know when it’s borked–it starts beeping at you and spewing around random phrases like Uncle Sal after a kegger or two. To correct said problem, type:

reset

…and watch serenity overcome the chaos.

27. Unmount a Drive in Use

Have you ever tried unmount a drive, only to have an error tell you that some mysterious program you neither see nor remember starting is using said drive? The solution is to kill that process so the drive can be unmounted. How do you find out which process is tying up the drive? With this piece of Terminal code

lsof +D /mnt/windows

…and it’ll not only tell you what program is using the drive, but will also give you it’s process ID. Use the kill process tip above to terminate this process and safety unmount your drive.

28. Clear Personal Data upon Logout

When you logout, you want all traces of your activities to be cleared from the computer. Most distros will do this all their own, but if you’re running a particularly finicky system, you might have to manually add that feature. To make the computer clear remnants of your last foray on the system, open the Terminal and type the following:

gedit ~/.bash_logout

…replacing gedit with ‘kate’ or whatever your favorite text editor is. When the text file opens, add:

clear

…and hit Ctrl+s to save; if your distro allows it (ahem, Ubuntu), use clear_console instead..

29. Prevent SSH Root Login

You don’t want an unauthorized someone to log into your sever as a root user, which gives the full breadth of destructive powers to them. To prevent that, change the settings so that root login is impossible. To do this, open Terminal and type:

gedit /etc/ssh/ssh_config

…and add:

PermitRootLogin no

…to the text file that opens, preventing users from logging in as the all-powerful root user.

30. Find Old Commands

Looking for an old command you ran that you can only vaguely remember? To find it, you use this query in the Terminal:

history | grep -i “keywords”

…where keywords is the parts of the command you remember. It will search and display all previously run commands with those keywords and show you an ID number. To rerun that command without typing it again, you can type

! IDnumber

31. Erase all data traces

If you’re planning to delete something sensitive, such as a file or photo, and don’t want any traces of that data to remain on your hard drive, you want to use this command. Be very careful!

shred -z -u file

…will write over whatever file you point it to with different data a few times before deleting it forever.

32. Speed Up the Gnome Menu

If you’re a blazing fast type of person, you probably find Gnome’s menu delay more frustrating than stylish. If you want to rid yourself of that delay, type this into the Terminal:

gedit ~/.gtkrc-2.0

…replacing gedit with your favorite text editor. In the file that opens, add this text:

gtk-menu-popup-delay = 0

…save the file.

33. Restarting When Frozen

Sometimes your system will just freeze. When that happens, you’re left with the option of waiting it out or resetting. How do you reset without do damage to your data? Simple.

Press ALT + Sys Rq and, while holding those buttons down, type: REISUB. The system will restart safely.

34. Disabling Touchpad

How many times have you been playing a game, only to graze the laptops touchpad and have it mess something up? The solution is to disable it’s function. To do that, refer to this detailed tutorial on disabling the touchpad in Linux.

35. Backup Your System

Backing up your system is the ultimate way to be prepared for a system crash. To do so, follow these steps:

Run Terminal as root.

type: cd /

tar cvpzf backup.tgz –exclude=/proc –exclude=/lost+found –exclude=/backup.tgz –exclude=/mnt –exclude=/sys /

This will create an archive of your system. Be sure you have enough hard drive space to handle it.

36. Customize the Terminal

If you spend most of your time in the Terminal, then it’s only fitting to customize it to meet your needs. There are many different ways to change the Terminal’s look–too many to list here. To see the dozens of options available to you, as well as how to apply them, hit up this link: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=674446

37. Ejecting CD/DVD Drive

Sometimes you’ll push the button on the DVD drive and nothing will happen. For those times, there’s a simple way to get it to open. In the Terminal, type

eject

…and it will pop open.

38. Collaborating Between Screens

Lets say you have two Linux users in the same space but different rooms. You want to show one person how to do something, but you don’t want to get up. How do you solve this dilemma? By collaborating the screen. This method will allow you to both see the same screen and see the actions each other do on it.

su – username

…where username is the username of the machine whose screen you want to see…

ssh machine

…replacing machine with the name of whatever computer the other person is on….

screen -S foo

…both of you type this into your own machines and voila! You’re both now sharing the same screen.

39. Examine the CPU

Are you in need of detailed info about your CPU? Then use this code:

cat /proc/cpuinfo

…and you’ll get a whole slew of info

40. Stopwatch

Every need to time something on the fly and happen to lack a watch? No worries!

time cat

…and press control+d to stop the timer.

41. Schedule a Download for the Middle of the Night

Sometimes you want to download something that is large and will take quite a time. The best time to do this is the middle of the night (or while you’re away). To schedule a download for a certain time, type this:

echo ‘wget url’ | at 01:00

…changing URL to the actual web address and the time to whatever (24-hour clock).

42. View Available Wifi

Do you want a quick and simple list of available wifi networks, as well as a whole slew of info about them? If so, type:

iwlist scan

43. Find Website IP Address

School and work proxies often block websites but not IP addresses–you can access a banned address by entering that websites IP address instead of it’s normal .com address. Some places ban the popular sites that allow you to lookup a websites IP address, but you don’t need them. To find out a website’s IP address, type:

whois website.com

44. Terminal Three-month Calendar

If you’re running a bare-bones window manager, such as blackbox, the fastest way to see a calendar is with the terminal. To see this, type:

cal -3

…and it will display a three month calendar.

45. HTML to Text Conversion

Do you want to quickly turn a text file into an HTML file? Use:

recode ..HTML < file.txt > file.html

46. Rip Music CD to WAV

What fun is working on the computer without a little music? While your friends are busy searching for a decent music ripping program, you can copy an audio cd to WAV files using this simple command:

cdparanoia -B

47. Find the Biggest CPU Hog

Is a certain process running your CPU right into the ground? How do you find said process without picking your way through the ps aux results? With this command:

ps -e -o pcpu,cpu,nice,state,cputime,args –sort pcpu | sed ‘/^ 0.0 /d’

…at which point you can kill it with sudo kill -9.

48. Reboot History

If you need to see your current machines reboot history, type:

last reboot

49. Battery Checkup

Is your computer battery lasting less and less every week? Check the charge capabilities of your battery by typing:

grep -F capacity: /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info

50. All the Little Filesystems

Particularly useful if you’re mounting different drives, using the following command will allow you to see all the filesystems currently mounted on your computer and their respective specs:

mount | column -t

Source : http://laptoplogic.com/resources/50-ways-to-impress-your-geeky-linux-friends

I saw this video on TED and it left my speechless. Here is a brief intro about it.
This demo — from Pattie Maes’ lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry — was the buzz of TED. It’s a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine “Minority Report” This Video will Leave you stunned!! and of course Dazzled!

Honestly i hope somehow it ends up being open source or at least something in that area.

Seth & Arun (Mozilla) @ GNUnify 09

The just ended GNUnify will always be a memorable one. This year we had the great opportunity of having members from Mozilla coming for the event. We had Seth Bindernagel, Director of Localization and Arun Ranganathan, a Standards Evangelist giving talks during the event.

Seth held a session on Localization and introduced Silme ( a python localization library that has been structured in a multi-abstract level model) and Arun talked about the Open Web and showed  demos on (SVG, CSS, CSS+SVG, with Video bringing it all home). He also showed  Bespin.

I want to thank Mary colvig in a special way for arranging these speakers for us. and also sending cool Firefox T-shirts and LOTS of swag!. Mary has been involved with GNUnify for 2 years now and she’s really helped in making every years GNUnify better and better!

Thanks & Stay Open Source

Currently i am doing some research work on Honeypots. This is part of my internship course for my masters. It’s based on a computing technology called Honeypots. Honeypot is a trap set to detect, deflect, or in some manner counteract attempts at unauthorized use of information systems. Generally it consists of a computer, data, or a network site that appears to be part of a network but which is actually isolated, (un)protected, and monitored, and which seems to contain information or a resource that would be of value to attackers. 1

There will be basically two Scenarios

Scenario 1: I will be initially setting up a controlled environment with 3 attacking systems and a honeypot.  Then i would try to simulate some attacks on the honeypot from the client systems. This will help me in knowing how the honeypot saves/records all the attacks/activities in it’s log files. Based on the types of attacks i launch and the corresponding log files generated i can be able to analyze them to see the pattern associated with an attack and it’s corresponding log files generated.

Scenario 2: In this scenario, i will release the honeypot into the wild (SICSR WiFi network).. and regularly monitor it and see how it “interacts”  with the network. You can check out this network diagram to get a clearer picture  network diagram

Presently  I am still in scenario 1. I will be setting up the honeypots using Open source software. The Operating System of my choice is obviously Ubuntu and the Honeypot software i will be using is Honeyd . I will keep you updated as my work progresses.

For more information on Honeypots you can check out these links.

1. http://www.spitzner.net/honeypots.html

2. http://www.tracking-hackers.com/

3. http://www.honeypots.net/

4. http://www.rootprompt.org/article.php3?article=210

5. http://project.honeynet.org/

GNUnify '09 Banner

GNUnify is here with us again!. The Annual Open Source Festival organized by Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies & Research (SICSR) is just around the corner. GNUnify is India’s Premier Open Source Event. Last year i was lucky to be inolvled with GNUnify since i was a student of (SICSR). It was an event i can still remember. There’s no feeling which can be compared to it!. This year will be the 7th birthday. As you know the number 7 is said to be special! so expect to be dazzled this time!

GNUnify is basicaly grouped into 4 tracks, They are

1. Techie Talk: These sessions bring the who’s who in FOSS technologies face to face with the FOSS community. We get to hear the gurus of the industry speak in the series of lectures conducted on different topics running in parallel tracks

2. Workshops: Its an interactive session in which individual demonstrations are carried out to help the newbie to have a closer look at the functionality and working of the FOSS world by a hands on approach.

3. InstallFest: It provides hands on experience in the installation of several flavors of Linux. One can get to know about the various technicalities of installation and configuration. Several IT facilitators are always at hand to help in case of doubts.

4. BOF (Birds of The Feather): Being the most exciting of the events, brings down all the experts to the same stage where they start from nothing and meander their way through everything. It is an informal meet up without any pre planned agenda.

Lest I forget This Year’s GNUnify is on the 13th & 14th February, 09– You have to be there!

Mark Shuttleworth, Father of Ubuntu

A Software Populist Who Doesn’t Do Windows

“It feels pretty clear to me that the open
process produces better stuff,” says Mark Shuttleworth, whose team at Canonical
is leading the Ubuntu project.

In
December, hundreds of these controversial software developers gathered for one
week at the Google
headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. They came from all over the world,
sporting many of the usual signs of software mercenaries: jeans, ponytails,
unruly facial hair and bloodshot eyes.

But rather than preparing to code
for the highest bidder, the developers were coordinating their largely
volunteer effort to try to undermine Microsoft’s
Windows operating system for PCs, which generated close to $17 billion in sales
last year.

All the fuss at the meeting centered
on something called Ubuntu and a man named Mark Shuttleworth, the charismatic
35-year-old billionaire from South Africa who functions as the spiritual and
financial leader of this coding clan.

Created just over four years ago,
Ubuntu (pronounced oo-BOON-too) has emerged as the fastest-growing and most
celebrated version of the Linux operating system, which competes with Windows
primarily through its low, low price: $0.

More than 10 million people are
estimated to run Ubuntu today, and they represent a threat to Microsoft’s
hegemony in developed countries and perhaps even more so in those regions
catching up to the technology revolution.

“If we’re successful, we would
fundamentally change the operating system market,” Mr. Shuttleworth said during
a break at the gathering, the Ubuntu Developer Summit. “Microsoft would need to
adapt, and I don’t think that would be unhealthy.”

Linux is free, but there is still
money to be made for businesses flanking the operating system. Companies like I.B.M., Hewlett-Packard and Dell
place Linux on more than 10 percent of the computers they sell as servers, and
businesses pay the hardware makers and others, like the software sellers Red
Hat and Oracle,
to fix any problems and keep their Linux-based systems up to date.

But Canonical, Mr. Shuttleworth’s
company that makes Ubuntu, has decided to focus its near-term aspirations on
the PCs used by workers and people at home.

The notion of a strong Linux-based
competitor to Windows and, to a lesser extent, Apple’s
Mac OS X has been an enduring dream of advocates of open-source software. They
champion the idea that software that can be freely altered by the masses can prove
cheaper and better than proprietary code produced by stodgy corporations. Try
as they might, however, Linux zealots have failed in their quest to make Linux
mainstream on desktop and notebook computers. The often quirky software remains
in the realm of geeks, not grandmothers.

With Ubuntu, the devotees believe,
things might finally be different.

“I think Ubuntu has captured
people’s imaginations around the Linux desktop,” said Chris DiBona, the program
manager for open-source software at Google. “If there is a hope for the Linux
desktop, it would be them.”

Close to half of Google’s 20,000
employees use a slightly modified version of Ubuntu, playfully called Goobuntu.

PEOPLE encountering Ubuntu for the
first time will find it very similar to Windows. The operating system has a
slick graphical interface, familiar menus and all the common desktop software:
a Web browser, an e-mail program, instant-messaging software and a free suite
of programs for creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

While relatively easy to use for the
technologically savvy, Ubuntu — and all other versions of Linux — can challenge
the average user. Linux cannot run many applications created for Windows,
including some of the most popular games and tax software, for example. And
updates to Linux can send ripples of problems through the system, causing
something as basic as a computer’s display or sound system to malfunction.

Canonical has tried to smooth out
many of the issues that have prevented Linux from reaching the mainstream. This
attention to detail with a desktop version of Linux contrasts with the focus of
the largest sellers of the operating system, Red Hat and Novell.
While these companies make desktop versions, they have spent most of their time
chasing the big money in data centers. As a result, Ubuntu emerged as a sort of
favored nation for those idealistic software developers who viewed themselves
as part of a countercultural movement.

“It is the same thing companies like
Apple and Google have done well, which is build not just a community but a
passionate community,” said Ian Murdock, who created an earlier version of
Linux called Debian, on which Ubuntu is based.

Mainstream technology companies have
taken notice of the enthusiasm around Ubuntu. Dell started to sell PCs and
desktops with the software in 2007, and I.B.M. more recently began making
Ubuntu the basis of a software package that competes against Windows.

Canonical, based in London, has more
than 200 full-time employees, but its total work force stretches well beyond
that, through an army of volunteers. The company paid for close to 60
volunteers to attend its developer event, considering them important contributors
to the operating system. An additional 1,000 work on the Debian project and
make their software available to Canonical, while 5,000 spread information
about Ubuntu on the Internet. And 38,000 have signed up to translate the
software into different languages.

When a new version of the operating
system becomes available, Ubuntu devotees pile onto the Internet, often
crippling Web sites that distribute the software. And hundreds of other
organizations, mostly universities, also help in the distribution.

The technology research firm IDC
estimates that 11 percent of American businesses have systems based on Ubuntu.
That said, many of the largest Ubuntu customers have cropped up in Europe,
where Microsoft’s dominance has endured intense regulatory and political
scrutiny.

The Macedonian education department
relies on Ubuntu, providing 180,000 copies of the operating system to children,
while the Spanish school system has 195,000 Ubuntu desktops. In France, the
National Assembly and the Gendarmerie Nationale, the military police force, rely
on Ubuntu for a combined 80,000 PCs. “The word ‘free’ was very important,” said
Rudy Salles, vice president of the assembly, noting that it allowed the
legislature to abandon Microsoft.

Without question, Ubuntu’s rapid
rise has been aided by the fervor surrounding Linux. But it’s Mr. Shuttleworth
and his flashy lifestyle that generate much of the attention Ubuntu receives.
While he favors casual attire matching the developers’, some of his activities,
including a trip to space, are hardly ordinary.

“Look, I have a very privileged
life, right?” Mr. Shuttleworth said. “I am a billionaire, bachelor,
ex-cosmonaut. Life couldn’t easily be that much better. Being a Linux geek sort
of brings balance to the force.”

The first installment of Mr.
Shuttleworth’s fortune arrived after he graduated from the University of Cape
Town in 1995 with a business degree.

He had been paying bills by
operating a small technology consulting company, setting up Linux servers for
companies to run their Web sites and other basic operations. His business
leanings and technology background inspired him to try to capitalize on the
rising interest in the Internet.

“I’m more of an academic than a
cut-and-thrust wheeler-dealer,” he said. “I was very interested in how the
Internet was changing commerce and was determined to pursue it.”

Mr. Shuttleworth decided to start a
company called Thawte Consulting (pronounced like “thought”) in 1995 that
provided digital certificates, a security mechanism that browsers use to verify
the identity of companies. As a 23-year-old, he visited Netscape to promote a
broad standard for these certificates. Netscape, then the leading browser
maker, bought into it, and Microsoft, which makes the Internet Explorer
browser, followed.

As dot-com mania surged, companies
became interested in this profitable outfit, based in South Africa. In 1999, VeriSign,
which manages a number of Internet infrastructure services, bought Thawte for
$575 million. (Mr. Shuttleworth had turned down an offer of $100 million a few
months earlier.)

Having owned all of Thawte, Mr.
Shuttleworth, the son of a surgeon and a kindergarten teacher, became very
wealthy at just 26.

So what’s a newly minted millionaire
to do? Mr. Shuttleworth looked to the stars. Paying an estimated $20 million to
Russian officials, he secured a 10-day trip to space and the International
Space Station on the Soyuz TM-34 in 2002 and became the first “Afronaut,” as
the press described him.

“After selling the company, it
wasn’t a blowout yachts and blondes situation,” he said. “It was very clear
that I was in a unique situation where I should choose to do things that were
not possible otherwise.”

In the following years, Mr.
Shuttleworth set up venture capital and charitable organizations. Through
investments in the United States, Africa and Europe, he says, he has amassed a
fortune of more than $1 billion.

He spends 90 percent of his time,
however, working on Canonical, which he considers another project that
challenges what’s possible.

“I have done well with investing,
but it has never felt very fulfilling,” he said. “I fear getting to the end of
my life and feeling you haven’t actually built something. And to do something
people thought was impossible is attractive.”

CANONICAL’S model makes turning a
profit difficult.

Many open-source companies give away
a free version of their software that has some limitations, while selling a
full-fledged version along with complementary services for keeping the software
up to date. Canonical gives away everything, including its top product, then
hopes that companies will still turn to it for services like managing large
groups of servers and desktops instead of handling everything themselves with
in-house experts.

Canonical also receives revenue from
companies like Dell that ship computers with Ubuntu and work with it on
software engineering projects like adding Linux-based features to laptops. All
told, Canonical’s annual revenue is creeping toward $30 million, Mr. Shuttleworth
said.

That figure won’t worry Microsoft.

But Mr. Shuttleworth contends that
$30 million a year is self-sustaining revenue, just what he needs to finance
regular Ubuntu updates. And a free operating system that pays for itself, he
says, could change how people view and use the software they touch everyday.

“Are we creating world peace or
fundamentally changing the world? No,” he said. “But we could shift what people
expect and the amount of innovation per dollar they expect.”

Microsoft had an estimated 10,000
people working on Vista, its newest desktop operating system, for five years.
The result of this multibillion-dollar investment has been a product late to
market and widely panned.

Canonical, meanwhile, releases a
fresh version of Ubuntu every six months, adding features that capitalize on
the latest advances from developers and component makers like Intel.
The company’s model centers on outpacing Microsoft on both price and features
aimed at new markets.

“It feels pretty clear to me that
the open process produces better stuff,” Mr. Shuttleworth said. Such talk from
a man willing to finance software for the masses — and by the masses — inspires
those who see open source as more of a cause than a business model.

In his spare time, Agostino Russo,
for example, who works for a hedge fund at Moore Europe Capital Management in
London, created a program called Wubi that allows Ubuntu to be installed on
computers running Windows.

“I always thought that open source
is a very important socioeconomic movement,” Mr. Russo said.

Ultimately, however, parts of Mr.
Shuttleworth’s venture continue to look quixotic. Linux remains rough around
the edges, and Canonical’s business model seems more like charity than the next
great business story. And even if the open Ubuntu proves a raging success, the
operating system will largely be used to reach proprietary online services from
Microsoft, Yahoo,
Google and others.

“Mark is very genuine and
fundamentally believes in open source,” said Matt Asay, a commentator on
open-source technology and an executive at the software maker Alfresco. “But I
think he’s going to have a crisis of faith at some point.”

Mr. Asay wonders if Canonical can
sustain its “give everything away” model and “always open” ideology.

Canonical shows no signs of slowing
down or changing course anytime soon.

“We already have a sense of where we
need to compete with Windows,” Mr. Shuttleworth said. “Now the question is if
we can create something that is stylish and stunning.”

In his personal life, he continues
to test what is possible, requesting that a fiber-optic connection be installed
to his house on the border of London’s affluent Chelsea and South Kensington
neighborhoods.

“I want to find out what it’s like
to have a gigabit connection to the home,” he said. “It is not because I need
to watch porn in high-definition but because I want to see what you do
differently.”

He says Canonical is not just a
do-gooder project by someone with the time, money and inclination to tackle
Microsoft head-on. His vision is to make Ubuntu the standard for the next
couple of billion people who acquire PCs.

Source  : http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/business/11ubuntu.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1