As any hardcore IT geek knows, the Debian community has been around for over a decade, and it produces a well-respected Linux distribution by the same name. This is a distinctly non-commercial enterprise for the Debian community.
Another enormously popular Linux distribution is Ubuntu (they have a new 9.04 release out today, as a matter of fact) -- I happily run it on all my home computers. Ubuntu's chief financial backer (and erstwhile space tourist), Mark Shuttleworth, was in fact a Debian developer for many years before he started Ubuntu earlier this decade.
What Ubuntu does is use large bits of Debian -- which they're free to do under the GPL -- and add some polish (plus a few bug fixes!) to produce a distribution better suited for the average computer user. Both distros have their place, and after a somewhat turbulent relationship between the two, they've been working much better together in recent years.
I'm starting to think that our internal wiki and our customer-facing communities are developing a positive Debian/Ubuntu-type of relationship. Our internal wiki is a place to experiment, try new things, get feedback, etc. Our customer-facing communities are opting for a slightly more conservative approach, for obvious business reasons!
Both internal and external wikis have their role to play, and I fully expect that they'll develop an extraordinarily symbiotic relationship over the coming months and years.
Have you had a similar experience with your company's wiki ecosystem?
Thursday, April 23, 2009
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