So what's Mark Shuttleworth's real plan for Ubuntu Linux? Giving Windows a run for its money was part of the game from the beginning, but in a recent article in Datamation he discussed his real ambitions: to compete with or beat the Macintosh at its own game.

This is about as bold a statement as you can make in today's computing world (short of "Yeah, we're going to knock Microsoft off the desktop"). The challenge is twofold: they have to build something at least as good or better, and then get it out in front of people where they will be willing to adopt it.

The first part is tough enough. I'm not sure it's a question of the Mac's look and feel being the product of a closed-ended design philosophy whereas Linux/FOSS is more out-in-the-open, although the latter certainly makes it easier to give and implement feedback. It's a question of having designers who understand how to build a good user interface -- in short, smart people and not just good code.

Mark also believes the Internet is a crucial part of why people use an OS at all:

This is why it's important to make it as easy as possible to run Flash content and allow MP3 (and maybe also DVD) playback. I mentioned the $20 boxed version of Ubuntu yesterday; one of the few things that makes sense to charge money for when selling Linux is licensing for encumbered codecs.

I give Mark credit for being bold, and for trying to make Linux go new places. For many people Ubuntu is Linux, and how it succeeds or fails will set a pattern for people's expectations for Linux in general. He doesn't have to take market share from the Mac to make that happen, if you ask me, but if you're going to dream, dream big, right?