Karmic Open Week Wrap-Up

Ubuntu Karmic Open Week

On November 6, 2009, I participated in an online-chat conference called Open Week. This is when the Ubuntu community discusses and celebrates their most recent release Karmic Kola. It is a no-cost version of Linux that a company called Canonical will support until April 2011. After then, you qualify for a free upgrade! Rinse and Repeat. I spoke on the topic of “Resolve Bug One” since the Ubuntu community sees Microsoft’s hold on the majority of the market as a bug.

Full chat log here.

The rest of this post is the answers to some questions I was asked during the session…

sebsebseb: bethlynn1: I just want to say  that  your session has been one I been looking forward to a lot since I first found out about it.   Since I thought it would be pretty interesting, and it seems it will be.

ble: Thank you. Please read my blog where I have committed to track the status of bug one until June 30, 2011 http://www.whatwillweuse.com

airurando QUESTION: If bug one is to be resolved shouldn’t more emphasis be placed on nailing down LTS releases and working more closely with hardware manufacturers to market there systems based on the 2 -3 year LTS cycle?

ble: Ubuntu is one Microsoft Windows alternative. I do not have the numbers, but I suspect that it is the most popular OEM Linux distribution. The Linux kernel developers should pay more attention to what hardware the users actually care about and prioritize from there. I would like to see the Linux Foundation operate as a conduit for communication between the hardware manufacturers, the kernel team, and the distributions. We can accomplish more if we work together. There are a lot of important problems in hardware to resolve with wifi being
at the top of the list.

With that said, I would be very happy with a late October LTS release every two to three years. If we wait much longer than three years, the users get bored with the hardware and software choices.

I will give you an example of desktop hardware driving the distribution version choice. When I worked at Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science (CMU-SCS) in 2001-2006, we would purchase machines in early August so that we would be ready for the school year for Fedora/Windows deployment. Every single year we would just barely miss the release of the newest compute processors from Intel and AMD in September-early October. All of the rest of the hardware, especially the video cards, would be bleeding edge to compensate for the fact that the PCs would seem no-so-brand-new just two months after deployment. The choice of version of Fedora was not by what was the newest but what would work best with the hardware and site-specific software. CMU-SCS started with Red Hat 4.2 in about 15 years ago and now uses Fedora 10. Several versions of Red Hat and Fedora were skipped along the way but never more than three in a row. Typically the users were happy with the most recent version of Fedora
as long as all of the hardware works.

rrnwexec: QUESTION: Is Bug #1 the top priority bug, or is it purely #1 in a numerical sense?

ble: Mr. Shuttleworth filed bug #1 so this question may be for him.

As a mere Ubuntu user, I feel this bug is a top priority issue for Canonical. It is also a top priority issue for all computer users.

When UNIX was invented at Bell Labs 40 years ago, software source was meant to be free. Some people point to Bill
Gates’ 1976 letter to the Hobbyists as being the cause of the popularity of proprietary software licensing.  Through decades of closed-source innovation at Microsoft, the world loses the opportunity to be free to improve on the software as one community. In order to hold market share, Microsoft will give away licenses with out cost to select communities while prohibiting them from making changes to the source. These type of anti-competition tactics have harmed their competitors and their users. This is why the United States
took Microsoft to court.

rrnwexec: QUESTION: Would Bug#1 be more quickly solved if it’s priority was raised to the top?

If Linux users everywhere came together to say “Linux is a stable superior desktop operating system” bug one would be resolved in months. I believe this will happen on or before June 30, 2011. This is why I blog about bug one’s progress at http://www.whatwillweuse.com.

rrnwexec: QUESTION: Is “Linux” an appropriate name for a dairy council, figuratively speaking? And if so, is it a wise marketing move?

ble: Using the word Linux gives a good amount of common ground for many distributors to stand together. We are getting to a place where most people have heard of Linux. Yes it is wise to get people talking about Linux more and more since there are so many great successful product using it. In fact there is far more Linux deployed that the public realizes.

Some people may argue that GNU/Linux must always be said unless you are only discussing the kernel.  The Gentoo distribution proves that not every Linux is GNU. With no disrespect for the contributors to the many wonderful GNU projects, the GPL, or the Free Software Foundation, I do think it is too confusing to say GNU all of the time. For whatever reason, Linux is a name that sticks. In order to achieve world domination, we need to showcase our products as quality first and foremost. Once people are hooked, then we can discuss freedom.

As far as the official name of the Linux Dairy Council, there will be another name in which we do business. The Linux Dairy Council is just a working name as we recruit volunteers. The official public-facing name will be announced around the time of the first campaign.

txwikinger: QUESTION how can you join the Linux Dairy Council?

ble: So far, we are just a Google group. Join us at http://groups.google.com/group/linux-dairy-council

Jesi: Question: I agree that we need to be unified in our approach, although I do feel Ubuntu is the best bet for newcomers, each distro has a different user-base, so I don’t see that being an issue,  so again, great idea… but what is this “dairy farm” doing  to actually make such a change happen?

ble: First, continue what you are already doing. The Ubuntu community is doing a wonderful job with ship-it which will continue to provide affordable and professional media to the masses. The LoCo teams are also excellent for getting the word out that Linux and Ubuntu is out there. By and large, I see very little elitism within the Ubuntu community with legitimate desire to work with other distributions.

Secondly, take part in local user groups, including non Linux user groups. You need to be ready for the influx of new Linux users that will happen sooner than we think.

SoftwareExplorer: COMMENT:On the liveCD, root usually doesn’t have a password, so I would be a little careful there, because I don’t think it even asks, of course, you could set a root password

Jesi: COMMENT: SoftwareExplorer is right, you can use Sudo or log in as root on the cd with no password and/or confirmation of any kind…. do it all the time
I see this a as a feature. Not a bug. If you have full physical access to the box, you already own the box. I do not know what good a liveCD where you can not invoke root or at least sudo would do.

Jesi: Question: why a webbased alternative for that software? it it itself webbased? I would check the Software Center or Synaptic

ble: First, I do recommend that a user checks their distribution’s package area if there is an application for the tools they need. The Ubuntu Universe/Multiverse continues to amaze me with the amount of variety of software available. Some tasks, like tax preparation, need field-specific experts to gather the most up-to-the-minute information. Traditionally, proprietary software companies provide tools for expert-driven tasks for Windows only. Due to the large support costs in licensing and installation of such packages, many of these tools are available for purchase on a web-based service at a discount than the media-based information. Consumers benefits too because they do not have to spend time going to the store to buy the software packages they need.

Since I used tax preparation as the example, I believe that gnucash does not do that function yet. I, Beth Lynn Eicher, personally use Taxact for United States Federal tax preparation therefore it is my lay recommendation that American Linux use it.

Update, whatwillweuse.com reported on the Mackenzie Morgan becoming an MOTU here.

Penguiniator: QUESTION: The grass roots activities are one thing, but how does the Linux Dairy Council intend to get the “Got Linux?” message out to large numbers of people the way the “Got Milk?” campaign does?

By standardizing on a message and packaging it for ease of distribution then we can communicate a very effective manner. Many friendly people living all over will carry out the message in their own neighbourhoods.

matt_2048: anyone else think that a big part of the ‘got milk’ campaign’s success is due to the standard-ness of milk?

The Linux Dairy Council has nothing to do with milk products but there is some diversity in milk brands. Some farms only sell rBST-free products. Other farms are completely organic. There still is brand competition at the neighbourhood level, but not at the national level.

***Jesi would have to disagree with beth as in many situations, he finds it easier to talk to girls instead of guys…… and he has to ask if thi really is a problem when it comes to computing

People have different communication styles. I am very comfortable providing support to both men and women in a public environment. I will seldom do a house call unless it is a woman. It really depends on many factors that are beyond the scope of this discussion.

I asked a question to the audience: Is there some way that people can file another bug and attach it as related to bug one?

Jesi: ANSWER: not really, you could post bug info in a comment of another bug on launchpad, but this is often discouraged… if the bugs are related, I would recommend positing each separately and then postinging the link to the other saying you think they are related or simply give the bug number…… also if your unsure, the forums are great

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