Ubuntu News: Community Management, Convergence, Criticism, and Imminent LTS Release
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-04-08 08:30:10 UTC
- Modified: 2014-04-08 08:30:10 UTC
Community
I just wanted to let you folks know that I am recruiting for a community manager to join my team at Canonical.
Mobile
Canonical has been working on its vision of complete OS convergence for quite a while now and the first results have already appeared, but it seems that Microsoft is also trying to do the same and it has called it Universal Apps.
The Ubuntu Phone is set to launch this year. With more and more major players getting on board as hardware suppliers, you can bet the darling of Linux mobility will slowly find its way into every market imaginable. The big question mark is the US market. With Android and IOS having a stranglehold on US customers, can this new mobile platform make it? I firmly believe that the Ubuntu Phone not only can be your next mobile device, it should be. I'll give you 10 reasons why.
Server
No, they're not kidding. As Sally Radwan, Canonical's cloud product marketing manager, recently explained, "A few years ago, the cloud team at Canonical decided that the future of cloud computing lies not only in what clouds are built on, but what runs on it, and how quickly, securely, and efficiently those services can be managed. This is when Juju was born; our service orchestration tool built for the cloud and inspired by the way IT architects visualize their infrastructure: boxes representing services, connected by lines representing interfaces or relationships. Juju’s GUI simplifies searching, dragging and dropping a ‘Charm’ into a canvas to deploy services instantly."
Integration
“An example of Ubuntu convergence in action. Here you see the Weather Channel powered Ubuntu weather app first the size of a phone, then a tablet, then desktop, and the content all re-aligns to make the very best use of the space. We then shrink the app back down and everything continues to adjust. All from a single code base,” wrote Jono Bacon on Google+.
I remember, when the good folks at Canonical introduced the Ubuntu tour feature on their website, I wished for there to be a way to access my Ubuntu desktop via a browser for real. Although it is possible to use VNC clients to remotely access your Ubuntu desktop from anywhere including your Android phone, it would be sure good to be able to access your desktop from any computing device without having to install a client side application.
Ubuntu One
Many of us had hoped it was an April Fool's prank. But Ubuntu One will, in fact, no longer be available as of June 1, 2014 and all data will be wiped July 31, 2014. This will leave a great number of Ubuntu users without a cloud service. Fear not, intrepid users, there are plenty of cloud services and tools available – each with native Linux clients – ready and willing to take your Ubuntu One data and keep it in the cloud.
Ubuntu One always struck me as Canonical's attempt to emulate Apple and other companies by offering a cloud-based file storage and music service. I've often wondered how well it was doing in terms of users and if it was making Canonical any money. Alas, Ubuntu One is no more according to the Canonical Blog. So I guess that answers those questions.
Criticism
Canonical got a lot of flak over the years for the decisions regarding its Ubuntu operating system, some of them justified, but most were just unfair. The truth is not in the middle as you might think because there are much bigger interests at play.
Canonical has had a rocky relationship at times with the rest of the open source community. The company has sometimes gone in its own direction and rather blithely disregarded criticism from others in free software. Datamation takes a look at the root of Canonical's problem and thinks that it's more about relationships than it is about specific software issues.
Ubuntu 14.04
Upgrading the Linux kernel and Mesa/X.Org graphics driver components past what Canonical shipped in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and other recent releases of Ubuntu Linux isn't actually that hard... Here's the Phoronix-recommended approach for Linux enthusiasts wishing to upgrade their key software components for yielding better open-source graphics driver performance and features.
For system administrators or those just wishing to dive into the Ubuntu 14.04 LTS kernel to see how it differs from a vanilla Linux 3.13 configuration, Leann Ogasawara of Canonical has posted a mailing list message with various resources that outline the patches they're carrying with their 3.13-based kernel, their kernel configuration, the configuration against Ubuntu 13.10, etc.
Stay tuned for the NVIDIA and Intel results that will accompany the AMD Radeon performance numbers in the days ahead. Overall, the Ubuntu 14.04 LTS open graphics experience is decent with Linux 3.13 and Mesa 10.2-devel although Linux gamers and enthusiasts are encouraged to either use the proprietary drivers or at least upgrade to the latest Linux kernel (3.14+) and Mesa 10.2-devel for the best OpenGL performance and best feature-set.
Ubuntu developers are making constant improvements to Unity8 and Mir, and they are also registering good progress towards implementing new features.
Due to Ubuntu 14.04 shipping with the Linux 3.13 kernel, a specially-crafted "i915_bdw" driver has been introduced for offering Intel Broadwell graphics support in this upcoming Ubuntu Linux release.
Download Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr here. For the first time, every flavour of Ubuntu 14.04 (Desktop, Server, Edubuntu, Lubuntu, etc) has been approved for LTS status, meaning they'll all be supported for a minimum of three years, and some of them will be supported for five.
Code-named Trusty Tahr, 14.04 will be a Long Term Support release, meaning Canonical will support what you get in April for five years.
The next version of the world’s preeminent Linux distro, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, is almost upon us. Late last night, the final beta of 14.04 Trusty Tahr (an African wild goat) was released, with the final build due on April 17. Trusty Tahr is the first long-term support (LTS) build of Ubuntu in two years, and is thus contains a lot of exciting features that thousands (millions?) of Ubuntu 12.04 users can’t wait to get their hands on.
There were hopes that the Linux 3.14 kernel would make it into Ubuntu 14.04 LTS given that it has much better Intel Broadwell graphics support, other new hardware enablement, and a ton of new features. Sadly, it looks like only the Linux 3.13 kernel will be shipped by default in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. Fortunately, with the new hardware enablement strategy of Ubuntu Long Term Support releases, in 14.04.1 or 14.04.2 we will see a new kernel (along with Mesa/X components) back-ported from later release series.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Proprietary Software is Bad for Your Health, Not Just Your Finances, Privacy and So On
- It would be interesting to see some charts, based on some long-term study, comparing the general health (blood pressure, BMI etc.) of people who use proprietary stuff and people who do not
- Microsoft Admits Business Perils as Windows Continues to Fall
- ‘Microsoft missed the biggest business model…’
- Technical Specifications at Times of Tyrannies
- Specifications (specs) must evolve with the times
- In Case Rust Censors It (Rust Has Long Been All About Censorship), Here's a Critical Look at Rust's Goals
- In the case of Rust, instead of "the liberation of the digital society" we have empowerment of Microsoft GitHub and of GAFAM in general. Guess who funds this...
- Gemini Links 23/02/2025: Respectful Platforms Manifesto and Internet Archive
- Links for the day
- The Significance of the Timing of the Ridiculous Letters From Brett Wilson LLP, Acting on Behalf of People From Microsoft
- A preliminary look at the timeline and what it tells us
- Politicians Ought to Invite Dr. Richard Stallman and Prof. Eben Moglen to Speak About Policies, Licensing, Digital Sovereignty
- Is there something in Europe other than RMS' talk this coming Monday (that we're not yet aware of)?
- The So-called 'IT' Industry Became Somewhat of a Fraud Where People Equate Usage and Power Wasted With "Value" or "Success"
- When did 'IT' become a weapon rather than technology/science?
- Things to Like About London
- Many important or "powerful" people leave near there
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- Links 24/02/2025: Germany Looks to Distance Itself From US, Environment at Risk, Mass Layoffs at Zendesk
- Links for the day
- [Meme] It's Over, Microsoft
- an obligatory meme
- Even Worse Than LLM Slop and Linkspam From UNIXMen
- UNIXMen is basically a defunct spamfarm at this point (the author is "sarwarSEO")
- Gemini Links 24/02/2025: Osiris 0.1.0 Release (File Sharing in Gemini Protocol), NetBSD 10.1 on the Pi
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 23, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, February 23, 2025
- Links 23/02/2025: Democracy Backsliding and German Election
- Links for the day
- Joining APRIL(.org), AGM weekend, Paris, 15-16 March 2025
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Links 23/02/2025: Zuckerberg Despised, US Government Does Not Obey Judges, France Grapples With Terrorism
- Links for the day
- Links 23/02/2025: Apple Back Doors, Ukraine Updates, and Gemini Leftovers
- Links for the day
- Recent Improvements in Techrights
- minimalism works fine when the main goal is to relay information
- Slopwatch: Brian Fagioli, Brittany Day (linuxsecurity.com), and Microsoft Misinformation, False Marketing
- Serial Sloppers
- Censored: Debian Zizian transgender vigilante comparisons in open source Linux communities
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 22, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, February 22, 2025
- Links 22/02/2025: OpenAI Plans to Possibly Abandon Microsoft, Facebook Doubles Execs' Bonuses While Sacking Thousands
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 22/02/2025: Weekend Chill and Programming Thoughts
- Links for the day
- Good Explanation of Why IBM Has Chosen to Conceal Mass Layoffs (of 'Expensive' Staff) as "R.T.O." (Even For People Who Never Worked at the Office to Which They're Ordered to "Return")
- Many remaining IBM (or Red Hat) workers in Europe are in "cheaper" places such as Brno
- Microsoft's Serial Strangler and Matthew J. Garrett Join Forces in Trying to Gag Techrights (for Exposing Microsoft Corruption and Crimes Against Women)
- Whose terrible idea was it?
- Links 22/02/2025: Labour Department Investigates Microsoft Infosys Amid Mass Layoffs, Large Law Firms Caught Red Handed With LLM Slop (Defrauding Clients and Courts)
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 22/02/2025: Analog Stuff, Sigil, and SSGs
- Links for the day
- Microsoft's Market Share in Cameroon Falls to New Lows
- This means a lot of Android users (iOS is about 4 times smaller), but Android does not mean freedom
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 21, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, February 21, 2025
- The Streisand Effect is Real
- So don't be evil. Also, don't strangle women.