Recent News From the World of Ubuntu
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-02-11 12:52:30 UTC
- Modified: 2014-02-11 12:52:30 UTC
Summary: Ubuntu 12.04.4, Mobile, Tips, File Manager, CLA, and Decoupling
12.04.4
-
Canonical has just announced that Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS (Precise Pangolin) has been officially released for its Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products.
-
The benchmarks in this article are some straightforward tests done on the same HP EliteBook (Intel Core i5 2520M, 4GB RAM, Intel 160GB SSD, HD Graphics 3000) when comparing clean installs of Ubuntu 12.04.2, 12.04.3, and 12.04.4. Unfortunately the mirrors of the original Ubuntu 12.04 LTS release and the first point release have vanished, so the testing was limited to these three past point releases for the Linux distribution that originally shipped in 2012 and will be maintained through 2017.
Mobile
-
Ubuntu Touch devices might be some time away yet, but its parent company Canonical is gradually building carrier support with Vodafone becoming its latest addition supporter.
-
Vodafone Group became the latest member of the Ubuntu Carrier Advisor Group, although there has been no further detail on when smartphones powered by the platform will reach the market.
According to a statement from Ubuntu: “Vodafone Group will join national and multi-national carriers in decisions that influence the development of Ubuntu for smartphones.
-
Canonical's carrier advisory group allows operators to have a say in Ubuntu's development on mobile.
-
Mark Shuttleworth’s Canonical has confirmed that they will be at the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) event in Barcelona at the end of next month to show off the Ubuntu OS in all its glory. Last year Canonical used MWC as a springboard to launch Ubuntu for tablets and smartphones so they’re no stranger to announcing big things at the event.
Tips
-
With Windows XP - arguably the longest-lasting Microsoft operating system in widespread use - running out of support in April 2014 it is definitely time for business and home users alike to consider what they will transition to.
Windows XP was well-received when it launched, despite some initial concerns over its changed graphical style from predecessors Windows 95, 98 and 2000. XP enjoyed a stay of execution with Windows Vista turning many users off upgrading, and being an operating system Microsoft perhaps would prefer forgotten - along with Windows ME.
File Manager
-
For the past year, Ubuntu and Canonical’s founder, Mark Shuttleworth has been talking about full convergence i.e., the same OS and its applications can be run on desktops, servers and mobile devices. Canonical plans to start the converge from its Ubuntu 14.10 release cycle. However, no activity has been seen on the development front, until now.
-
Ubuntu is planning to develop its own file manager which will be introduced with their QT5 powered Unity8 desktop environment from Ubuntu 14.10 onwards. Ubuntu is currently using Nautilus File manager (also known as 'Files'), developed by GNOME developers.Ubuntu users & developers are growing increasingly unhappy with the direction at which Nautilus file manager is leading. There are many necessary features which are missing in latest Nautilus, forcing users to replace Nautilus with their favourite file manager like feature-rich nautilus fork, Nemo or the popular Thunar - which is inarguably one of the best file managers.
-
"With the planned switch to unity8 in 14.10 it is most likely that we will also start using the converged QML apps that are developed today. With all the complaints and unhappiness about Nautilus upstream ripping out things like dual pane and other beloved and helpful features I expect we can do better,” said Ubuntu developer, Oliver Grawert.
-
The latest piece of the desktop Linux stack that Ubuntu developers are planning to replace with their own home grown solution is a file manager.
CLA
-
Contributor License Agreements ("CLAs") are a mechanism for an upstream software developer to insist that contributors grant the upstream developer some additional set of rights. These range in extent - some CLAs require that the contributor reassign their copyright over the contribution to the upstream developer, some merely provide the upstream developer with a grant of rights that aren't explicit in the software license (such as an explicit patent grant for a contribution licensed under a BSD-style license).
Decoupling
-
Canonical's Ubuntu Linux already does many things differently from other leading open source operating systems. And it may soon diverge in yet another respect, with Ubuntu developers in the midst of discussions over replacing Nautilus—the file browser that has long been a core part of many Linux distributions—with something home-grown.
-
We are growing a world-class community and app developer eco-system, fuelled by Open Source and open collaboration. We are putting the core pieces in place and I am delighted to be working with such a wonderful team:
Recent Techrights' Posts
- "Alternative to Microsoft Office" Must Use Free/Open Standards/Formats for Real Sovereignty
- It would make sense for the EU to invest in its own workers and its own software projects, more so now that there are hostile countries both to the east and to the west
- When Everybody Has a Right/Access to An Attorney/Lawyer (But Some Get Funding From Malicious American Corporations to Spend a Million Dollars on Many Lawyers and Several Barristers)
- And send about 75 KG of legal papers to the residence of the "opponent"
- European Qualifying Examination (EQE) Being Reduced to Pieces of Papers One Can Buy, Patent System Rapidly Losing Its Legitimacy
- Welcome to the "new Europe"
-
- Atlassian Corp: We're Doing Layoffs Because of "Hey Hi"; Wall Street: Atlassian Corp is Just a Failing Business
- Don't ask "the media"
- Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 11 Out of 200: Cannot Censor His Spouse, Accusations Are Repeated Today
- He already has a history of threatening to sue gay people in America; he cannot take criticism too well
- Price of Storage, Price of Energy... What Next?
- EPO workers are going on strike because their salaries don't keep up with price increases and tech companies without connections in "the channel" face long delays, low availability, and high prices (no "bulk" purchases), which further solidifies monopolies.
- Don't Forget Red Hat's RTO (Return-to-office) Layoffs
- How many people still remember that Red Hat did the same thing?
- Reminder: Microsoft silent Layoffs by RTO (Commute Time and Lack of Comfort/Work Satisfaction) Already in Effect This Year
- It's difficult to measure how many employees have already "left on their own" due to the RTO policy
- Founder of IBM Ventures Has Just Quit IBM
- Some people leave IBM and many people 'leave' IBM
- Signs of Impeding Mass Layoffs - Not Just Quiet Layoffs - at Microsoft
- Beneath the surface there are waves of layoffs and even entire teams are let go
- Career Science and Academia as Corporate Propaganda 'on Tap'
- article about surveillance
- Veteran GNU/Linux Journalist Jack Wallen Tries Geminispace and Likes It
- It'll turn 7 some time soon
- Scheduled Maintenance Tonight
- There will be similar work early next week
- IBM Has No Clue How to Integrate Companies Like Red Hat
- IBM is failing to respect this company's culture
- Fake Articles From Sites With "Linux" in Their Name/Domain Name
- we can at least hope that linuxteck.com made a decision to quit slop
- Links 13/03/2026: New US Weapons for Taiwan, Pakistan Air Strikes Hit Kabul
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 13/03/2026: Exhaustion and Smartphone Addiction
- Links for the day
- Friday the 13th & Debian Developers afraid to nominate in DPL elections
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Links 13/03/2026: Chatbot "Pentagon Contract" (Bailout) and Secret Service Ditches Slop Pusher
- Links for the day
- Priorities in 2026
- 2026 is an interesting year
- Willis Towers Watson (WTW) Producing More Propaganda for EPO "Cocaine Communication Managers"
- The Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH) has this new paper about Willis Towers Watson (WTW) and its annual EPO-sponsored propaganda, pretending all is well when things are clearly dire
- Head of Microsoft Office and Microsoft 360 is Leaving Microsoft Amid Problems and Mass Layoffs
- Microsoft is like a "legacy" company
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 12, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, March 12, 2026
- Gemini Links 13/03/2026: "Someone to Take Over Antenna" and Random Seed/RNG
- Links for the day
- By Expanding to Advocacy of Ponzi Schemes and Bill Epsteingate (Sex Trafficking), Linux Foundation Revenue Grew to $220,730,594, But Salary of Linus Torvalds Not Even in Top 10 Anymore!
- true!
- In the Name of Transparency, Today We Show Our Defence and Counterclaim
- already uploaded by the other side
- IBM Cannot Even Do Payroll, Now a "Legitimate Target" of Iran
- Missiles or not, it seems like IBM systems will be targeted more by cybercriminals
- Links 12/03/2026: Heating Bills to Soar, "Banks in Gulf Evacuate Their Offices"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 12/03/2026: On Phone Anxiety and Bjorn "Looking for Someone to Take Over Antenna"
- Links for the day
- Cultification: best candidates avoiding Debian leader elections
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Richard Stallman (RMS) et al Cited in 'Nature' (Journal/Site) Today, "CODE beyond FAIR"
- Under Open Access
- The Register MS, on Verge of Collapse, Keeps Promoting a Ponzi Scheme for China
- Publishers that participate in this simply don't care about their readers
- Overview of False Narratives and Lies Used to Lower Salaries at the European Patent Office (EPO), Abandoning Patent Quality and the EPC
- Many of the latter slides are the same as Munich's
- Links 12/03/2026: Atlassian Layoffs, GAFAN Covering up Slop-Induced Outages, "Age-verification in Operating Systems and the Internet"
- Links for the day
- The EPO's President, Who Covers Up Cocaine Use, is Trying to Suppress Communication Between EPO Staff Under the Guise of 'Privacy' (and in Defiance of a Court Ruling)
- Why does Europe's second-largest institution: 1) curtail communication among staff (including union) and 2) go out of its way to avoid obeying a court order from ILOAT in Geneva?
- Exactly One Week Before Next EPO Strike, Media Intentionally Not Mentioning EPO Strikes
- One form of propaganda technique/s involves the systematic suppression of certain topics, or of particular "narratives"
- Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 10 Out of 200: Showing Public Tweets is Not a Privacy Violation, But This Isn't About Justice, It's About Censorship
- It's time to put a stop to this abuse of process (which is what the Judge deemed it to be last year)
- Suicide of disgruntled employee? Bus fire at Kerzers / Chiètres, Switzerland, at least six dead
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 11, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, March 11, 2026
- Gemini Links 12/03/2026: "on Urbit" and the True Cost (or Criticism) of "Social Control Media"
- Links for the day
- Slop About "linux" in Google News
- Once people recognise that those sites are fake it's hard to 'unsee' what they are
- An American War on GNU/Linux, Software Freedom, and British Investigative, Science-Based Reporting - Part V - Attempts to Take Down and Suppress Criticism of Back Doors Controlled by Microsoft and the American Government
- The cost of maintaining illusions
- IBM's Payroll: Cannot Even Pay the People What They're Legally Entitled to
- How financially-stressed is IBM at this point?
- Slides From the European Patent Office (EPO) Explain Why They're Striking, How They're Striking, and What Comes Next
- A week from now the strike will go ahead
- GAFAM Datacentres Are Facilities of War, So Risk of Downtime by Missiles or State-Sponsored Cracking Has Vastly Increased
- How safe is your business in "clown computing" or DCs marked as some "legitimate targets" at wartime?
- Companies That Take Away Blood and Sweat From the Community to Sell a Ponzi Scheme to Everybody
- We need Free software that is run by communities
- 1,234 People Gather Online to Plan Next EPO Strikes and Other Industrial Actions
- yesterday an online gathering orchestrated the next moves by EPO staff
- Links 11/03/2026: Fake Videos Swarm YouTube, "Ukraine Can Now Manufacture ‘China-Free’ Drones"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 11/03/2026: Lagrange for iOS and Android and "Turning a Folder of Git Repos Into Project Launcher"
- Links for the day
- Kafkaesque: Unlawful Activities in the UK to Cover Up Unlawful Activities in the United States of America
- Why is bribery and even extortion seen is OK? Because rich people do those things?
- Former IBM Executive, Ron Hovsepian, Doomed S.u.S.E. (SUSE)
- SUSE is like a child nobody wants to raise
- Quiet Layoffs or Silent Layoffs Alleged at Microsoft
- Will some investigative journalists do their job now and ask Microsoft tough questions?
- After a Long Lull LinuxTeck (linuxteck.com) Came Back Only as a Slopfarm
- Unlike Linuxiac, LinuxTeck wasn't very active in recent years
- Links 11/03/2026: EPO and USPTO Software Patents Thrown Out Again, Copyright Concerns Over Slop (Plagiarism Using Buzzwords)
- Links for the day
- Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 9 Out of 200: 5RB Barrister Does Not Even Know the Name of His Own Client (That He Was Paid Well Over $200,000 to 'Speak' or 'Cover' for)
- If you assault women in the United States, there's a barrister available for you in the UK
- IBM's Fedora is Now Led by GAFAM Slop
- The official word of Fedora is partly slop
- IBM 'Dinobabies' Speak Out
- "They want newbies out of school at a much cheaper rate"
- Links 11/03/2026: "Drill, Baby, Drill" and Social Control Media Recognised as Threat to Democracy
- Links for the day
- 5 Years Since Freenode Conflict
- IRC isn't going away
- A Week Ahead of Next EPO Strike the Staff Representatives Show the Administrative Council That the Office Lost the Best Staff, It's No Longer Attractive
- the message circulated regarding the open letter to the Administrative Council
- Jeff Bezos as an Individual Said to Have Enough Capital to Buy IBM
- Assuming a market capitalisation of 234.70 billion
- Starting Soon: Another New Series About Richard Stallman
- There are some inside stories we can tell
- Gemini Links 11/03/2026: School, Code Slop, and "Fancy Weapons"
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 10, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, March 10, 2026