The Ubuntu community in Vancouver are an energetic, unique and friendly bunch. Although a group of people coming together around a computer operating system might sound rather boring, this is an incredibly revolutionary movement. Contrary to even my own expectations, I am always impressed with the amount of fun this community has together.

As I was telling a friend last night: it must be the open-source nature underlying the movement–which actively encourages and seeks out feedback–that makes it so accepting and enjoyable. Many of the local community groups that I have gotten involved with, including community gardening and other grass-roots movements (where you might think we would be more likely to get away from petty power-plays–myself included) often get stuck in that old-school hierarchical model passed down to us from rigid institutions. If anyone is feeling nervous about taking the plunge and putting Ubuntu onto their computer, I can assure you that there is a vibrant network here in Vancouver that is eager to support you in whatever way they can and that you will not regret it.