Ubuntu: meritocracy not democracy

If your a user you have no say, If your a developer you have a little say, the only way to get real traction in the 'meritocracy' is if your name is Mark 'Jobs' Shuttleworth.

This isn't even an apologist article, its a politely phrased "suck it up buttercup"

The "community" referred to by Canonical is a group of individuals who donate their time to a software company. The amazing thing is that MS has managed to get many to think he's doing something great because Ubuntu can be downloaded free of charge. Working with Ubuntu development is no different from testing a new version of Windows.

And this isn't any different from a large number of projects/distros, is it? Do we (as regular users) truly have a significant voice in any distro out there?

@claydoh, many listen to users and give their ideas equal weight. Ubuntu is among the handful that treat their users as nameless, featureless, peons. I have had great luck with many distros with dev's or the benevolent dictator for life taking the time to discuss issues with me and either accepting or making sure I understood the reason why $FEATURE_X is not feasible.

Quoting:And this isn't any different from a large number of projects/distros, is it? Do we (as regular users) truly have a significant voice in any distro out there?

I can name one. PCLinuxOS often has requests for new packages or features posted by users in the forum. Other users can then vote on whether to include what was requested in the repositories. If there is enough demand, the request is soon implemented. I've seen this happen many times.

At the very least those leading the other distros are at least a little bit professional. Shuttleworth's ranting like a 3-year old about how it's his distro and sharing is terrible are too stupid for words.