Ubuntu members come from Europe and US and want more representation

Ubuntu Community Manager Jono Bacon has released the results of the survey among Ubuntu members that he launched in early October. According to the survey, almost half of the contributors who officially work on the development and translation of Ubuntu, or provide support and community support, live in Europe. A further third live in the US, followed by South America.

Most members are motivated by their contact with the Ubuntu community, the opportunity to help others and also because of people's gratitude for their involvement. However, there are also downsides: some contributors are demotivated by the bickering and private disputes within the community, and by the bureaucratic requirements. Fourth place in the list of demotivating factors given by members was taken by Canonical's leadership style of autocratically deciding on the project's direction.

It comes as no surprise that, while members are generally satisfied with Ubuntu and with their community contributions, they have complained that they are not consulted by Canonical when decisions are made. The top item on the list of things that could be improved with Ubuntu was the communication between Canonical and the Ubuntu community: survey participants said that Canonical should include community members in decision-making processes, and that it should listen to input from the community.

In addition to an analysis of the answers, including numerous diagrams, the 117-page PDF document also contains participants' full answers. A total of 377 Ubuntu members participated in the survey, but only 263 answered all of the questions.

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