A lot has happened in the world and nothing has happened on this blog, so I decided to interview myself to clear up what’s been going on and explain a little about myself. Here we go…
Why don’t I see your contributions to Ubuntu anymore?
I’m glad you asked that question ;-) Basically, there are two reasons. The main reason is that, real life work, that pays bills, takes up most of my time at the moment. I just don’t have the same amount of time to spend in front of the computer as I have had in the past. But the time I do have, I spend on reading about all the amazing stuff that is happening around Linux.
The second reason is that I am/was mostly involved with artwork and design stuff, which is done by the Canonical design team these days. The design team consists of 15 highly talented people with some incredible skills. Much of the work that emerges from the design team is created internally behind closed doors and I can fully understand that. Decisions are made by professional and informed people whose sole aim is making Ubuntu great. However, I feel that that model clashes with the way I’d like to contribute to Ubuntu. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t contribute to artwork, design and user-experience just because there’s a dedicated team for that, but for me personally, together with the reason I mentioned earlier, I don’t have that burning obsession of making Ubuntu better anymore – I’ve left it to the pros.
Why did you contribute to Ubuntu in the first place?
When I started to contribute to Ubuntu, I did so because it was (and still is) an amazing project. When I read about Ubuntu, Linux and how Mark Shuttleworth fits into the story, a ‘I want to give something back to this wonderful project’ fire was lit inside me.
How did you get involved?
My first Linux distribution, that stayed with me for more than a weekend, was Feisty Fawn aka Ubuntu 7.04. At first I was only a user, but as the ‘must give something back’ fire got hotter, I began to look for things I felt that needed to be improved. If I was able to create some superior myself, I would share my thoughts with the world and try to push things to the right people. Like the Ubiquity slideshow that actually landed in Ubuntu 9.10, where I basically emailed Dylan McCall a better suggestion.
Which areas did you contribute to?
Working with graphics on the computer is something I’ve been doing amateurish for many many years. With the easiest place to start for anyone at any level being wallpapers, I set out to make peoples desktops brown and pretty. In March 2008 I had my blog up and running, and it was an obvious place to share my work.
Since I have a master’s degree in music, I figured I could spread some love to that part of the free software community too. This was a more difficult task then I thought and it never lead to anything I was fully satisfied with.
I also got involved with the boot experience, countdown banners, release party posters, flyers, brochures, DVD covers and so many others areas that you can expect me to list them all here. If you’re interested I’ll post a link to my portfolio below or you can try to search my blog.
Is your blog dead?
As I mentioned above my time in front of the computer is limited, so I have decided to only blog about my own work and not everything slightly related to Ubuntu that I come across. This means that since I’m not working on anything, I’ve got nothing to blog about. There's still topics I want to blog about. These days I get my Ubuntu related news mostly from OMG! Ubuntu! and you should too.
Is there a place where I can see all your Ubuntu related work?
Yes, I have a portfolio at Behance (http://www.behance.net/madsrh123 ) or my blog (which is this blog) or if that fails, Google is your friend.
Is there anything you would like to add?
I’ve written a lot of this post in past tense, but I want to emphasize that I do still contribute, use, love and endorse free and open-source software. I've not yet fallen of this earth or gone into space, so feel free to write a few words or perhaps a question below - who knows when I'll be blogging again.
Thanks for the excellent questions ;-)
//MadsRH
