Ubuntu Open Week - Community Q+A - Jono Bacon - Wed, Apr 25, 2007

TZ UTC-4

(11:00:44 AM) jono: righteo folks, lets get this going \m/
(11:01:19 AM) jono: the aim of this session is to simply provide an hour of Q+A - you are welcome to ask my what you like - and I will try to help
(11:01:38 AM) jono: naturally I cannot answer all things, so I may refer to others
(11:01:44 AM) jono: the way it works is simple:
(11:02:03 AM) jono: join #ubuntu-classroom-chat and post your question in there including my nick and the word QUESTION
(11:02:16 AM) jono: the questions will then be posted in here by elkbuntu and I will answer them
(11:02:36 AM) jono: I want to start things off with a question from Hobbsee

<Hobbsee> QUESTION: Are you going to spend all of UDS evenings drinking, instead of sleeping at all, like LCA?

• yes, yes I will

<hobbsee> QUESTION: how many beers are you owed, on estimate, for UDS? And how many do you owe?

• I have no idea, I would like to think I am owed enough beer for the entire UDS, but I also know I no doubt owe others beer which might cance some of it out

<Hobbsee> QUESTION: how old do you have to be to be a member

• anyone can be a member of the Ubuntu project we encourage everyone to get involves, whatever the age

<Belutz> QUESTION: is the loco leader must be an ubuntu member? or can he/she can just an ubuntero?

• the loco leader does not need to be an ubuntu member no, the main thing a loco leader needs to be is determined and keen to grow a team

<gumpa> QUESTION where is the best place to learn about making a custom livecd?

• good question, I am not entirely sure - I have never rolled a livecd before - but I would suggest you should ask in #ubuntu-devel to see who has worked on it. it seems rolling live cds is a pretty straightforward process. a number of derivatives have appeared due to this process being pretty simple. cred to knoppix too for making it pretty simple

  <Hobbsee> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCDCustomization

<PriceChild> QUESTION: Do you have any ideas on what can be done to further help the integration of the forums with the main ubuntu community?

• loads of ideas, and I would be really keen to discuss them at the UDS. I think integration of the forums involves a few things:
  • technical - ensuring the forums works with LP sign-on, getting forums info out to other source, feeding the forums with data from locos, list integration etc
  • social - ensuring people use the forums - this involves recommending people to go there, encouraging community growth there and more
  the technical side can be discussed better with the distro and dev team, whereas I am keen to help the forums grow and continue to be integral in the community. its getting better that for sure, and the forums council are doing a stunning job

<mART> jono: QUESTION: Do you think the extensive use of launchpad will create a parallel universe for some activities especially in the Gnome community, E.g. translations in launchpad. How do you think the development process could be improved to avoid parallel efforts?

• LP is a complex subject, and I am not the best person to speak on it - there is a seperate team for that - I just work with the Ubuntu community, but as ever, I have thoughts and opinions :P :. the idea behind LP is to be centralised and to work with other bug trackers and systems - its real strength is when projects use LP and they can communicate together, but naturally other upstream projects have their own systems in place, and I know the LP team are keen to get feedback about how to work with these projects. I think technically LP is pretty damn good, and it will live or die based on its ability to hook these projects together, which is the mission of LP

<Belutz> QUESTION: do you have any suggestion of what to be put in presetations for Introducing Ubuntu and Feisty Fawn demo?

• aha! now you are talking. I love presenting. a few things to remember:

  • target the talk at the audience - make sure it matches their expectations - geeks want technicality - regular people want less technical discussion
  • make it interesting - by dynamic, exciting and different
  • don't fill your slides with text, it looks rubbish
  • use real-world details and examples of where Ubuntu is kicking arse - look at the loco teams, how the community is growing and more
  I do some of this in my talks, check out herding cats to see some of these theories in practise

<harrisony> QUESTION: How do you react to the people that boycott launchpad and ubuntu due to the licencing of LP?

• it doesnt surprise me at all that people bitch about LP's closed source nature, it rubs up against people in the free software people. I think boycotting Ubuntu is crazy for these reasons. Ubuntu is Ubuntu, not LP

<pixelpapst> QUESTION: since you mentioned pushing ppl. to use forums, should I point people to forums or answers.lp nowadays to look for help ?

• good question, and personally I would recommend both - the forums has one thing answers.lp.net doesnt - a huge community, but answers.lp.net is a great format for support - so both have their merits. I am also keen to see how we can bridge the two, but thats just some personal thoughts for the future

<harrisony> QUESTION: how would you rate microsofts open source/linux efforts

• Microsoft are tough company to comment on, because they are SO FREAKING HUGE. like any large company, there are good guys/girls and bad guys/girls. I know a bunch of people at MS who are incredibly good, have their heads screwed on, and know what to do - they live a different culture, but they are good people who believe in choice. then, on the flip side, I know some idiots, and people who believe that MS is the only way to go. I think as a company, they still don't get it - they still don't understand that what drives Linux and free software is community, not code and they still don't get that interoperability does not mean "people who Microsoft want to partner with" - it means allowing *anyone* to work with your technology. they have some great people, but I think some people further up the tree just don't get it and block the good people doing good things

<richb> QUESTION: Do you think the trend of of supplying flavours of Linux based on desktop environments or role will spread further (Currently Ubuntu and FC7)?

• possibly, but I think the trend of provding distros on "something unique" will continue - look at Ubuntu Studio, or Trixbox, or Gentoo, or Linux From Scratch - this what makes free software incredible, but there will always be popular general purpose distros like Ubuntu and Fedora

<PriceChild> QUESTION: The Launchpad devs have seemed very reluctant to help integrate the forums wth launchpad. Supposedly due to the very good reason that Launchpad != Ubuntu. The forums have integrated a few features like links to accounts and related bugs to posts. Do you still think that this integration can be two way?

• I know this sounds evasive, but I am not the best person to answer this because (a) I am not on the LP team and (b) I don't know :P - I recommend you speak to the LP team, via mrevell

<Belutz> QUESTION: when are you going to make a loco tour in south east asia to talk about loco? you can also make a metal concert while making a tour :D

• I would love to do a LoCo tour, and I am working to get out to different chunks of the world - I would love to get to south east asia - if something is happening, mail me and I will try to get over. I am always keen to get out and visit loco teams so mail me with details of your loco teams and always keen to and drink beer and watch metal too

<ukubuntu> QUESTION, how does a person who loves UBUNTU and the community, but cannot code, earn a living?

• loads of ways you can help with your loco team, advocacy, documentation, help people in the forums and on IRC - I recommend you ask some people today about how to help and they can help you get started

<luis_lopez> Question: What's the average time you have to be involved doing community work or development before applying to be a ubuntu member?

• there is no average time really, its about how much you achieve - I always recommend people to have engaged in two or three projects, and done some real things that they can show off - this could be organising events, packaging things, translating apps or whatever - the CC looks for sustained contributions when deciding to make people members - so demonstrating you have done a bunch of things is always the best route to take

<Belutz> QUESTION: how does ubuntu/canonical acknowledged loco contributions?

• I don't quite understand the question. people are acknowledged like anyone else in the community

<deniz_ogut> jono QUESTION: What can you say about the Full Circle magazine, Ubuntu community magazine released issue #0. Perspectives for the future?

• do you work on it?

  <deniz_ogut> jono: just joined in some way

  I had a look at it and I think its interesting - I have been looking to get in touch with the authors about a few things - so if they can get in touch with me that would be great. I think an ubuntu magazine is a pretty nifty idea, although a lot of these kinds of magazines due due to production time. I hope this continues

<tonytiger> jono: QUESTION. As Community Manager, you visit various communities at events around the world. What does a Community Manager do on a day-by-day basis, sat at home, though?

• all kinds of stuff:
  • answer day to day queries about a vast range of things - I get *stacks* of email, and I need to respond to these emails that ask specific things
  • develop strategy for teams - help to grow, improve and better run teams - so I recommend teams do specific things
  • resolve conflict - I often act as a middleman when things blow up - I help to calm the situation and restore some peace
  • develop new plans and ideas - I develop new ideas (such as Ubuntu Open Week) to help develop and expand the community
  • work with Canonical - I also work with Canonical to ensure the connection with the community is always open and community is a key part of our business

  oh, and eat sandwiches and donuts

<superm1> QUESTION: what do you think its going to take for more linux friendly vendors to begin shipping ubuntu/debian friendly packages? It seems the popular trend is still rpms.

• I think it needs a few things:

  • solid community infrastructure and documentation - we need a big and solid community who can help companies package their software - MOTU is critical here - if *anyone* wants to get into packaging JOIN MOTU!!

  • good ISV relations at Canonical - for business relationships we need a solid ISV department and a good partner programme - this is being run by Malcolm Yates who is a hero among men

  I really encourage the community to make packages as easy as possible - we should have online resources that could make any knuckle dragging idiot able to package something

<mc44> QUESTION: Community support seems to be a rather disparate effort with forums, various irc channels, launchpad, mailing lists, locos, wiki help, official documentation etc. How do you think support can be improved in the future? (/me apparantly missed this one)

• I think we need to figure ways in which to tie these things together where they make sense, but to also respect different mediums for what they are - some people love lists and hate forums, some love forums and hate lists and just about everyone loves IRC. we need to make sure we can share information but respect the different types of medium thats a *tough* challenge and one that I often think about, but there is no clear solution. I think the interim is that we make *all* our communities strong and have good relations between them

<mART> jono: QUESTION: What do you think of the idea of creating some kind of ubuntu club that you can join when installing ubuntu. I could imagine this to be something like Apples iDisk Service used to be in the pre-.Mac era or like the Nintendo club. The difference would be that it only would be used to improve community interaction without commercial interest.

• I think the Ubuntu club people join is the Ubuntu cOmmunity. I think we need to make sure we can make it a sexy thing for people - interesting, exciting and motivating - and make it easy to join

<pwnedd> jono: QUESTION: Is there any good place where people can request / fill requests for features or articles related to Ubuntu? (I'm thinking along the lines of Wikipedia's requested articles)..

• right now, I don't think so - but I recommend you speak to the docs team - it would be really useful to have a list of what needs doing external to the Ubuntu community, such as with wikipedia - I would love to see wikipedia filled out with more content about ubuntu

<ukubuntu> QUESTION, How small can a loco team be? Do you need technically able people in it to be an official loco.?

• A loco team can be tiny, and you don;t need to be technical - the key thing a loco needs is people who are keen to grow a team - it needs people who are willing and excited at encourage new people and encourage a team to develop, but always check to see if a loco exists in your area first. its essential that we have one loco per region and do not fragment

<Belutz> QUESTION: I mean, what if a loco team become inactive? and is there a reward for active loco, such as more stickers and cds for that loco team?

• the plan is that approved locos get more "stuff" available to them such as with the feisty cds. in the future we will send approved locos event boxes to help run events and we make other resources available to approved locos. if the team becomes inactive, it is key that the team is acknowledged as not being active - there is currently no process in place for this, and there needs to be

<harrisony> QUESTION:do you want another email (from me) to deal with :D

• another mail? where was the first one - or were you the person trying to sell me Viagra? :P ahh, because I get heaps

  <elkbuntu> he's offering to add to your workload yeah, bring on the mail. although: if people can answer questions before coming to me, its a huge help, otherwise I get a bit overloaded. so, for loco questions - ask loco-contacts first as an example

<reiki_work> QUESTION: I have been an Ubuntu user since August of 2005. Wehn do you think linux ingeneral will finally "seize the day" and get organized enough to seriously threaten Microsoft's hold on the world's wallets?

• where we are different in the free software world is that we are iterative - lots of small steps. there will be no big day when we officially kick their ass. we are making lots of tiny steps and making progress, and its the best method - slow moving predators are always the hardest to deal with and Microsoft has struggled in this regard - traditionally they never saw us as a risk, and our slow moving,consistant progress snuck up on them

<Hobbsee> jono: QUESTION: when will you write all the MOTU documentation for us, kthnksbye!

• haha, unlikely, I have my own rather bountiful workload to tend to

<sampbar> QUESTION: is there any staff members which could do Question and Answer sessions with school IT staff?

• for education, there is a chap called Richard Weiderman at Canonical who is a good person to speak to and for Edubuntu, ogra is the man

<jsgotangco> QUESTION: When is the next jono album be out in the P2P servers

• heh, I am currently working on some prep bits and pieces for a new album, not to be recorded in 24 hours mind you. I hope to have something released later this year

<mc44> QUESTION: If you were asking a question of yourself, what do you think the most important question ywould be? And what is the answer?

• wow, awesome question!
• **jono thinks I think I would ask "Where do you draw the line between being a Canonical employee and being a community member?" and the answer: my philosophy is that the community needs to trust me, and I will never risk that trust - so that requires that I am always open, honest and frank in my responses - with me you get me, not a corporate droid and part of this responsibility is tell Canonical when they are smoking crack as well as telling the community when it is smoking said crack. trust is essential to me, utterly essential - I am here for the community first and foremost

<tonytiger> QUESTION. Linux communities have a tendency for the over-keen but well-meaning members to dominate, perhaps not in the best way. How do loco teams and other small advocacy groups stop this from happening, and ensure Ubuntu is presented in a fair light.

• this is always tough, and its important that teams encourage a certain workflow - and this should be to be enthusiastic and balanced. there are lots of examples where people get a bit keen and make an ass of themselves, but with some gentle nudges and guidance the vast majority of people get the hang of it. we all need to remember that being a good community dude or dudette does not come naturally to everyone. there are lots of examples where people get a bit keen and make an ass of themselves, but with some gentle nudges and guidance the vast majority of people get the hang of it

<Belutz> QUESTION: with very large workload, how do youa manage your time to hang out, go to movies or find a soulmate?

• its tough, and I enforce my work hours and relaxation hours - I do lots of other stuff with the band, recording, hanging out with friends and such. I recently split with my girlfriend, so thats given me lots of time too but it is a tough balance, particularly for such a public facing job. sometimes, I just need to unplug, but the problem is that community issues can escalate when I unplug, and for conflict that can be a bad thing

<ukubuntu> Question There is a Ubuntu-UK loco, where could I find a more localised group that is not just a lug? are there lists? Are there such town locos in the UK?

• the recommendation process is to organise local meetings as part of that loco - speak to LoudMouthMan for more details

<tonytiger> QUESTION. Sub-question then is how do you control the damage these people can do whilst you're re-educating them?

• some damage will always occur while people learn the ropes, but if the community is understanding, its less of an issue - and usually when someone screws up and the community makes them realise, they don't screw up again - its like when you burn your fingers on the fire as a child, you don't touch it again - the key is not making it so that kid is a shivering wreck whenever they see a fire - we need a balanced approach

<apokryphos> QUESTION: will Ubuntu ever be able to run without computers, and instead run just on hype? :D

• thats Hypebuntu 8.04 - get ready for it!!

(11:58:23 AM) jono: right
(11:58:26 AM) jono: I think we are about done
(11:58:33 AM) elkbuntu: one more.... :D
(11:58:35 AM) jono: ok :)

<harrisony> QUESTION: How do you officially pronounce Canonical and Ubuntu ( can you record you saying it)

• you will be hearing a recording of me saying it very soon more on this later. I pronounce it:

  • can-on-i-cal and uh-bun-too

(11:59:37 AM) jono: thanks so much everyone for taking part, and thanks for the great questions :)
(11:59:51 AM) jono: jono AT ubuntu DOT com is the address :)
(12:00:13 PM) jono: have a great open week folks! :D