JoelGoguen

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 . Ubuntu [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam|Documentation Team]]
  * Currently working on cleaning up and adding to the [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CategorySecurity|Security category]]

  * You can view pages I've edited with a brief list of changes [[/EditedPages|here]]
 . Ubuntu Documentation
  * You can view wiki pages I've edited with a brief list of changes [[/EditedPages|here]]

1. About Me

I am a 24-year old Computer Science student at the University of New Brunswick (Fredericton) in Canada. I’m currently in my fourth year and also took advantage of the co-op program. I worked for Q1 Labs from January 2006 to December 2006 as a Quality Assurance Specialist. I worked with Q1 Labs again from April 2007 to November 2008 as a Software Developer, first with their integration team and later with their Security Team.

I’m a programmer at heart, and perhaps the only person I know who finds it entertaining. Unfortunately, with school taking up most of my time, I don't get the opportunity to do nearly as much as I would like. I also enjoy reading fiction and science fiction, history (particularly military history), and playing pool. I hope to be able to do my degree with a minor in history, if I can find enough courses that interest me.

2. My Linux Background

I first started using Linux in March 2004. I first picked up Mandrake 9.1 (remember way back before they were Mandriva?) simply because a friend said it was easy. All I'd heard of was Red Hat at the time. After some time (including some attempts with Red Hat 9) I tried OpenBSD 3.5. A co-worker introduced me to it, and showed me how easy it really was to get going. I was also quite pleased with how secure it was and how much easier PF was to configure properly compared to IPTables. Still being quite new to the non-Windows world, ease was a huge factor for me.

One big problem I'd been having was wireless. It just wouldn't work. Most likely due to my lack of knowledge at the time I'm convinced. Not too long after Ubuntu Warty came out the same person who introduced me to Mandrake came over to tell me his wireless now "Just Worked". This caught my attention far more than any release notice, and I've been an Ubuntu user ever since. I liked it enough to actually sit down and learn a little bit about IPTables. I still couldn't make a NAT router with IPTables (a simple task with PF!) to save my life, but at least now I can actually bring up a firewall!

3. My Programming Background

My first exposure to programming was in 2000, when I started learning Visual Basic 6. It wasn't pretty, but once I saw how easy it was to make the computer do what I told it, I was hooked. Seeing how differently the computer reacted to what I told it based on what I was expecting only made me more determined to figure out why it wasn't "behaving".

I can now program in the following languages and scripting languages:

  • Java
  • C
  • Python
  • PHP
  • Perl
  • BASH

4. My Involvement

5. My Vision for Ubuntu

First and foremost, I would like to see Ubuntu become a serious competitor to Microsoft Windows. As Apple has already demonstrated, anything made easily available to users which is superior to Windows will become well known and widely used. I believe that Ubuntu, being superior to Apple OS X, has the potential to achieve the same fame as OS X and surpass it.

Next, I would like to see Ubuntu at the point where Bug 1 can be closed as a fixed bug. I fully agree that non-free software is holding back innovation and I believe that non-free software is preventing the adoption of technology in parts of the world that can't afford proprietary software, but don't know about the alternatives. Non-free software also raises concerns about document preservation. Older versions of Microsoft Word documents are already unreadable using recent versions of Microsoft Office. They will remain unreadable without software to open them, since Microsoft has not published the documentation necessary to write fully compatible software. The OpenDocument Format addresses this, and I believe that Ubuntu is the ideal platform to promote these open standards with.

I would also like to see Ubuntu become the system of choice for governments, businesses, and other institutions. Most of the institutions who could benefit the most from using Ubuntu are also the ones who are most resistant to using it. Governments could save money on licensing fees that could be redirected to any number of programs and groups that could make good use of it. A single provincial government in Canada spends an estimated $80-million annually on Windows Vista licenses alone. That's not including older versions of Windows, or licenses for Microsoft Office either. If a single provincial government could save that much money by switching to Ubuntu, imagine how much the entire nation of Canada could save their taxpayers. I believe in using the best tool for the job, and I believe that Ubuntu is not only the best tool for almost any job, but is flexible enough to become the best tool for the few jobs that still require a Microsoft Windows system.

Finally, I want to see Ubuntu become the system of choice for educational institutions of all levels. I believe that because of how impressionable young people are, this is important enough to be its own goal. If young children are exposed primarily (or exclusively) to Ubuntu from a young age, they will be more likely to choose Ubuntu later in life. Schools, faced with ever-shrinking budgets, could save a significant amount of money by using Ubuntu and have more to spend to improve the quality of education for their students.

6. Contact Me

7. Testimonials

  • Your testimonial here
  • Your testimonial here
  • Your testimonial here


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JoelGoguen (last edited 2010-06-16 12:10:18 by nostromo)