The NYTimes just ran an in-depth article on Mark Shuttleworth and his evangelism for the Linux based Ubuntu operating system, referring to him as “the charismatic 35-year-old billionaire from South Africa who functions as the spiritual and financial leader of this coding clan.”

Some highlights and extracts from the article:
- Ubuntu  has emerged as the fastest-growing and most celebrated version of the Linux operating system in the four years since its establishment.
- More than 10 million people are estimated to run Ubuntu today.
- Close to half of Google’s 20,000 employees use a slightly modified version of Ubuntu, playfully called Goobuntu.
- Ubuntu emerged as a sort of favoured nation for those idealistic software developers who viewed themselves as part of a countercultural movement. “It is the same thing companies like Apple and Google have done well, which is build not just a community but a passionate community.”
- 38,000 volunteers have signed up to translate the software into different languages.
- The Macedonian education department relies on Ubuntu, providing 180,000 copies of the operating system to children, while the Spanish school system has 195,000 Ubuntu desktops. In France, the National Assembly and the Gendarmerie Nationale, the military police force, rely on Ubuntu for a combined 80,000 PCs.
- Shuttleworth claims to be worth US$1 billion.
- Canonical, the outfit behind Ubuntu, generates annual revenue now creeping toward $30 million making it self-sustaining.