Issue185

Contents

Contents

  1. UWN Translations
  2. In This Issue
  3. General Community News
    1. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 1 released
    2. Ubuntu Global Jam: time is ticking
    3. Call for Community help: Ubuntu.com Website Localization Project
  4. Ubuntu Stats
    1. Bug Stats
    2. Translation Stats Karmic
    3. Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week
  5. Launchpad News
    1. Launchpad’s Bug Watch system and other animals
  6. The Planet
    1. Daniel Holbach: Upgrade Jams – made easy!
    2. Dustin Kirkland: Server Bug Zapping - eucalyptus and euca2ools
    3. Thierry Carrez: Nominate your favorite Ubuntu Server Papercuts
  7. In The Press
    1. Ubuntu 10.04 beta 1 is looking good, less brown
    2. Nerd alert: first Lucid Lynx Ubuntu beta fun
    3. Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Beta 1 Released [Screenshots Tour]
    4. Ubuntu pre-release testing made ease with TestDrive
    5. Testing The Different Ubuntu 10.04 Kernels
    6. Testing The Power Management Of Ubuntu 10.04
    7. Shuttleworth heir opens up on Ubuntu biz
    8. Ubuntu Lucid Lynx: Ubuntu's Most Innovative
    9. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta Released
  8. In The Blogosphere
    1. Mark Shuttleworth responds to the window button issue; hints at good things to come
    2. See Nouveau in action on Ubuntu 10.04 (plus how to help test it!)
    3. Ubuntu Without a Human Face
    4. Why Window Button Placement Doesn’t Matter
    5. Why Mark Shuttleworth is right - Ubuntu is not a democracy and nor should it be
  9. In Other News
    1. Full Circle Podcast #2: The Full Circle of Light (Brown)
  10. Upcoming Meetings and Events
    1. Monday, March 22, 2010
      1. Security Team Catch-up
    2. Tuesday, March 23, 2010
      1. Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting
      2. Technical Board Meeting
      3. Desktop Team Meeting
      4. Kernel Team Meeting
      5. Global Jam Meeting
    3. Wednesday, March 24, 2010
      1. Server Team Meeting
      2. Foundation Team Meeting
      3. QA Team Meeting
      4. Edubuntu Meeting
    4. Thursday, March 25, 2010
      1. Ubuntu Java Meeting
    5. Friday, March 26, 2010
      1. Ubuntu Global Jam
      2. Lucid Weekly Release Meeting
    6. Saturday, March 27, 2010
      1. Ubuntu Global Jam
      2. BugJam
      3. DC Loco IRC meeting
    7. Sunday, March 28, 2010
      1. Ubuntu Global Jam
      2. Ubuntu IRC Council Meeting
      3. Ubuntu Gaming Team Meeting
  11. Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10, 9.04, 9.10 and 10.04
    1. Security Updates
    2. Ubuntu 6.06 Updates
    3. Ubuntu 8.04 Updates
    4. Ubuntu 8.10 Updates
    5. Ubuntu 9.04 Updates
    6. Ubuntu 9.10 Updates
    7. Ubuntu 10.04 Updates
  12. UWN #: A sneak peek
  13. Subscribe
  14. Archives and RSS Feed
  15. Additional Ubuntu News
  16. Conclusion
  17. Credits
  18. Glossary of Terms
  19. Ubuntu - Get Involved
  20. Feedback

newspaper-icon3.jpg

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #185 for the week March 14th - March 20th, 2010. In this issue we cover: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 1 released, Ubuntu Global Jam: time is ticking, Call for Community help: Ubuntu.com Website Localization Project, Launchpad’s Bug Watch system and other animals, Upgrade Jams – made easy, Server Bug Zapping - eucalyptus and euca2ools, Nominate your favorite Ubuntu Server Papercuts, Full Circle Podcast #2: The Full Circle of Light (Brown), and much, much more!

UWN Translations

  • Note to translators and our readers: We are trying a new way of linking to our translations pages. Please follow the link below for the information you need.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Translations

In This Issue

  • Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 1 released
  • Ubuntu Global Jam: time is ticking
  • Call for Community help: Ubuntu.com Website Localization Project
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Launchpad’s Bug Watch system and other animals
  • Upgrade Jams – made easy!
  • Server Bug Zapping - eucalyptus and euca2ools
  • Nominate your favorite Ubuntu Server Papercuts
  • In the Press & Blogosphere

  • Full Circle Podcast #2: The Full Circle of Light (Brown)
  • Upcoming Meetings & Events

  • Updates & Security

General Community News

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 1 released

The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the first beta release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Long-Term Support) Desktop, Server, and Netbook editions and of Ubuntu 10.04 Server for Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) and Amazon's EC2. Codenamed "Lucid Lynx", 10.04 LTS continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop and Netbook Editions continue the trend of ever-faster boot speeds, with improved startup times and a streamlined, smoother boot experience.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server Edition provides even better integration of the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, with its install-time cloud setup.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server for UEC and EC2 brings the power and stability of the Ubuntu Server Edition to cloud computing, whether you're using Amazon EC2 or your own Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.

The Ubuntu 10.04 family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, and Mythbuntu, also reach beta status.

To upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 1 from Ubuntu 9.10 or Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, follow these instructions: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LucidUpgrades

For a list of mirrors to download the new Beta release, please follow the link below.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2010-March/000129.html

Ubuntu Global Jam: time is ticking

The countdown has started for the Ubuntu Global Jam. It’s less than 10 days until Ubuntu teams around the globe show off some community power and join the fest to make our favourite OS even more awesome. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGlobalJam

For the late-comers:

There are plenty of activities to choose this time (Bugs, Testing, Upgrade, Documentation, Translations, Packaging). Be creative!

And do remember to add your event to the LoCo Directory as well.

If you’ve never run a jam, do join us on IRC in #ubuntu-locoteams and ask questions, or even better, check out Jono’s videocast and the easy steps on how to organize and run one. We’ve also been running some training sessions on IRC you might find interesting. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGlobalJam#TrainingSessions

http://davidplanella.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/ubuntu-global-jam-time-is-ticking/

Call for Community help: Ubuntu.com Website Localization Project

It a my pleasure to announce a new project to better the Ubuntu.com website experience, specifically for users who prefer a language other than English. The new project, called Website Localization [1] will put a short (4-5 word) message on any www.Ubuntu.com <http://www.ubuntu.com/> web page directing users to more resources in their preferred language.

This project has two main parts to it. The first part of the Website Localization project is the technical aspect of the project. It is the goal of the project to create a script that will pull out of a users web browser their preferred language. The second part of this project is creating landing pages for as many resources as possible. This part of the project will be done by LoCos and the i18n team. The landing pages will be on the wiki, and will be ever changing to direct users to the best information that we can give them. The goal is to have the project completed and implemented by the end of May.

Chris Johnston is heading the project, but he can't do all of this himself, so he is going to need help from the Ubuntu community. At this point, he needs some assistance with the technical side of the project. He needs a few people to create the script that will detect the users preferred language, and then show them a link to the landing page in their language. If you have the skills needed to help out with this Website Localization project, please send Chris an email with your name, launchpad account, a little bit of information about the experience you have and your general ability (time zone, and anything else that may help him out). His goal is to get a group of a few people to work on the technical aspect of this project and have a meeting in the next few weeks to discuss the project in a little more detail, and determine the best way to make this happen.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/loco-contacts/2010-March/004273.html

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open (76766) +399 over last week
  • Critical (27) -2 over last week
  • Unconfirmed (36996) +23 over last week

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

Translation Stats Karmic

  1. English (United Kingdom) (2) Not listed last week
  2. Spanish (13129) Not listed last week
  3. French (43102) Not listed last week
  4. Brazilian Portuguese (43389) Not listed last week
  5. Swedish (64252) Not listed last week

Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx", see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/

Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week

Ubuntu Brainstorm is a community site geared toward letting you add your ideas for Ubuntu. You can submit your own idea, or vote for or against another idea. http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/

Launchpad News

Launchpad’s Bug Watch system and other animals

Launchpad has a feature where it periodically checks the status of remote bugs (as in, bugs recorded in another bug tracker, like bug 12720 in Django).

When someone links a bug on Launchpad with a remote bug it’s called a bug watch. All the bug watches for a bug appear in the Launchpad bug page in an area called “Remote bug watches”. Check out bug 513719 to see a bug watch for bug 12720 in Django.

If the remote bug tracker has been set as the bug tracker for a project in Launchpad, bug tasks for that project can be linked to a specific remote bug too. When the status of the remote bug changes, Launchpad changes the status of the bug task to match, and sends out email to subscribers, the same as if the status had been changed in Launchpad. See the Django bug task in bug 513719 for an example.

Going further, comments can be synchronized too, in both directions. Recent versions of Bugzilla have this capability built in, but older versions can be supported with a plugin. There’s also a plugin for Trac.

This is all very nifty stuff, but it suffers because it doesn’t work very well! Yet. Part of the problem is due to complexity, and part due to development of the code base.

We’re trying to fix these issues now. We’ve made checkwatches – the program that drives the bug watch machinery – run multi-threaded. This works, but it hammers our database, so we need to figure out how to alleviate that next.

We’ve started the work to move the code base over to using Twisted. This is a better model for managing a lot of concurrent network activity. As more and more bug watches are registered with Launchpad, we’re going to need it.

http://blog.launchpad.net/bug-tracking/launchpads-bug-watch-system-and-other-animals

The Planet

Daniel Holbach: Upgrade Jams – made easy!

We’re all gearing up towards Ubuntu Global Jam and I LIKE IT! More and more teams are signing up in the LoCo Directory. Once you managed to find a venue, tell a few friends, you’re basically all set. the Jams page has all the information you need.

One thing I’d like to point out specifically is Upgrade Jams. They’re probably the most straight-forward way to help out. Just upgrade, test and report what you find. With Lucid becoming 10.04 we have another LTS that is going to be supported for for 3 years on the Desktop and 5 on the Server, so we’ll have a lot of people upgrading and installing it, so we want to make sure it’s all in tip-top shape. The upgrade process is part of the experience.

I love to say this: straight-forward just got easier. One problem you’ll have with an upgrade jam is that you need lots of bandwidth. If you don’t have that you might want to set up a proxy or mirror or cache or something. The easiest I could find is squid-deb-proxy (a new feature, by Michael Vogt, in Lucid).

Basically on the server (or cache machine) you run: $ sudo apt-get install squid-deb-proxy

And on the client (where you do the upgrade) you run: $ sudo apt-get install squid-deb-proxy-client

Done.

As this feature is not in karmic yet, I backported it:

  • $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dholbach/ppa
  • $ sudo apt-get update

and install squid-deb-proxy or squid-deb-proxy-client.

I found it too hard to backport for hardy (which we support upgrades to →lucid too), so for a hardy upgrade you will have to set up the proxy information in “System → Preferences → Network Proxy” manually.

This is going to be awesome!

http://daniel.holba.ch/blog/?p=630

Dustin Kirkland: Server Bug Zapping - eucalyptus and euca2ools

So far, the KVM and Samba bug zapping weeks have been a success!

Next week, we will be focusing on Eucalyptus, Euca2ools, and UEC in general. In fact, Mathias Gug, Scott Moser, and I will be on-site at Eucalyptus Systems in Santa Barbara, California. We're going to spend the whole week working on UEC, ensuring that the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Cloud offering is the best damn Linux hosted Cloud Computing platform in the industry.

Call For Participation

If you have any vested interest in the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, please give us hand next week!

Take a look at the open bugs against:

Help us reproduce those, or let us know if they're fixed. Come hang out in #ubuntu-server next week.

http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2010/03/server-bug-zapping-eucalyptus-and.html

Thierry Carrez: Nominate your favorite Ubuntu Server Papercuts

An Ubuntu Server LTS release stays around for 5 years, so during the development cycle there is an increased focus in QA, bugfixing and stability. During Lucid UDS in Dallas, we discussed of various ways of translating that effort into clear actions. One of those discussions was geared towards improving the Ubuntu Server user (sysadmin) experience: we could focus on fixing lots of minor annoyances, low-hanging-fruit bugs that traditionally get less attention than others. On the footsteps of the excellent One hundred papercuts project (from the User experience team), this project was named Server papercuts.

This project is led by the Ubuntu Server community, for the Ubuntu Server community. We discussed the implementation details during our weekly IRC meetings, a specific Launchpad project was created, together with a team to triage the candidates (with a cool badge).

Now it’s time to nominate your personal pet bug, your favorite minor annoyance, your preferred PITA ! Here is the process to follow:

  1. If the papercut isn’t already filed as an Ubuntu bug in Launchpad, file a bug against the affected Ubuntu package
  2. Look up the bug you want to nominate as a Server papercut, then click on “Also affects project”
  3. Click “Choose another project” and type in “server-papercuts”, click “Continue”
  4. Click on “Add to Bug report”

That’s it ! Your bug will now show up on the Server papercuts buglist and we’ll Confirm or Invalid-ate it soon, when we start getting a good list.

Here are a few guidelines on what makes a good Server papercut:

  • Bug affects a server package
  • Bug has an obvious and easy fix
  • Bug makes the life of the sysadmin more miserable

Here are a few guidelines on what doesn’t make a good Server papercut:

  • New features
  • Large-scale improvements that affect multiple packages
  • Your solution is likely to result in a new papercut for someone else

For more details, complete acceptation criteria is described in the project spec. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerPapercutsSpec

http://fnords.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/nominate-your-favorite-ubuntu-server-papercuts/

In The Press

Ubuntu 10.04 beta 1 is looking good, less brown

Ryan Paul, writing for ars technica, talks about some of the new things in Lucid Lynx. His article starts off with the theme and branding, a new application indicator system, the Me Menu, the addition of Pitivi video editing, and the removal of the GIMP photo editing. He also notes some changes that have taken place since the Alpha version, mostly things that have been smoothed out and cleaned up. Ryan includes numerous screenshots to back up his claims. Read the whole article at: http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2010/03/first-look-ubuntu-1004-beta-1-is-looking-good-less-brown.ars

Nerd alert: first Lucid Lynx Ubuntu beta fun

Scott Gilbertson, writing for The Register (el Reg, for those in the know), is impressed with what he has seen of the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta. He notes that for him everything "just worked" right out of the box. Even his iPhone showed up in Nautilus. He was most impressed with the addition Gwibber social networking app and the new themes. See how your impressions stack up against his: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/19/lucid_lynx_review/

Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Beta 1 Released [Screenshots Tour]

WebUpd8 takes a look at the Lucid Lynx Beta, and offers you a look, too. It shows off both the Ambiance and Radiance themes, boot splash and log-in screens, and logo. Also noted were some of the changes to the GNOME panel apps. Ubuntu Software Center was redesigned, and they show some of the improvements. See what you think of the latest look of Lucid Lynx: http://www.webupd8.org/2010/03/ubuntu-1004-lucid-lynx-beta-1-released.html

Ubuntu pre-release testing made ease with TestDrive

Ryan Paul, of ars technica, has been introduced to a new development in Ubuntu, by Jorge Castro. Called TestDrive, this tool will download an iso and configure a VM for it to run in. More than just that, it will cache the iso and use rsync to update the parts that have changed. That way you can continuously test daily builds of a new release. It supports both KVM and VirtualBox and is easy enough for causal users that simply want to see what's changed. To get TestDrive on Ubuntu 9.10, you can install it from the project's PPA.[1] For more details, visit its project page on Launchpad.[2]

  1. https://edge.launchpad.net/~testdrive/+archive/ppa

  2. https://edge.launchpad.net/testdrive

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2010/03/ubuntu-prerelease-testing-made-easy-with-testdrive.ars

Testing The Different Ubuntu 10.04 Kernels

Michael Larabel of Phoronix tells us that the release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" is quickly approaching next month. While it may not be as exciting as looking at the many new end-user features, in this article he is testing out the available kernels for Ubuntu 10.04. Besides the standard Linux 2.6.32 kernel used in the Lucid release, there is also a specialized server kernel as well as a new -preempt kernel is now available. Larabel looks at how these different kernels perform and how they compare to the mainline Linux kernels with the 2.6.32, 2.6.33, and 2.6.34-rc1 releases. For the benchmarks that were influenced by the different kernels Larabel tested, his simple summary is that the -preempt kernel had its advantages in the disk tests. Follow the link for further details.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_lucid_kernels&num=1

Testing The Power Management Of Ubuntu 10.04

Phoronix's Michael Larabel reports that a call for testing went out to try out the new pm-utils-powersave-policy package that should be making its way into the Lucid Lynx repository in time for the release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS next month. This package offers up several fixes and new power savings features that should help those mobile users running Ubuntu 10.04 to prolong their battery life. Larabel tested out this new package with a notebook and netbook to see how it changes the power game for Ubuntu 10.04 along with whether it's much of an improvement over the current Ubuntu 9.10 release. From Phoronix's Core 2 Duo notebook it's looking like Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" shaping up to go through less power than Ubuntu 9.10, but with the Atom netbook this is not necessarily the case. Click on the link to read more on the tests that Larabel conducted and what the results were.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_lucid_pmutils&num=1

Shuttleworth heir opens up on Ubuntu biz

Timothy Prickett Morgan of Channel Register thinks that when you have Mark Shuttleworth as your backer, as commercial Linux distributor Canonical does, it is a bit like having money in the bank when the bank also believes fervently in your cause. While Shuttleworth may be the Self Appointed Benevolent Dictator For Life at the Ubuntu project, that does not mean that he is the best person to lead Canonical, or that he wants to steer Canonical. He clearly doesn't, since Jane Silber, the long-time chief operating officer at Canonical, was tapped last December to replace Shuttleworth as CEO. Timothy speaks to Jane Silber on a range of topics in this article, which you can find at the link below.

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2010/03/14/canonical_ceo_silber/

Ubuntu Lucid Lynx: Ubuntu's Most Innovative

Datamation's Bryce Byfield notes that Ubuntu’s Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.04) is still six weeks away from release. However, the daily builds and news releases suggest that Lucid will be one of the most innovative versions of Ubuntu for several years. Scheduled as a Long Term Support release that will be supported for three years on the desktop and five on the server, Lucid also shows Ubuntu pressing hard toward well-defined goals. Usability, adaptability, commercialization -- few releases of any distribution can be summarized so tidily as Ubuntu's Lucid Lynx does. Such well-defined goals alone would make Lucid an ambitious release.

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/3871481/Ubuntu-Lucid-Lynx-Ubuntus-Most-Innovative.htm

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta Released

Michael Larabel of Phoronix reports that it's arriving a day late, but Steve Langasek has announced the release of the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta on Friday March 19th. This first major Ubuntu update of 2010 is codenamed "Lucid Lynx". Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, and Mythbuntu have all reached a 10.04 Beta status too. Details and download links for all of the different flavors can be found on the mailing list. [1]

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODA3OA

In The Blogosphere

Mark Shuttleworth responds to the window button issue; hints at good things to come

OMG!Ubuntu discusses the debate of the the window button placement. In this article OMG!Ubuntu points that this change can been seen as both trivial and important, and seeks to find out the rational behind this design change. The article sites Ubuntu design team member, Ivanka Majic's insights on the change but noted this post did not answer the "This is why" question. The article goes on the highlight Mark Shuttleworth's response to a bug filed on the button placements. The part of the Shuttleworth's response that seemed to stand out to OMG!Ubuntu was, "Moving everything to the left opens up the space on the right nicely, and I would like to experiment in 10.10 with some innovative options there." OMG!Ubuntu is excited by the thought of what the right-hand spacing can be utilized, now feels that because there is a deeper meaning behind the placement that it is "mouth wateringly cool."

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/03/mark-shuttleworth-explains-why-window.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+d0od+%28Omg!+Ubuntu!%29

See Nouveau in action on Ubuntu 10.04 (plus how to help test it!)

OMG!Ubuntu reports on Ubuntu 10.04 shipping the new open-source Nvidia driver - Nouveau. The article notes the 2D limitations on this driver such as it cannot support Compiz. The article also points out that there is a 3D Nouveau driver but compared to the 2D one is a but "malnourished" at present. OMG!Ubuntu also states, "For people wanting/expecting a flawless 3D super-desktop I'd heartily recommend sticking with the closed-source Nvidia driver" David Nielson provided OMG!Ubuntu with videos on how Nouveau works in Ubuntu 10.04. The article also provides links to how you can test the Nouveau driver and offer feedback.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/03/see-nouveau-in-action-in-ubuntu-1004.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+d0od+%28Omg!+Ubuntu!%29

Ubuntu Without a Human Face

Christopher Tozzi, WorksWithU, discusses the new look of Ubuntu - without a Human Face. Tozzi points out that Ubuntu's traditional theme was not universally accepted, as some said the earth tones did not look right on an LCD display and others noted that they just wanted more contrast. Tozzi mentions that the Human theme grew on him despite all the controversy. Tozzi used screen shots of the new "Ambiance" theme to highlight the new look - "Pictures are worth a thousand words" Tozzi states, "I can’t say I feel strongly either way about the new theme at this point. It seems a little too dark, and a little too much like OS X, for my tastes, but I imagine it will grow on me in time." In the end though he says that an updated look was overdue, and "Ubuntu without a human face can't hurt."

http://www.workswithu.com/2010/03/14/ubuntu-without-a-human-face/

Why Window Button Placement Doesn’t Matter

Christopher Tozzi, WorksWithU, notes that the window button placement is a source of controversy, but he questions if the issue is really as important as everyone is making it out to be. Tozzi points out that "Personally, I’m not crazy about this decision. The position of the buttons will feel “wrong” to most users, Ubuntu veterans and Windows converts alike." Tozzi states that, "By many measures, window titlebars are on their way out.". If that is the case does the button placement really matter? The other point Tozzi highlights is that GNOME 3 which is set to accompany Ubuntu 10.10 in October hits, it will usher in a whole new conceptualization with Gnome Shell. Tozzi says, "If Gnome Shell catches on, it will make window management buttons almost obsolete, since windows will be managed from a central location." Tozzi ends with, "But at this point, it looks like that innovation will have to wait until Gnome 3 necessitates it next fall."

http://www.workswithu.com/2010/03/16/why-window-button-placement-doesnt-matter/

Why Mark Shuttleworth is right - Ubuntu is not a democracy and nor should it be

OMG!Ubuntu looks into the remarks made by Mark Shuttleworth on bug 552633 - which is about the light theme and the button placement. The response in the the bug report from Mark Shuttleworth that seems to have stirred people up is, "This is not a democracy. Good feedback, good data, are welcome. But we are not voting on design decisions." OMG!Ubuntu points out that the Ubuntu Community has always been a meritocracy not a democracy. OMG!Ubuntu also notes that, "The biggest disservice some people are doing to the Ubuntu community is misrepresenting and misrepresenting Marks comments." OMG!Ubuntu takes a look at some of those misrepresentations and offers argument. OMG!Ubuntu concludes with, "This isn’t to deny that there are some areas where dialogue between developers and users couldn’t be improved but to imply that Canonical are fostering some elite clique of decision makers who are oblivious to community opinion isn’t accurate and is an insult to the community."

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/03/why-mark-shuttleworth-is-right-ubuntu.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+d0od+%28Omg!+Ubuntu!%29

In Other News

Full Circle Podcast #2: The Full Circle of Light (Brown)

Full Circle Magazine's Podcast #2 is now available. The podcast is in MP3 and OGG formats. You can either play the podcast in-browser if you have Flash and/or Java, or you can download the podcast with the link underneath the player. The podcast is hosted by Robin Catling, Ed Hewitt, and Dave Wilkins. Highlights include:

  • Ubuntu 64-bit Edition
  • Ubuntu Lucid Lynx Alpha-3
  • Gnome-Do
  • Game reviews
  • Revisit of Exaile Media Player
  • All new Ubuntu Branding
  • Ubuntu One Music Store Sneak Peek
  • Updates to the Lucid Software Store
  • UDS for Ubuntu 10.10 to be held in Belgium
  • and much, much more!

Listen to the podcast in MP3 or ogg by visiting the link below.

http://fullcirclemagazine.org/2010/03/16/full-circle-podcast-2-the-full-circle-of-light-brown/

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Monday, March 22, 2010

Security Team Catch-up

  • Start: 17:00 UTC
  • End: 17:30 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: nothing formal, just a weekly catch-up.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting

Technical Board Meeting

  • Start: 14:00 UTC
  • End: 15:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Desktop Team Meeting

Kernel Team Meeting

  • Start: 17:00 UTC
  • End: 18:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Global Jam Meeting

  • Start: 19:00 UTC
  • End: 20:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Server Team Meeting

Foundation Team Meeting

  • Start: 16:00 UTC
  • End: 17:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

QA Team Meeting

Edubuntu Meeting

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Ubuntu Java Meeting

  • Start: 14:00 UTC
  • End: 15:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

Friday, March 26, 2010

Ubuntu Global Jam

Lucid Weekly Release Meeting

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Ubuntu Global Jam

BugJam

  • Start: 20:00 UTC
  • End: 22:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-us-dc and IRC channel #ubuntu-bugs
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

DC Loco IRC meeting

  • Start: 22:00 UTC
  • End: 23:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-us-dc
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Ubuntu Global Jam

Ubuntu IRC Council Meeting

Ubuntu Gaming Team Meeting

  • Start: 19:00 UTC
  • End: 21:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10, 9.04, 9.10 and 10.04

Security Updates

Ubuntu 6.06 Updates

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

Ubuntu 8.10 Updates

Ubuntu 9.04 Updates

Ubuntu 9.10 Updates

Ubuntu 10.04 Updates

UWN #: A sneak peek

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Conclusion

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See you next week!

Credits

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

  • John Crawford
  • Craig A. Eddy
  • Dave Bush
  • Amber Graner
  • Liraz Siri
  • And many others

Glossary of Terms

  1. LTS - Long Term Support. - Said of a release that will receive support for 3-years/5-years rather than the typical 18 months
  2. PPA - Personal Package Archive - http://help.launchpad.net/PPA

  3. QA - Quality Assurance
  4. UDS - Ubuntu Developer Summit
  5. VM - Virtual Machine

Other acronyms can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/glossary

Ubuntu - Get Involved

The Ubuntu community consists of individuals and teams, working on different aspects of the distribution, giving advice and technical support, and helping to promote Ubuntu to a wider audience. No contribution is too small, and anyone can help. It's your chance to get in on all the community fun associated with developing and promoting Ubuntu. http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate

Feedback

This document is maintained by the Ubuntu Weekly News Team. If you have a story idea or suggestions for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list at https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/Ubuntu-news-team and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Ideas. If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, please feel free to edit the appropriate wiki page. If you have any technical support questions, please send them to ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com.

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UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue185 (last edited 2010-03-21 21:10:20 by ip68-0-180-217)