Ok, I’m Mike Donald, I’m 51 yearsw old and I live in Manchester, UK

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

My introduction to computers came in 1989 when I was working in a Magistrates Court in Manchester. It was a ICL ME29 mainframe computer system. I had never seen a computer close up before this time let alone owned one.

I took an interest in its workings (hardware and software) and within a year I was writing small search programs to cut down on the amount of time it took to search the system for an account with a given set of conditions. I ended up running that mainframe for about 2 years. I still didn’t own a computer of my own.

I left the Courts service in 1991 and as a complete change took my HGV class 1 licence as I had always wanted to drive articulated lorries! Strange I know, but whatever. I did that for 12 years and left about 2 years ago, to rest and play golf 

I bought my first computer (a Packard Bell Easynote F7305) in 2004 and fudged my way around for a while. Over the next few years I bought a Philips desktop computer, which is still going strong and a top-of-the-range Sony Vaio. This Vaio is what I now use every day.

I was thoroughly disillusioned with Windows due to what I saw as ridiculous shortfalls in a system that had been around for years (XP). Its failings were legion, in my book, so I tried Ubuntu in 2007. Sadly I didn’t know enough to get the wireless working and I had one or two video problems, so I then experimented with Mac OSX86. I managed to get that up and working on my desktop and my Vaio, in various states of success.

Last year I tried Ubuntu 10.04 and was extremely impressed with how much worked “out of the box” and stayed with that until 10.10 arrived and upgraded before it was released. I have participated in testing new releases since.

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

In my Ubuntu travels the Ubuntuforums have been invaluable as a problem-solving source. I decided early on that I would like to help others in the way that I was helped by people on UF.

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

I have very recently become an Ubuntu Member, and I’m very pleased about that 

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

I use Ubuntu, BodhiLinux and PCLinuxOS on a regular basis.

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

My most satisfying day (and night) on UF was when I spent 8 hours helping someone through a particularly convoluted set of circumstances to a fully successful outcome. I stayed up all night to do it. Both myself and the user were very happy with the outcome.

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

No answer given.

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?

I would genuinely love to see Linux take a much larger share of the market place. I believe this is going to be very difficult though, due to both economic pressures and literally getting the word out to people that there is an alternative to Windows.

9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

If I could tell prospective Ubuntu users one thing it would be to read, read and read before jumping in, and to make sure you can go back to what you have, before you start.

Not quite how I wanted to spend an evening

It is basically a map of the world with countries that I have visited coloured in Green.  Not the most complicated thing going, but interesting enough for a look.  It appears I am fairly well travelled!  In terms of where to go next, I think it has to be India or Russia.

I really can’t explain why I want to go, but I think the history and culture of those 2 places would be a great thing to experience.  I also expect the food would be amazing!  I guess I need to get my domestic stuff sorted and make plans.  With any luck I should be able to get to one of these places in the next 24 months.

Watch this space

Congratulations must also go to Artificial Intelligence and Iowan who are now also admins.

I would like to thank the community for the support and encouragement I have received over the years.

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

If you do not have Firefox installed then you will need to follow these steps:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firefox

1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

Hi, I am Alan Bell, a 36 year old geek from Surrey in the UK, where I live with my family and pet chickens. My day job is helping organisations to use and get value from Free Software. As for education, I pursued a degree in Computer Science at Nottingham University, but never quite caught the thing.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

My first home computer was a ZX Spectrum +2 (the one with the built in tape drive) which I loved, especially the manual which taught me programming and trigonometry and calculus and electronic logic circuits. I was quite disappointed when I got a Commodore Amiga and there were no circuit diagrams in the manual. Now computers just come with an EULA which doesn’t teach you anything useful. Kids these days don’t know what they are missing! When I first encountered Linux it didn’t have a GUI and I wasn’t that impressed (but I did like the GPL from the moment I read that). It was some years later when X worked on Linux and graphical toolkits became available that it started looking interesting to me, but it took quite a lot of additional years before I started using Ubuntu full time.

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

I met a bunch of folk from the Ubuntu UK loco team at an exhibition in London where we were demoing a range of Linux based computers, they dragged me on to IRC and I gradually got sucked in to the Ubuntu community.

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

Yes, I am a member, and quite pleased about that. I contribute to Ubuntu in a number of ways, I have recently been made the Point of Contact or Team Leader of the UK LoCo team (we are still figuring out which title it is) and with the UK team I am involved in organising events and keeping a steady stream of promotional and social activities running. In a more international scope I set up the Ubuntu-For-All project and team which provides continuity and support to a collection of other Ubuntu projects that address outreach and equality issues. In connection with that I am interested in getting more women engaged with technology and I produced and still maintain some interesting statistics on the number of women Ubuntu Members. With the Accessibility team I am working on a series of design personas, which are fictional characters designed to educate and motivate developers to ensure that their software works for everyone.

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

I only use Ubuntu really, it does everything I want. I keep intending to have a deeper dive into Debian in order to learn packaging and get some stuff I want into Ubuntu but I haven’t got round to it yet. My favourite application at the moment is OpenERP (sounds fun doesn’t it!) a python based system for doing pretty much everything imaginable in a business context, including finances, bill of materials, inventory, stock control, HR, warehousing etc. My least favourite application would probably be Gwibber, not because it is especially bad, but every time I use it I end up thinking I would have built it completely differently if I was writing it.

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

I have great memories of the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Brussels and I have made some great friends in the community. As for worst memories, I tend not to dwell on negativity!

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

I tend not to go out looking for people to convert! If someone has decided that Ubuntu makes sense for them or their organisation we help them make it work in practice. It is the same process for all the Free Software we support, customers decide for themselves that they want it, we help make it work.

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?

I would like to see more of a business focus in innovations such as Unity, there has been quite a lot of focus on Ubuntu as a consumer operating system for getting to social networking sites and buying music etc. but not so much attention on using Ubuntu in the office environment.

9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

Get involved in your local community team, you will meet all sorts of interesting people online or in person who are doing amazing things with Ubuntu.