Hey now. If you are going to start a foundation around a particular distribution, I would say that ten million buckaroos ought to do it!

The Ubuntu Foundation will employ core Ubuntu community members to ensure that Ubuntu  www.ubuntu.com) will remain fully supported for an extended period of time, and continue to produce new releases of the distribution. As a first step, the Foundation announces that Ubuntu version 6.04, due for release in April 2006, will be supported for three years on the desktop and five years on the server.

The Foundation was established on July 1st 2005 with an initial funding commitment of US$10 million, to ensure the continuity of the Ubuntu project and create a legal vehicle that represents the community structures of the project.

“It’s important for us to distinguish the philanthropic and non-commercial work that is at the heart of the Ubuntu project, from the commercial support and certification programs that are the focus of Canonical Ltd.” said Mark Shuttleworth, who is founder of the project and is making the initial $10m commitment to the Foundation. “The core team members employed by the Ubuntu Foundation will ensure that we can meet public commitments to keep Ubuntu entirely free of charge, as well as meeting commitments of support for extended periods. I’m very excited at the progress that has been made in bringing free software to the global marketplace, and pleased to continue my support for the project in this way.” [Read the rest]