The Origins of Ubuntu OS

You might have heard of the open-source Linux Operating system(OS) known as Ubuntu. It was first released in 2014 and is now one of the most popular OS’s on the planet. It is behind the world’s fastest supercomputer, runs on the most web servers around the world, and is even behind the technology used by Google’s Self-driving car.

But do you know what “Ubuntu” actually means?

The story goes that an Anthropologist proposed a game to African tribal children. He placed a basket of sweets near a tree, and then had them stand a few hundred feet away. Whoever reached the basket first would get all the sweets.

When he said ready steady go…Do you know what these small children did?

They all held each other’s hands and ran towards the tree together, divided the sweets and enjoyed them equally.

When the Anthropologist asked them why you did so?

They said “Ubuntu”. Which to them, meant ’How can one be happy when all the others are sad?’

It turns out that word “Ubuntu” is a South African ethical ideology that focuses on people’s allegiances and relations with each other. The word comes from the Zulu and Xhosa languages and is regarded as one of the founding principles of the new republic of South Africa.