Ubuntu’s Hardy Heron nests at Fox News

Ubuntu may not be a household word, but the increasingly popular Linux operating system is no stranger at Fox News. A Ubuntu blogger who complained that he couldn’t view video on FoxNews.com got a personal response from David Denis, Fox News Digital’s director of development. Denis not only went to the trouble to solve the problem (which actually stemmed from Fox’s video vendor, Maven Networks) but acknowledged the growing use of Ubuntu.

“Most of our developers actually run Ubuntu, so we’re definitely focused on correcting [the problem],” he wrote, according to the ERACC Web Log.

Martin Owens, the leader of the Massachusetts Ubuntu Local Community Organization, said, on the one hand, that he was surprised that Fox would allow its employees to use Ubuntu. On the other hand, technical people “are on the cusp of understanding what all this IT mumbo jumbo is about,” so it’s only natural that they would want to use Ubuntu’s advanced features at work, he said. Maybe the feedback from technical teams will convince the rest of the Fox gang to try it too, he added.

Move over, Windows … Ubuntu wants more room in the nest.