Interviewee : Jerome Gotangco

This is the first interview conducted thru email on the people behind Ubuntu-ph, the loco team of Ubuntu in the Philippines.

Jerome Gotangco, the initiator of Ubuntu-ph, is the first person assigned to be interviewed.

1. Could you introduce yourself and share to us how you ended up in the FOSS/UBUNTU world?

I am Jerome S. Gotangco, currently connected with the ABS-CBN Foundation as the IT Manager. Previously, I managed IT for Pycon Technology Philippines, Inc, a semiconductor services company, and Bugal Pty. Ltd., a mobile entertainment company based in Australia. I've been using FOSS-based solutions since 1999 mostly on servers, and got involved into development of some projects around 2000 until today.

My first GNU/Linux OS experience was with Redhat 5.2 and shifted to Debian around 2002, but I don't have a particular choice when it comes to GNU/Linux, since they're all the same anyways, with slight different ways of implementing some software configuration.

I got involved in Ubuntu in late 2004 when I started translating the release notes into Tagalog and eventually writing software documentation to the distro itself afterwards and then branching to some key pieces of software and testing. I got heavily involved with Edubuntu (in heping users, documentation, alpha testing) during its inception in early 2005 during the distro sprint in Sydney, Australia and haven't looked back - today its a shining example of how free software can be used in the classroom with very little difficulty. In some instances, Edubuntu provides cutting edge free software in the form of LTSP. I guess these small contributions paved way for me in joining some of the distro sprints that happen twice a year and representing the project itself in conferences, locally and abroad.

2. What is the story behind Ubuntu-ph team?

I don't remember much of it anymore, but I'm pretty sure its somewhere in the PLUG mailing list archives when I made a post suggesting to create one since the LoCo concept was still pretty new back then and the Ubuntu community was much smaller. I sent an email to Jeff Waugh (jdub) if he could create a mailing list for Ubuntu-ph and he did afterwards, which still exists today. The ubuntu-ph.org domain is still sponsored by Canonical, along with the server space. I can say its a classic "if you build it, they will come model", although traffic to the site isn't that much yet, but its nice to see a core group being active and eventually becomes a self sustaining community that is distinct and doesn't overlap to the bigger LUGs locally.

3. What is the inspiration behind your involvement in UBUNTU?

I cannot recall any specific inspiration that made me do "it", since development of Ubuntu is so fast you only get a week or two to breathe after a release then development starts again. Of course, I don't do much of the hardcore coding/packaging stuff, but I do focus on some software that interests me, like bluetooth, pda/smartphone sync, xorg, and laptop support. It just so happened that Ubuntu makes sure these work out of the box so development and testing of these software components are exciting areas for me to be involved.

4. What sites do you frequently visit and recommend for Ubuntu learning, like howtos and tutorials for newbies and developers alike?

I hate to say this, but I rarely go to such sites, not because I know a lot of stuff that involves Ubuntu, but because I simply don't have enough time now to check. I still refer to official documentation that is posted in http://help.ubuntu.com but I also go to the ubuntu forums if I need some really quick checking. I've also found howtoforge quite useful especially on deploying Ubuntu as a server, although the tutorials do assume some level of knowledge in server concepts.There's no definitive website out there so take advantage of the power of online search tools!

5. Who would you say greatly influenced you in your involvement in FOSS?

Oh there are a good number of people that made be decide to be involved in FOSS. The single trait that they all have is that they are willing to share their knowledge to other people regardless of location, time and comprehension.

6. What is your thought on the FOSS implementation Globally and in the Philippines?

It has become a global trend for quite a while; actually its not even a trend, its now part of most Fortune 500 company's IT strategy. There are a good number of big companies locally who involve themselves into adopting a FOSS strategy although most of them are done on the backend. (with good reason). From the mainstream, you can see supermarkets with POS running GNU/Linux so its a good sign that FOSS is possible even on the retail level.

7. If there is one thing you can change from the the FOSS world, what would it be?

That's pretty sweeping if I make a statement. I just go with the flow when it comes to FOSS and apply the scratch your own itch principle which works for me most of the time.

8. How do you see the effect FOSS will create 2 to 5 years from now?

I believe the biggest penetration of FOSS, particularly GNU/Linux will happen in the embedded space. Device miniaturization is constantly happening until it becomes ubiquitous, just like how the mobile phone has become. As mobile phones become more full featured and cheaper, we'll see software capable of doing a lot of desktop work ported over or created from scratch. I can say that the embedded space is the next frontier for FOSS. If you happen to use a Motorola E2 (which costs around P16,000+ on retail), its already using the Linux kernel.

9. What would you advise a young person pursuing a career on developing and using FOSS?

Read! Research! Network! The Internet has opened up a lot of avenues of opportunities for students to know their niche in the professional world. As most people would say, Google is your friend. There's no substitute for lifelong learning as our society becomes information-driven day by day. Make it a part of your life and you'll reap the enefits for sure. It doesn't apply to FOSS but to other software methodologies/philosophies as well.

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Jerome Gotangco
jgotangco@ubuntu.com
jgotangco@edubuntu.org
GPG: 0x9E379FC6

More information on Jerome Gotangco at http://jerome.gotangco.com