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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #104 for the week August 10th - August 16th, 2008. In this issue we cover ...

UWN Translations

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In This Issue

General Community News

"Intrepid Ibex" Alpha-4 released

This is the fourth in the series. It's reasonably free of "show stopper" bugs, but it is still an alpha and should only be used by developers and those who want to help with testing and reporting bugs. Downloads can be gotten at:

• http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/intrepid/alpha-4/ (Ubuntu)

• http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/intrepid/alpha-4/ (Ubuntu Education Edition)

• http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/intrepid/alpha-4/ (Kubuntu)

• http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/intrepid/alpha-4/ (Xubuntu)

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2008-August/000470.html

Global Bug Jam: Retrospective

"WOW! We had people in twelve nations and in 20+ locations meeting for this event and I’m proud of each and everyone who organized and participated in this. That’s amazing." And this is just the beginning of an article that outlines the thoughts and feelings of people new to the work of fixing bugs, and the way that one can begin to help. But, of course, the big news is that 853 bugs were jammed. http://daniel.holba.ch/blog/?p=167

MOTU School sessions for Ubuntu Developer Week wanted

In preparing for another Ubuntu Developer Week, James Westby is asking for volunteers to present MOTU School sessions. A list of possible sessions exists [1], and he suggests a couple that either he will do or he would like to see done. Those interested in presenting on one of the topics should add their name to the list [2], or contact dholbach or James to discuss it.

[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/School/Requests

[2] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek/Prep

http://jameswestby.net/weblog/ubuntu/00-developer-week-school.html

MOTU News

Nicolas Valcárcel (also known as nxvl) has joined the MOTU team. He has done great work in the Server team, is the star of a Spanish packaging video and is involved in various places in the MOTU team.

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

• Open (#) +/- # over last week
• Critical (#) +/- # over last week
• Unconfirmed (#) +/- # over last week
• Unassigned (#) +/- # over last week
• All bugs ever reported (#) +/- # over last week

As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

Infamous Bugs

Translation Stats Hardy

1. Language (#) +/- # over last week
2. Language (#) +/- # over last week
3. Language (#) +/- # over last week
4. Language (#) +/- # over last week
5. Language (#) +/- # over last week

Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron," see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy/

LoCo News

New in Hardy Heron

Launchpad News

Joey Stanford has reported that changes have been made to the Launchpad Legal page [1].

1. The Launchpad Logo, previously unlicensed, is now licensed as “Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales”. “No Derivative” was chosen to preserve our branding integrity.

2. The Launchpad Help wiki documentation and the Launchpad News blog, previously unlicensed, are now licensed as “Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK: England & Wales”.

This was done to assist users and commercial entities to be able to use/remix/display the logo and material. Please see the legal page for more information.

[1] https://help.launchpad.net/Legal

http://news.launchpad.net/general/legal-page-updates

Ubuntu Forums News

In The Press

• Ubuntu netbook - Chin Wong took an Acer Aspire One netbook and turned it into a full featured laptop that happened to be small. By replacing the existing operating system with Ubuntu 8.04, the Aspire One was capable of running office applications, editing digital photos, surfing the Web and watching videos. That's not to say that it was easy, as he explains in the article. http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business6_aug12_2008

• Why Ubuntu just might succeed - Matt Asay reassesses a previous article he'd written, and explains why Ubuntu may succeed at making Linux more relevant to a wider audience than just the desktop. His analysis focuses on the tools that Canonical uses: community fervor, marketing and the array of partners and enterprise traction. In brief, it's getting the word out to the right people at the right time that makes the difference. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10013233-16.html?part=rss&subj=TheOpenRoad

• Mark Shuttleworth's evolving Ubuntu desktop war - Matt Asay had a chance to talk to Mark Shuttleworth about the direction in which Ubuntu is going. What he found out is that "cloud computing" is more than just desktop or servers. It's the combination of them, and what can be done with them. So, where Shuttleworth wants the desktop to be more appealing to users than Mac, he also wants to infiltrate the server side with exceptional network services. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10017426-16.html

• Shuttleworth and Ubuntu keep moving on up - Sam Varghese notes that Ubuntu has become quite popular with enthusiasts, and is now starting to move in on the enterprise market. Promoted originally by word-of-mouth, public relations releases and interviews, Mark Shuttleworth has now started working with Dell and IBM to incorporate Ubuntu in their offerings. This popularity has been aided by the FOSS community that supports the growth of Linux at the expense of Windows. http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20049/1090/1/2/

In The Blogosphere

• Canonical's Smartest Move of 2008 - While the cancellation of Ubuntu Live was a disappointment to many of us, blogger Joe Panettieri thinks that it was Canonical's smartest move this year. Instead of catering to those of us who are already fans of Ubuntu, Canonical instead focused on showing the benefits of choosing Ubuntu to other Linux users at LinuxWorld Expo. Canonical spent all of LinuxWorld Expo talking about its business strategy and ISV support. Although foot traffic at LinuxWorld Expo seemed light, Canonical’s booth was standing-room-only even as the show wrapped up on August 7. http://www.workswithu.com/2008/08/10/canonicals-smartest-move-of-2008/

• Canonical To VARs: 11% of U.S. Businesses Use Ubuntu Linux - For more than a year, Canonical has been piecing together a global channel of partners, distributors and solutions providers. Today Canonical's partner program remains in its infancy, but they hope to change that by bolstering Ubuntu Server Edition's support among ISV's. There are a constantly increasing number of products built and certified to run on Ubuntu. This includes products like Alfreco, IBM Lotus Notes, Ingres, SugarCRM, VMware ESX Server, Zimbra, and many more! http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/08/10/canonical-to-vars-11-of-us-businesses-use-ubuntu-linux/

• Ubuntu Really is Linux for Humans: After installing Ubuntu, the author of the blog site Lounge Daddy: Chronicles was amazed at the ease of use, simple installation, and excellent support. “Ubuntu offers a simplicity and a speed that Vista just cannot match”. http://loungedaddy.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/ubuntu-really-is-linux-for-humans/

In Other News

North Carolina Mental Health Proposals: Open Source VistA Only

A brief post to LinuxMedNews by Ignacio Valdes, MD, MS, reports that "North Carolina’s Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services Division has issued a request for proposals to vendors to install a commercially supported, open-source version of the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture, or VistA". They intend to first install it in 3 hospitals and 3 clinics, but eventually expand it to 12 facilities. They hope to start the first 6 in the next 3 years. The actual article is in Modern Healthcare [1], and requires registration to view it.

[1] http://modernhealthcare.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080812/REG/356587229

http://linuxmednews.com/1218595138/index_html

Open Sesame: Entering the Realm of Open Source Technology

Selena Chavis reports, in For The Record, that the push for electronic health records in healthcare organizations and physician practices has people looking at open source software for a practical solution. VistA, originally created by the Veterans Administration as Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture and in use for 2 decades, is such a solution. Both commercial software-as-service and open source versions are available, including WorldVistA, which is the only open source version to be approved by Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT). Even the commercial version of VistA for a 300 bed hospital can mean the difference between $18 million to $30 million and $3.25 million to $4 million http://fortherecordmag.com/archives/ftr_080408p14.shtml

Change Wallpapers, Mega Ultra GUI.

DoctorMO has posted information on the Ubuntu Forums that will be of interest to people running Gnome who like to change their wallpapers. The package consists of a GUI and crontab python libs. This will put a menu entry in your System > Preferences folder for configuration. The system's debs can be downloaded from his Personal Package Archive [1], or from the forum.

[1] https://launchpad.net/~doctormo/+archive

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=888746

Computers offered free to students

Free IT Athens and the Clark County School District, in Georgia, are working together to furnish free computers to students. In an effort to get computers into the hands of those who need them but don't have access to them, Free IT Athens is refurbishing old computers and installing Linux and open source software. With 130 already done, they intend to do 600 this fall and another 1,200 next year. http://onlineathens.com/stories/080908/news_2008080900419.shtml

Comcast Gives Cold-Shoulder To Non-Profit School Running Linux

In Lake City, Florida, the new Generation private non-profit school moved from Windows XP to Ubuntu Linux in their computer lab. But when the internet went down, and the owner of the school, Mrs. Gorman, called Comcast, the tech didn't want to help her because the computers were running Linux. Their claim was that they only support Windows, Mac OSX, and UNIX. It took telling the tech that Comcast was discriminating against a customer based on their choice of operating system to even get him to supply a case number. http://crashsystems.net/2008/08/comcast-wont-support-linux/

Meeting Summaries

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Community Spotlight

Updates and Security for 6.06, 7.04, 7.10, and 8.04

Security Updates

• None Reported

Ubuntu 6.06 Updates

• python-dns 2.3.0-5ubuntu1.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2008-August/012741.html

Ubuntu 7.04 Updates

• python-dns 2.3.0-5.1ubuntu2.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2008-August/008988.html

• tmsnc 0.3.2-1ubuntu0.7.04 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2008-August/008989.html

Ubuntu 7.10 Updates

• python-dns 2.3.1-1ubuntu0.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gutsy-changes/2008-August/010293.html

• tmsnc 0.3.2-1ubuntu0.7.10.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gutsy-changes/2008-August/010294.html

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

• app-install-data-commercial 9.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011946.html

• linux 2.6.24-20.39 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011947.html

• linux 2.6.24-21.40 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011948.html

• python-dns 2.3.1-2ubuntu0.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011949.html

• linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24-21.30 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011950.html

• linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24.14-21.47 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011952.html

• linux-backports-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24-21.24 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011951.html

• linux-meta 2.6.24.21.23 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011953.html

• tmsnc 0.3.2-1ubuntu0.8.04.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011954.html

• linux-backports-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24-21.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011955.html

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Conclusion

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See you next week!

Credits

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Glossary of Terms

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