Micro-Dynamics in the Open Source Software.The Case of Ubuntu Developers

Ubuntu is a free and open source computer operating system based on Debian/GNU/Linux created in 2004 by a young open source supporter from South Africa, Mark Shuttleworth. He founded Canonical Ltd, a UK based company and sponsor of Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is an African Zulu word translated as “humanity to others” or “I am what I am because of who we all are”; the philosophy at the base of Ubuntu is to bring this concept to the software, highlighting the value of community contribution to software development. Canonical releases a new version of Ubuntu every six months and it makes a profit by selling technical support.
The Ubuntu community has its own philosophy regarding the definition of the word free, related to the objective of spreading the benefits of software all over the world. Such a philosophy is based on three core concepts of freedom. The definition of “free” from FSF, such as “freedom to download, run, copy, distribute, study, share, change and improve their software for any purpose, without paying licensing fees” (www.ubuntu.com); the freedom to use the software in the language of the user and the freedom of use for every kind of user, even in case of disability. Here the original meaning of Ubuntu clearly reflects the philosophy of the community. With its own Ubuntu Licence Policy, Ubuntu respects the above listed ideals and guarantees to users all the above mentioned software related freedom. With respect to the debate between free and open source software, Ubuntu community members represent
both movements, they don't see the two concepts as distinct or incompatible and define Ubuntu as “free” and “open source”.
The Ubuntu community teams differ in size and activity. Most of them refer to the different areas on which developers work, such as different parts of the software (kernel and server for instance) or the different Ubuntu products (Kubuntu, Edubuntu). Members of these teams perform the development tasks aimed at improvement or at bug fixing. These teams vary in size and mainly include active and continuous contributors.
Next to the work-related groups we can find the high level decision groups and coordinators, such as core developers, MOTU team, the Ubuntu technical board and the different councils, responsible for managing and controlling the activity of the different teams and the community communications. These groups are relatively small in size and include employees from Canonical Ltd, responsible for following the whole development process, and the volunteers who make a significant contribution to the operating system in terms of development, in terms of support to the community and in terms of complementary activities.
The larger groups of users of Ubuntu products have the main task of testing the new functionalities and providing feedback before the official release.
Another category includes the diffusion-oriented teams. These differ in the target population, in terms of location or of individual characteristics. Some examples are the teams aiming at bringing the software to disabled and unskilled users, working on a more user-friendly interface. In this category we can find also the marketing team.
Some other medium sized teams are typical community groups, whose members share interests and passions.