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
- Silent Layoffs at Microsoft in 2026
- Time will tell is there are investigative journalists out there who will quit parroting Microsoft (e.g. false layoff figures) and relying on LLMs controlled by Microsoft to spew out false "facts" for them
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 91 Out of 200: Legal Aid in Support of Freedom of the Press and British Women (Attacked by Americans)
- bolstered by prominent counsels
- Codecs and Software Patents - Part XII - GNU's Web Site Will Soon Have Many Recent Talks by Chief GNUisance Richard Stallman (RMS)
- GNU videos being transcoded or converted into AV1
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- If Microsoft admits that slop is too expensive and is for "entertainment purposes" because it cannot be relied upon, why would anyone other than the pushers and profiteers still insist that slop bears potential?
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- Censorship of Information Unflattering to IBM (or GAFAM)
- Years ago we gave a platform to a censored Microsoft whistleblower
- [Video] Richard Stallman's Rapperswil (Switzerland) Talk Online
- accessible without proprietary software
- Trusting Trust is an Old Issue, Predating Rust and LLM Slop by Over Half a Century
- Microsoft Lunduke wants to make a case against Rust and slop (LLMs), but the issues he addresses aren't exactly new or unique
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- This has nothing to do with 1) children 2) safety 3) safety of children
- Links 29/05/2026: Cory Doctorow on Why the Internet Feels So Broken, American Pope on Defederation
- Links for the day
- Techrights Does Not Censor Information About IBM, It Platforms and Retains Suppressed Voices From Inside IBM
- They don't like it when people criticise the management [...] panic attacks mentioned
- Bob (Robert) Cringely Devoted Three Years of His Life Trying to Profit From LLM Slop and Now He Sounds Off, It's Just Not Working and It Can Crash the Economy Soon
- "The labs raising money at valuations with too many zeros are happy"
- Techrights After About 60,000 Articles in 20 Years
- Sites fail if they don't offer anything new or if they wrongly believe that adopting slop to parrot other sites will give them exposure
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- The price-fixing seems plausible and, if so, we need to demand action
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- Groklaw's PJ was thorn on the side of LF sponsors
- The Problem of Microsoft Crimes
- Opposing crime isn't "hatred"
- Red Hat Will Die Inside a Dying IBM
- IBM isn't where Red Hat came to thrive but where it came to die
- Very Large Strike at the European Patent Office Today, "Production" Sank a Huge Deal
- At this pace, we might be looking at tens of thousands fewer European Patents being granted this year
- Gemini Links 29/05/2026: Leadership and Religion, the Board Game (Second Edition)
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 28, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, May 28, 2026
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- Links for the day
- "LLMs Are Not Much More Than Plagiarism Engines"
- the impact of LLMs on communities and software projects
- Is Slop Profitable Yet? No.
- Everything is a giant minus
- Bob (Robert) Cringely Has Just Explained That After 3 Years of Hard Work It Became Apparent LLM Slop is Unfit for Purpose in Courts
- Added moments ago to Daily Links
- Links 28/05/2026: LibreSSL 4.3.2, "Jeff Bezos Is Afraid Of What Comes Next", Measles Making a Comeback
- Links for the day
- PCs That Are Made to 'Expire' and 'Secure' Boot Contributing to Planned Obsolescence
- People who are responsible for this ought to be held accountable
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- At this point, under the guise of "hey hi" (slop) Google is firing tens of thousands of workers
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- The media didn't pay any attention to GitHub's de facto chief quitting Microsoft only a few months ago
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 90 Out of 200: When Efforts to Silence His Spouse and Also the Wife of a Blogger in Another Continent Only Give More Exposure to Embarrassing Information
- The Garrett trial ended in October 2025
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- They're discussing the same sort of thing we often see mentioned in the EPO
- "THE REGISTER EXPLAINER" as "Paid-for SPAM" at The Register MS With "AI" 40 Times in the Short Page
- What will be left of The Register MS in a few years?
- 2025: EPO President Campinos Breaks the Cookie Jar, Steals Another Million Euros While His "Brother-in-Law" Does Cocaine at the Office and Staff Prepares Rolling, Indefinite Strikes
- any additional month of Campinos in charge of the EPO is a liability not just to the EPO but the EU as well
- Gemini Links 28/05/2026: Dumping Microsoft GitHub, Gopher Rabbit Hole
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
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- IRC logs for Wednesday, May 27, 2026
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- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 89 Out of 200: SRA Admits Malfunction, That's Why Transparency is Paramount
- There have been more efforts than we can to count or can enumerate (probably over 100 such efforts) to gag us and to prevent us writing about what has happened
- Our Free Software Activist in Connecticut (USA)
- We'll soon revisit the latest round of legislation on "age" (surveillance, ID)
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- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 27/05/2026: The USA as an "Experiment" and Some Ubuntu Manuals
- Links for the day
- [Video] Full Video of Richard Stallman's Talk in Rome
- It seems inevitable that the official GNU site will have it
- Slop is a Passing Fad, It's About Faking Productivity (Plagiarism, Misinformation, and False Positives)
- Slop is a bubble. Some people accept it later than others.
- Anderon - Like Kyndryl - Could be Far Deeper in Debt Than Its Alleged Worth (Vapourware)
- Time will tell, but it seems like a Federal-enabled (by the Federal Government) accounting scam, nothing more, nothing less
- The Media That Keeps Covering "AI" Because the Pushers of It Pay for Spam
- 23 times in the page they mention "AI"
- Over at Tux Machines...
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- IRC logs for Tuesday, May 26, 2026
- Codecs and Software Patents - Part XI - The Stance of RMS (Dr. Stallman) Reassured GNU Regarding AV1
- cautioned against software patents since the early 90s if not earlier
