As the creator of a website dedicated to all things Ubuntu you might assume me to be fairly non-plussed when I see people using it.
You’d be wrong.
Right now, as I type this, there’s a lady sat in front of me using Ubuntu (14.04 LTS, trivia fans).
And, right now, as I type this, I feel surprised by it.
I’m not exactly sure why.
With an estimated 40 million Ubuntu users worldwide¹, a large concentration of whom also live in Europe, seeing someone using Ubuntu in the wild shouldn’t amaze me.
I also happen live in a city with a Linux-powered meteorological office, a university with a high proportion of hipster students more likely to lean towards Linux, and there’s dedicated computer technology campus nearby.
‘With 40 million Ubuntu users, the chances of coming across someone using Linux in the wild is not small’
I’m also certain there’s an active LUG going about its business somewhere in my radius, though I’ve never properly investigated.
Simple put: the chances of me coming across someone using Linux in the wild in my city is not small.
If you follow me on Twitter (and if you do, I apologise) then you’ll know I work out of a (very nice) cafe in town during weekdays. It’s helpful to get out of the house and away from my army of cats angling for attention, affection or, most commonly, appetite fodder.
Half of the words you read on this site are drafted, dreamt up and bludgeoned into my keyboard over a hot soya mocha and an oatmeal and raisin cookie. It’s amazing what a mix of caffeine, sugar and societal awkwardness can do for your productivity.
So what prompted this article?
OMG! Ubuntu!
‘Someone is using Ubuntu. Proper Ubuntu. The Ubuntu I write about. And that person isn’t me.’
A lady at the table in front of me is running Ubuntu on her laptop.
Hold the press, right? /s
It was the sight of the Unity Dash unfurling from its cosseted corner that caught my eye. The animation is super familiar to me and yet the sight of it in public is not!
A weird moment: someone in my haunting grounds is using Ubuntu —proper Ubuntu; the Ubuntu I write about.
And that person isn’t me!
It’s not the first time I’ve encountered Ubuntu in the wild but it never doesn’t feel weird when it happens.
Beyond the fanboy whoops it reminds me that we are all real people using it to do real things in our real, everyday lives. An inconsequential fact, but one that’s rather marvellous to remember.
That’s it; that’s my story: I saw someone use Ubuntu in “my” den of caffeine-indemnity, someone who wasn’t me.
I don’t expect this will be the last time I see Ubuntu in the wild (certainly hope not) but I expect I’ll feel just as surprised when I do!
Have you seen someone use Ubuntu in public before? Have you ever said hello?
¹Source: Canonical