UniverseContributorApplication

Differences between revisions 2 and 3
Revision 2 as of 2010-04-14 19:42:01
Size: 6858
Editor: 5ac88432
Comment:
Revision 3 as of 2010-04-21 10:24:13
Size: 7757
Editor: f055094164
Comment:
Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
Line 78: Line 78:
== Alexander Sack (asac) ==

Jamie is part of the mobile team and as such got to know him as someone caring deeply
about the ubuntu technical universe. In the last 6 month, he worked on bringing a netbook-launcher-efl to ubuntu, which ended up being the default netbook launcher for devices without 3d accelleration. Also he contributed a bunch of FTBFS fixes as well as the innovative desktop weboffice solution we ship by default on the armel netbook images now.
Also noteworthy is that he did some great debugging on our liveCD boot performance. In this project he ended up fixing how debconf-communicate works and the result is surely remarkable.

Based on that and on the personal experience I have with working with him, I am fully supportive with Jamie's application to become a universe contributor and I am sure this will just be a first intermediate step in becoming a full MOTU.

Jamie Bennett at OSiM, Berlin, 2008

I, Jamie Bennett, apply for universe-contributor status

Who I am

I'm Jamie Bennett, a software developer from Bath, Somerset, in the UK. I've been using Linux since installing Slackware in 1995 and I've been an Ubuntu Fan/Promoter/Contributor since the Warty days. I also work for Canonical on the Ubuntu Mobile Team.

In addition to working for Canonical I have a contract and consultancy company that has for many years worked on open source projects, both paid and free of charge. A lot of this work has focused on distribution infrastructure. Notable work has been with the Linux From Scratch Project (Lead Developer of Automated Tools), Nokia's Maemo Platform, and several little tools such as rsstorrent. More details of which can be found at http://www.linuxuk.org.

My Ubuntu story

I first came across Ubuntu back in 2004 when I installed Warty. Coming from a Slackware and Linux from Scratch background, I thought I would try a distribution that would make my life easier. I was instantly hooked. Since then I have used every version of Ubuntu, usually installing it during the development cycle and have advocated it use to as many people as I could. In previous years this was to the more technical people I knew and met but with the latest releases and their ease of use, I have now converted family members over to using Ubuntu.

My involvement

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

For Ubuntu I have concentrated mostly on enabling embedded ARM hardware. I was responsible for decreasing live-cd boot times by 35% across all hardware, not just ARM (Casper improvements), integrating the current ARM netbook UI (netbook-launcher-efl), and more recently working on the web office integration (webservice-office-zoho) amongst other things. Bug work, packages that fail to build and user testing are other area's I concentrate on.

Areas of work

Things I could do better

  • My day-to-day work means that I work mostly on architecture specific projects, in my case, ARM projects. I try to contribute to the wider exosphere, with projects like webservice-office-zoho but I could do better. I plan to work more on projects that effect the distribution as a whole.

Plans for the future

General

What I like least in Ubuntu

In the embedded and mobile space, including netbooks, phones and other systems, Linux is well represented but Ubuntu isn't. With Android, Moblin (now MeeGo) and other specialist distributions being chosen at the moment, I would like to see this change. I plan on helping Ubuntu become the default choice for ARM and mobile based devices by improving the performance, usability, robustness and quality of our images. Bug fixing, user testing and contributing to projects that effect the UX are all on my radar for the coming cycle.


Comments

If you'd like to comment, but are not the applicant or a sponsor, do it here. Don't forget to sign with @SIG@.

Anmar Oueja (anmar)

As the project manager for the Ubuntu Mobile Team, I worked with Jamie for several months. He has a great work ethic and very adapatable approach to problems.

Christian Reis (kiko)

Jamie's handled all the pretty random requests I have sent his way since starting to work with him on Ubuntu and ARM; he's sincere, reliable and has a sufficiently broad view of the underpinnings of the Ubuntu operating system to make well-considered technical decisions when he needs to.


Endorsements

As a sponsor, just copy the template below, fill it out and add it to this section.

Michael Casadevall (NCommander)

General feedback

I've worked with Jamie on the Ubuntu Mobile team for several months. He's a hard working, and a quick learner, picking up new topics easily. I recommend him for Ubuntu Universe Contributor status.

DaveWalker (Daviey)

General feedback

Jamie expressed interest in helping with the Mythbuntu/Ubuntu-MythTV project, which is outside his normal work area. Using Jamie's extensive ARM background, he was able to quickly investigate a FTBFS, find the issue and provide a clean debdiff working with the package patching system and a good descriptive changelog. If it wasn't for Jamie, this FTBFS would probably not have been fixed for this release.

Alexander Sack (asac)

Jamie is part of the mobile team and as such got to know him as someone caring deeply about the ubuntu technical universe. In the last 6 month, he worked on bringing a netbook-launcher-efl to ubuntu, which ended up being the default netbook launcher for devices without 3d accelleration. Also he contributed a bunch of FTBFS fixes as well as the innovative desktop weboffice solution we ship by default on the armel netbook images now. Also noteworthy is that he did some great debugging on our liveCD boot performance. In this project he ended up fixing how debconf-communicate works and the result is surely remarkable.

Based on that and on the personal experience I have with working with him, I am fully supportive with Jamie's application to become a universe contributor and I am sure this will just be a first intermediate step in becoming a full MOTU.


TEMPLATE

== <SPONSORS NAME> ==
=== General feedback ===
## Please fill us in on your shared experience. (How many packages did you sponsor? How would you judge the quality? How would you describe the improvements? Do you trust the applicant?)

=== Specific Experiences of working together ===
''Please add good examples of your work together, but also cases that could have handled better.''
=== Areas of Improvement ===


CategoryUniverseContributorApplication

JamieBennett/UniverseContributorApplication (last edited 2010-04-27 17:22:43 by 5ad01be0)