Canonical's withdrawal of funding to the Kubuntu project apparently is not very important to the company's owner, Mark Shuttleworth.

Canonical, the company best known for its Ubuntu GNU/Linux distribution, has decided to pull funding for Kubuntu, the version that has KDE as its desktop environment instead of GNOME.

Xerox PARC, Apple, Microsoft: these companies and more have contributed to the ubiquitous but evolving WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointers) user interface. According to Mark Shuttleworth Ubuntu is poised to revolutionise the menu this April.

Bruce Perens looks a bit disoriented as he comes into the hotel lobby, looking for me. "Anyone here called Sam?" he calls out. The tiredness is evident on his face after the long haul from the US to Australia.

For as long back as I can remember, GNU/Linux distributions have resembled Windows in one respect - that start menu at the bottom of the left side of the screen.

Given the rave reviews that Linux Mint has been getting recently, it would be perfectly understandable if the man driving the distribution was a little swollen-headed by this time.

One of the big problems that any company faces when it decides to get into the GNU/Linux business is how to deal with users, a group who have an extraordinary sense of entitlement.

What's new about Ubuntu GNU/Linux? That is always the question that arises when the six-monthly release takes place and this time, with 11.10, the answer is probably best encapsulated by the project itself.

For six months I longed for the Motorola Atrix Android smartphone first announced in January. That was, until I got one and reality fell short of my utopian vision. Now I must beseech Motorola, telcos and Linux hackers alike to bring my dream to fruition.  

Ubuntu chief Mark Shuttleworth plans to make an all-out effort to sell his company's copyright assignment policy - which applies to code contributions to the project.