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
- With Workers Back From a Holiday Weekend, Microsoft Layoffs Carry on, More Waves to Come
- Now it's Monday and people are bad to work, even some journalists
- You Need Not Wave a Rainbow Flag This Month to Basically Oppose Arseholes Looking to Disrupt and Divide the Community
- Don't fall for it
- What Miguel de Icaza and Microsoft Lunduke Have in Common
- Similar aims, different methods
- The 'Corporate Neckbeard' is Not the "Good Guy"
- Works for IBM
- Microsoft's Nat Friedman Became Unemployed the Same Time the SLAPPs Against Techrights Started Coming From His Friends (Weeks After We Had Exposed Scandals About Him and the Serial Strangler, His Best Friend, Who Got Arrested a Few Days Later)
- Nat Friedman is not "Investor, entrepreneur"
- Weeding Out Extremism in Our Community
- To me it seems like Microsoft Lunduke is rapidly becoming like a "hate preacher" who operates online, breeding an extremist ideology or trying to soften its image
- Censorship Versus Fact-Checking and Quality Control
- It's not censorship but a matter of quality control
- Gemini Links 07/07/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and TUI Rant
- Links for the day
-
- Layoffs and Shutdowns at IBM, Not Just Microsoft
- Same as Microsoft
- The FSF's (Free Software Foundation, Inc.) 2025 Summer Fundraiser Already Past Halfway Line
- This is where GNU/Linux actually started
- Mozilla Had No Good Reason to Outsource Firefox Development to Microsoft
- What does Mozilla plan to do when GitHub shuts down?
- Mozilla Firefox Did Not Die, It Got Killed
- To me it'll always look like Mozilla got killed by its sponsors, especially Google, which had a conflict of interest as a sponsor
- Dalai Lama Succession as Evidence That Determined, Motivated People Can Reach Their Nineties
- And we need to quit talking about their death all the time
- Dan Neidle, Whom Brett Wilson LLP SLAPPed (on Behalf of Corrupt Rich Tax Evaders), Still Fighting the Good Fight
- Neidle fights for the poor people
- Wayland Should Start by Dumping Its Very Ugly Logo
- Wayland wins the "ugliest logo" award every year
- Stop Focusing on Hair Colours, Focus on Corporate Agenda
- If someone commits a crime, it does not matter if his or her hair was mostly white or there was no hair or a wig or whatever
- Links 07/07/2025: Science, Conflicts, and a Fictional K-pop Group
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 07/07/2025: Being a Luddite and Announcement of Gotify
- Links for the day
- Links 07/07/2025: XBox Effectively 'Dead', DMCA Subpoena Versus Registrar
- Links for the day
- The Nasty Smear (and Stereotype) of "Neckbeard" or "Greybeard" is Ageism
- This is the sort of stuff they might try to volley at critics of Wayland
- Why Many of Us Use X Server and Will Continue to Use It For Many Years to Come
- Don't make this about politics
- Brett Wilson LLP Uses Threats to Demand Changes to Pages or Removal of Pages Without Even Revealing Which Staff Member Does That (Sometimes People From Another Firm!)
- This has been in the public for years
- Dan Neidle Said "It Really Then Became a Job of Tormenting" Lawyers Like Brett Wilson LLP (Who Threatened Him for Exposing Crimes, Just Like They Threatened My Wife a Few Months Later)
- he and his wife decided to take on the evil people and their evil lawyers
- Large Language Models (LLMs) Externalise Their Cost to the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
- "The forty-sixth Free Software Bulletin is now available online!"
- Reinforcing the Allegations Some More, Bryan Lunduke Digs His Own Grave
- In his latest episodes he merely repeats his own lies, which I debunked using evidence right from his own mouth
- Global Warming and Free Software as a Force of Mitigation
- we'll need to think about Software Freedom, not just brands like "Linux"
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 06, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, July 06, 2025
- [Video] "Copyleft Isn't a Bug."
- "Copyleft isn’t a bug. It’s a feature. GNU GPL forced the world to treat code like a public good."
- Being in Social Control Media Means Exposing Oneself to Heckling
- Richard Stallman does not (either himself or directly) post to any social control media
- Links 06/07/2025: Airlines Perils, Scams, and Breaches
- Links for the day
- Two Risks to Companies: The Microsoft Culture and the Microsoft Tools
- Novell was killed by a form of "social engineering" by Microsoft
- It's Hard to Trust People Who Worked - Not Only Those Who Still Work - at Microsoft
- Bryan Lunduke is just what people would call an "arsehole of a person"
- For the Second Time, Bryan Lunduke From Microsoft is Siccing Racist Trolls and Vandals at Me
- You're only reinforcing the point we made yesterday
- Links 06/07/2025: End to End Encryption at Risk, Reuters Twitter ("X") Account Withheld in India
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 06/07/2025: Tinylog and Certification Rotation
- Links for the day
- Links 06/07/2025: Climate Change and "The Right to Criticise"
- Links for the day
- PCLinuxOS Sites Coming Back, Gradually
- let's just be patient
- Social Control Media, Even If Based on Free Software, Still Has Many Problems
- a distraction from what actually mattered and still matters
- IBM is Not Your Master
- IBM makes friends with people who exclude the majority of the population: women
- Help Fund the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
- If you have some dollars to spare, go support the FSF
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 05, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, July 05, 2025
- A Short History of Attacks on Techrights (and Boycott Novell Before That)
- good opportunity to tell again the story of several (not all) attempts to silence us
- The Mainstream Media Took 4 Days to Realise Microsoft Shut Down Its Operations in Pakistan and Fired Everybody
- We estimate that Microsoft has had about 29,000 layoffs since January
- Leadership in Free Software
- Don't let IBM lead. It's a terrible flag bearer.
- “Twibel” Actions Against Comedians (and Why It's a Truly Low Blow)
- they try to make up in quantities for a lack of merit or quality
- Linux Foundation Apparently Flirting With Slop (Marketing by LLM-Generated SPAM)
- The Web is in a really bad state!
- COVID-19 Sped Up Site Improvements in Techrights
- A few months later we created our very own IRC network
- Gemini Links 05/07/2025: Negative Questions and 'Touching Grass' (Going Outside)
- Links for the day
- Links 05/07/2025: Dalai Lama Succession as 90th Birthday Approaches, 40 deg C in China
- Links for the day
- Links 05/07/2025: Hungary and US Defecting to Russia, "Google's Hotseat Hypocrisy"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 05/07/2025: 4th of July 2025 and "Zig Roadmap 2026"
- Links for the day
- How to Combat the Exploitation and Abuse by Microsoft GitHub
- Not to mention corruption and crimes against women
- Bryan Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People
- "[Lunduke] is actually sending his audience to attack people."
- Even The Right Wing is Rejecting Bryan Lunduke
- no wonder he became so irrelevant and marginal
- Microsoft's MSN Helps Microsoft Spread Lies About the Layoffs' Scale (Well Over 25,000 People Laid Off This Year)
- There seem to be monopolies on lies and on truth
- The Death of X Has Been Greatly Exaggerated (by Compromised Media)
- X.Org Server is alive and well
- Rewriting Things in Rust
- How far would you go?
- In 2025 Everything is "AI". Remember Blockchains?
- Talk about what companies and things (services, products, software) actually do, not the labels they use
- Julian Assange Has Been Free for a Year
- Julian Assange and I disagreed on some things
- Monopolies and Scalping
- Monopolies gravitate towards price hikes
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 04, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, July 04, 2025
- Microsoft's August Layoffs Wave: "August is Confirmed for Additional Performance Based Cuts"
- "August is confirmed for additional performance based cuts from the recent connects along with additional organizational cuts."
- What Microsoft Reputation Laundering (With a Weaponised Law Degree) Looks Like in a Foreign Continent
- You would expect this in uncivilised and primitive countries
- Slopwatch: LLMs 'Write' Fake or Distorted 'News' About "Linux"
- LLM slop disguised as news
