Humanity’s a hit

But Mark Shuttleworth’s boldest venture yet, the free Ubuntu operating system for PCs, is proving to be a big success.

Last week, his London-based company Canonical released Edgy Eft, the codename for version 6.10 of Ubuntu.

In a short time, Ubuntu — the word means “humanity to others” in Zulu and Xhosa — has become the world’s most popular open-source operating system. Shuttleworth (33) hasn’t yet figured out how to make money from it.

Eventually, Canonical may turn a profit by providing paid-for support to Ubuntu users, especially corporate customers. Shuttleworth says the software will always be free to download.

The next version of Ubuntu, codenamed Feisty Fawn, is scheduled for release in April.

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