Ubuntu Open Week - Ask Mark - Mark Shuttleworth - Fri, May 2, 2008

16:16 <@sabdfl> hello all
16:16 <@jcastro> Welcome sabdfl
16:16 <@sabdfl> hey jcastro
16:17 <@sabdfl> what's the format?
16:17 <@jcastro> Ok everyone, thanks for being patient, please start asking questions in #ubuntu-classroom-chat
16:17 <@jcastro> sabdfl: popey and I will paste questions here, you answer, when you want the next one just say "next"
16:17 <@popey> jcastro: you doing this or me?
16:17 <@popey> lo sabdfl 
16:18 <@sabdfl> this is the easiest set of questions *ever* ;-p
16:18 <@popey> 16:17:44 < toobuntu> QUESTION: For easing corporate deployments, it would be nice to have tasksel options for installing a directory server and a workstation that authenticates to that server with  automounted home dirs.  Do you see Ubuntu heading in the direction of more installer options on the alternate CD?
16:18 <@sabdfl> That sounds reasonable, yes.
16:19 <@sabdfl> the server team is now in pretty good shape, they did amazing work for 8.04
16:19 <@sabdfl> both on the hardware enablement front and at the level of specific services
16:19 <@sabdfl> directory is a focus, and AD integration saw a lot of work, with Likewise
16:20 <@sabdfl> as for the specifics, it would be best to join the server team and participate there
16:20 <@sabdfl> who's up next?
16:20 <@popey> 16:18:34 < qense> QUESTION: When you're a student or someone who has just graduated, what jobs(parttime?) does Ubuntu/Canonical offer for you?
16:20 <@popey> 16:19:11 < qense> (adding to my question: what type of work, how much, parttime?)
16:20 <@sabdfl> we have relatively limited scope for part time folks
16:20 <@sabdfl> we have done some summer internships, working on things like bzr
16:21 <@sabdfl> guys have contributed good chunks of code on that basis
16:21 <@sabdfl> but the core of canonical is generally full-time, committed employment
16:21 <@sabdfl> in addition to that, we are starting to work with folks who become certified professionals around ubuntu, or bzr
16:22 <@sabdfl> so, a company approaches canonical for expertise, and we project manage but outsource the work to a known-good professional
16:22 <@sabdfl> the best way to win a job at canonical is to demonstrate real competence in some aspect of ubuntu
16:22 <@sabdfl> next ?
16:22 <@popey> 16:18:49 < Lardarse> QUESTION: What are your plans and/or visions for the 3rd "phase" of Ubuntu development?
16:22 <@popey> Lardarse may want to elaborate?
16:23 <@Amaranth> Meaning until the next LTS
16:23 <@sabdfl> right now, we need to become commercially successful while retaining our community engagement
16:23 <@sabdfl> we think ubuntu is uniquely positioned to be an open, community oriented but nonetheless commercially viable platform
16:24 <@sabdfl> we know that people love ubuntu as a desktop and as a project
16:24 <@sabdfl> now we need to see if they will deploy it as a commercially-critical platform
16:24 <@sabdfl> if we can succeed in that, it will mean that all of our members can start to treat ubuntu both as a passion and as a source of commercial opportunity
16:25 <@sabdfl> it will increase the value of ubuntu skills
16:25 <@sabdfl> and karma ;-)
16:25 <@sabdfl> that's a significant challenge - the project has grown, and the community has scaled (relatively) well
16:25 <@sabdfl> we have good delegated leadership on many of our community fronts - loco's, irc/forum/list councils etc
16:26 <@sabdfl> we have motu, and dedicated teams for server, mobile, desktop, bugs, translation etc
16:26 <@sabdfl> that's all pretty amazing
16:26 <@sabdfl> now, can we keep those folks passionate and engaged while ubuntu becomes a platform that businesses depend on?
16:26 <@sabdfl> so, that's what I see as the real next phase of Ubuntu
16:26 <@sabdfl> as for the technology, we are certainly starting a new meta-cycle
16:27 <@sabdfl> the next LTS will be 10.04
16:27 <@sabdfl> unless red hat and novell agree to sync LTS / RHEL / SLES and want a different "first sync release" date
16:27 <@sabdfl> so, we are thinking now about the things we want to get done over the two years to 10.04
16:28 <@sabdfl> the first major discussions will be at UDS-Prague, hope to see lots of you there
16:28 <@sabdfl> things I expect to be on the table are:
16:28 <@sabdfl>  - pervasive networking, roaming from 3G to WiFi and WiMax or Bluetooth
16:29 <@sabdfl>  - desktop technology investments - I think we need to look at energising GNOME, and perhaps Ubuntu / Canonical can help
16:29 <@sabdfl>  - virtualisation, based on KVM or Xen, focused on the use of Ubuntu in the cloud
16:29 <@sabdfl>  - mobile, MID's and smartphones
16:29 <@sabdfl> ... and of course a bunch more
16:30 <@sabdfl> i'm willing to make an investment in upstream development on the desktop now
16:30 <@sabdfl> if i can see a vision articulated by developers that i believe can actually deliver it
16:30 <@sabdfl> which will put Linux ahead of the Mac or Windows in terms of experience
16:30 <@sabdfl> next?
16:30 <@popey> related to part of that...
16:30 <@popey> 16:20:02 < rick_h_> QUESTION: how has the talk about trying to bring release dates for most of the big OSS apps gone? Do you think this is something viable for most OSS projects?
16:31 <@sabdfl> yes, I think it is very viable for OSS projects
16:31 <@sabdfl> GNOME has shown that it's very possible, even for complicated projects
16:31 <@sabdfl> i'm delighted that KDE has said they will try it too!
16:31 <@sabdfl> with distributed VCS like Bzr, it's much more feasible to land features "when they are ready"
16:32 <@sabdfl> which means you can release almost at any time!
16:32 <@sabdfl> and with test-driven development, you can maintain much higher code quality even as big new features get landed
16:32 <@sabdfl> all of that means that OSS projects should be able to embrace time-based releases
16:32 <@sabdfl> and syncronization makes sense
16:32 <@sabdfl> whether or not Red Hat and Novell will agree to syncronise major releases is totally unclear
16:33 <@sabdfl> but i think it would have huge benefits for collaboration
16:33 <@sabdfl> imagine if the kernel guys knew exactly which version of the kernel the distros would all ship on their long-term releases, a year in advance!
16:33 <@sabdfl> at the very least, i think they would make sensible decisions about how they responded to that
16:33 <@sabdfl> so, we'll see
16:33 <@sabdfl> next?
16:33 <@popey> 16:20:15 < nikolaidis> QUESTION: (when) Can we expect to see an option during setup to allow authentication against an Active Directory/LDAP server so an end-user can easily join an existing Microsoft business network?
16:34 <@sabdfl> i don't know!
16:34 <@sabdfl> but the infrastructure for that, with Likewise, went in to 8.04
16:34 <@sabdfl> that sounds like something that should be discussed with the desktop team at UDS
16:34 <@sabdfl> next?
16:34 <@popey> 16:20:30 < toobuntu> QUESTION: When will Canonical have its IPO?
16:34 <@popey> 16:20:44 < doctormo> QUESTION: Does Canonical need an IPO?
16:35 <@sabdfl> no need for an IPO
16:35 <@sabdfl> the plan is to build Canonical and Ubuntu until they are sustainable
16:35 <@sabdfl> then make the best decisions for the project and the company
16:35 <@sabdfl> impossible to know far in advance what those might be
16:35 <@sabdfl> next?
16:35 <@popey> 16:20:45 < madrazr> QUESTION: My institution uses Windows IIS on it server. Its a HP server, I donno the exact configuration. We are facing lot of problems with respect to maintainance. We students and admins want to migrate to a GNU/Linux distro and we prefer Ubuntu, but convincing the management is a big task, because management feels there is no one knows the maintainance properly. How will Ubuntu/Canonical help us?
16:36 <@popey> realted..
16:36 <@popey> 16:21:03 < aoakley> QUESTION: When I try to convince people to migrate to Ubuntu, usually their main question is whether they can browse the web and open/edit Microsoft Word documents. What will Canonical be doing to increase awareness of OpenOffice?
16:36 <@sabdfl> interesting question
16:37 <@sabdfl> Your institution could easily buy a support contract for Ubuntu from Canonical
16:37 <@sabdfl> and there may be other local companies that could provide support too
16:37 <@sabdfl> I don't think we can spend a lot on trying to convince your management to adopt Ubuntu unless they would buy a support contract
16:37 <@sabdfl> that's a question for local advocates
16:38 <@sabdfl> aoakley: i think OO.o is quite obviously enabled in the desktop
16:38 <@sabdfl> some of the UI ideas we are looking at for the 10.04 cycle make it more obvious, because that's such a common use case
16:38 <@sabdfl> when you double-click on a .doc attachment, the right thing happens
16:38 <@sabdfl> next?
16:39 <@popey> 16:21:40 < ubunturos> QUESTION: Has there been considerable increase in profit margins from the last LTS release assuming most enterprises have opted for it
16:39 <@sabdfl> there's been a considerable increase in evaluations, but we are still very young in the enterprise OS game
16:40 <@sabdfl> canonical isn't profitable yet, but the LTS releases are very important for the support business, yes
16:40 <@sabdfl> because folks who are interested in support are usually also folks who want to run the OS for long periods of time, on the server
16:40 <@sabdfl> and on the desktop
16:40 <@sabdfl> next?
16:40 <@popey> 16:22:01 < Solarion> QUESTION: What does Canonical offer for computing cluster management?
16:40 <@sabdfl> I know there are clusters running Ubuntu
16:41 <@sabdfl> and there are a couple of tools, like specialised filesystems, which are available
16:41 <@sabdfl> but I don't know more than that
16:41 <@sabdfl> the server team would have more insight, chat with dendrobates perhaps?
16:41 <@sabdfl> next?
16:41 <@popey> 16:22:34 < selinuxium> QUESTION: Is there any thought following on from the JeOS project that Ubuntu will build a lightweight VM host OS?
16:41 <@sabdfl> well, with KVM in 8.04, you have the beginnings of that
16:42 <@sabdfl> to be a really goot host you need more than an OS, though
16:42 <@sabdfl> you need all the infrastructure provided by companies like VMWare or Qumranet, or XenSource
16:42 <@sabdfl> i think Ubuntu will become a great bare-metal host OS
16:42 <@sabdfl> but I assume that there will be a need for a lot more management infrastructure
16:43 <@sabdfl> we will partner with the companies that develop that infrastructure, encourage and support their use of Ubuntu, but leave them to profit from that infrastructure itself while we focus on the OS
16:43 <@sabdfl> next?
16:43 <@popey> 16:22:38 < sadiq> QUESTION: What are your thoughts on the progress UbuntuMobile's been making? Have you received much interest from OEM hardware manufacturers?
16:43 <@sabdfl> sadiq: yes, we have more work than we can handle on the mobile front, but it's still very early days
16:44 <@sabdfl> the devices we are working on are "round one" devices, they would be used to get other manufacturers interested in the round two's
16:44 <@sabdfl> i think it's going to take a few years for the Ubuntu Mobile story to shake out
16:44 <@sabdfl> though, for folks who know exactly what they want to deliver, Ubuntu is already a good platform
16:45 <@sabdfl> i think Ampro announced an embedded Ubuntu port recently, for example
16:45 <@sabdfl> Intel is doing very good work on Moblin
16:45 <@sabdfl> i hope other companies get involved too, so that it can become a broader-based open source initiative
16:45 <@sabdfl> Intel is a pelasure to work with from an open source perspective
16:46 <@sabdfl> so I am confident in their understanding of "what makes a good open source project"
16:46 <@sabdfl> next?
16:46 <@popey> 16:22:58 < BonesolTeraDyne> QUESTION: Do you believe the news of Adobe opening their SFW and FLV formats will help Ubuntu, or Linux in general, in any fashion? ( http://www.adobe.com/openscreenproject/ )
16:46 <@sabdfl> yes, absolutely
16:46 <@sabdfl> because like the web, it separates application from OS
16:47 <@sabdfl> the web has made people much more willing to consider non-Windows OS's
16:47 <@sabdfl> because they perceive the real value to be inside the browser, and Linux / Mac both have good browsers
16:47 <@sabdfl> hopefully, Adobe's leadership will do the same for other areas
16:47 <@sabdfl> next?
16:47 <@popey> 16:23:38 < BluesKaj> Question: why KDE4 ?...it's broken and it's awful
16:47 <@popey> :S
16:47 <@sabdfl> (i would still like to see Gnash take off)
16:48 <@sabdfl>  BluesKaj: it's a 1.0 for 4.0 ;-)
16:48 <@sabdfl> i think it's pretty awesome, personally
16:48 <@sabdfl> have played with it some, not too extensively though
16:48 <@Hobbsee> I was about to say....awful is a matter of opinion....
16:48 <@sabdfl> i think the Kubuntu team made a good choice in doing an unofficial remix of Kubuntu-KDE4
16:48 <@Hobbsee> It's certainly improving very quickly.
16:49 <@sabdfl> it's available for those who want it, but it's not pushed to everyone automatically
16:49 <@sabdfl> hopefully, Kubuntu helps to get very widespread testing, which results in rapid improvement of the codebase
16:49 <@sabdfl> so we can make KDE4 the default in Kubuntu sooner rather than later
16:49 <@sabdfl> RIddell will make the right choice, I'm sure
16:49 <@sabdfl> next?
16:49 <@popey> 16:23:55 < tech0007> QUESTION:  is it true that Dell is not offering ubuntu on its server markets?
16:50 <@sabdfl> yes, that's true, dell does not off pre-installation of Ubuntu on servers in their default web configurator
16:50 <@sabdfl> if you are ordering servers in bulk, just ask for it
16:50 <@sabdfl> i don't see any problem with that - dell will wait till enough customers tell them they bought something else because they didn't offer ubuntu
16:51 <@sabdfl> we have to prove that there's real commercial demand for ubuntu
16:51 <@sabdfl> so, if you are buying Dell servers, make sure you email them and ask about Ubuntu, because it helps to make the case
16:51 <@sabdfl> but your "vote" carries a lot more weight if you are really buying servers
16:51 <@sabdfl> next?
16:51 <@popey> 16:25:59 < yann2> QUESTION: Do you plan to stop shipping CDs for free to become economically profitable faster?
16:52 <@sabdfl> if we needed to, we could do that, yes
16:52 <@sabdfl> but i love the fact that we make it easy for people to try free software, feel very good about the spend on CD's, and don't really see a need not to
16:52 <@sabdfl> next?
16:52 <@popey> 16:26:13 < J-_> QUESTION: From the business aspect, can you recommend a good book to read on investments, and how to get the ball rolling? How does one start up a Venture Capital company to deloy an ongoing business relation of reinvestment? Thanks for what you've done, and how you're doing it.
16:53 <@sabdfl> J-_: read the writing of a guy called Benjamin Graham
16:53 <@sabdfl> back in the early 1900's IIRC
16:53 <@sabdfl> next?
16:53 <@popey> 16:26:32 < michaelramm> QUESTION: Why was a beta candidate (Firefox) released with the final HH release? Most add-ons do not work currently and, from what I am hearing, it is hard to remove Beta 5 and replace it with FF2 to resume productive web surfing.
16:54  * Hobbsee already answered that
16:54 <@sabdfl> we'll push FF 3.0 RC into 8.04 in due course
16:54 <@sabdfl> expect 8.04 RC for 8.04.1 in two months time
16:54 <@Hobbsee> and there's a firefox-2 package.
16:54 <@sabdfl> July
16:54 <@sabdfl> next?
16:54 <@popey> 16:38:39 < Solarion> QUESTION: When can we expect Ubuntu/Linux advertisements on TV?
16:55 <@sabdfl> Solarion: when it makes economic sense
16:55 <@sabdfl> you will probably see advertisements for Ubuntu based devices, which is not quite the same thing, first
16:55 <@sabdfl> next?
16:55 <@popey> 16:26:47 < chad_W> QUESTION: Have they learned from the servers going down 2 releases in a row now? Plans for improvement?
16:55 <@sabdfl> chad_W: heh. we were pumping 10gbits per second out of the DC in London
16:55 <@sabdfl> i think that's pretty amazing
16:55 <@sabdfl> and we have 200 mirrors
16:56 <@sabdfl> i have to compliment the team for keeping most services up under that load
16:56 <@sabdfl> next?
16:56 <@popey> [01:49] <aoakley> QUESTION: Every good project has continuity plans to avoid reliance on key individuals in case the worst happens. Can we be confident that Ubuntu will continue as a  successful legacy in the (hopefully never) situation that you were to fall under a bus? (A young programmer friend of mine sadly died last year leaving all kinds of mess)
16:57 <@sabdfl> i hope my demise would not be messy
16:57 <@sabdfl> in practice, or in law :-)
16:57 <@sabdfl> of course, i think i'm irreplaceable, but fortunately most of the leaders in ubuntu and canonical don't agree
16:58 <@sabdfl> there are plans in my will to continue ubuntu, and canonical, on a reasonable basis
16:58 <@sabdfl> and there are very good people who lead all of the key teams
16:58 <@sabdfl> next?
16:58 <@popey> 16:31:14 < doctormo> QUESTION: For home use of ubuntu the biggest barrier is support, what thoughts does Mark have on helping LoCos collectivly offer that support in a way that is accountable?
16:59 <@sabdfl> no significant plans in that regard
16:59 <@sabdfl> the loco's do a critical job of raising awareness of Linux as a real alternative
16:59 <@sabdfl> and their very existence provides encouraging evidence of a local support network
16:59 <@sabdfl> which is what really matters
16:59 <@jcastro> Ok, that about does it for time.
16:59 <@sabdfl> nobody buys windows to get support from microsoft
16:59 <@sabdfl> they want support from local specialists and service providers
17:00 <@sabdfl> and loco teams, together with the growing network of companies offering local services on ubuntu, play that role
17:00 <@sabdfl> thanks very much everybody!
17:00 <@jcastro> Thanks everyone for showing up, and thanks sabdfl for sepeaking, next up is Christer Edwards who will share his tips on running Ubuntu on the Eee PC.
17:00 <@sabdfl> sorry we only had an hour this time