Ubuntu Servers Overwhelmed
Typically, when a company's web site is down that's a bad thing -- a very bad thing. But according to one web monitoring site, Ubuntu.com has been down more than it's been up today, and in this case, that's a good thing.
The Linux developers released their new version 7.04 today, also known as Feisty Fawn, and it appears there's so much interest in the new OS that Ubuntu's servers just couldn't handle it. When I looked at Pingdom.com this morning, it reported the site had been up only 44 percent of the time. It was unavailable for more than 11 hours (Pingdom is located in Europe, so their day starts earlier than ours.) When I went to Ubuntu.com, I got a single page with links to mirror sites for downloading the OS and this note:
"Ubuntu 7.04 - Well Done
Thank you to everyone who has helped make Ubuntu 7.04 a reality. Thousands of you have helped code, test, translate and promote Ubuntu and everyone can celebrate today's release.
If you are looking for general information about the Ubuntu project, the main site will be back shortly."
One of the things Linux has needed to be more mainstream, I think, is more of a consensus on what the best distribution is to use. That makes it easier to share tips and tweaks and makes distributing software easier. Ubuntu seems to have locked up the designation of best distro for individual users and that should be positive.
Our Free Agent columnist, Matthew Newton, has been testing Feisty Fawn for quite a while and has lots of insight and tips for you. Go here for information about Feisty Fawn's new features and read today's column for seven things you've got to do once you've installed the new version.
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I'll bet you here's why these servers had trouble. Those of us who've been using truly free software for years understand you're supposed to figure out what you want and get it from the nearest mirror site. But Ubuntu is reaching the rest of humanity who never heard of mirrors. So they all tried to get the file from Canonical's own servers, instead of monsters like mirrors.kernel.org and ftp.nluug.nl that can take the loads. Betcha betcha betcha.