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Thread: Shooting for the Perfect 10.10 with Maverick Meerkat

  1. #1

    Shooting for the Perfect 10.10 with Maverick Meerkat

    It’s time to put our heads together to envision “the perfect 10″.

    This is a time of great innovation and change in the Linux world, with major new initiatives from powerful groups bringing lots of new ideas, new energy and new code. Thanks to the combined efforts of Google, Intel, IBM, Canonical, Red Hat, Oracle, Cisco, ARM, many other companies, Debian and other projects, a hundred startups and tens of thousands of professional and inspired contributors, the open source ecosystem continues to accelerate. We need to bring the best of all of that work into focus and into the archive. For millions of users, Ubuntu represents what Free Software can do out of the box for them. We owe it to everybody who works on Free Software to make that a great experience.

    At the Ubuntu Developer Summit, in May in Belgium, we’ll have a new design track, and a “cloud and server” track, reflecting some major focal points in 2010. They will complement our ongoing work on community, desktop, kernel, quality assurance, foundations and mobile.

    Our new theme is “Light”, and the next cycle will embrace that at many levels. We have a continued interest in netbooks, and we’ll revamp the Ubuntu Netbook Edition user interface. As computers become lighter they become more mobile, and we’ll work to keep people connected, all day, everywhere. We’ll embrace the web, aiming for the lightest, fastest web experience on any platform. The fastest boot, the fastest network connect, the fastest browser. Our goal is to ensure that UNE is far and away the best desktop OS for a netbook, both for consumers and power users.

    On the other end of the spectrum, we’ll be lightening the burden of enterprise deployment with our emphasis on hybrid cloud computing. Ubuntu Server is already very popular on public clouds like EC2 and Rackspace, and now that Dell supports the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud for private cloud infrastructure, it’s possible to build workloads that run equally well in your data center or on the cloud. We’ll focus on making it even easier to build those workloads and keep them up to date, and managing the configurations of tens, or tens of thousands, of Ubuntu machines running in the cloud.

    It’s not all about work. We don’t just want to be connected to the internet, we want to be connected to each other. Social from the Start is our initiative to make the desktop a collaborative, social place. For the past five years, we’ve all been shifting more and more data into the web, to a series of accounts and networks elsewhere. Now it’s time to start to bring those social networks back into our everyday computing environment. Our addressbooks and contact lists need to be synchronized and shared, so that we have the latest information everywhere – from mobile phones to web accounts.

    So there’s a lot to do. I hope you’ll join us in shaping that work.

    Introducing the Maverick Meerkat

    Our mascot for 10.10 is the Maverick Meerkat.

    This is a time of change, and we’re not afraid to surprise people with a bold move if the opportunity for dramatic improvement presents itself. We want to put Ubuntu and free software on every single consumer PC that ships from a major manufacturer, the ultimate maverick move. We will deliver on time, but we have huge scope for innovation in what we deliver this cycle. Once we have released the LTS we have plenty of room to shake things up a little. Let’s hear the best ideas, gather the best talent, and be a little radical in how we approach the next two year major cycle.

    Meerkats are, of course, light, fast and social – everything we want in a Perfect 10. We’re booting really fast these days, but the final push remains. Changes in the toolchain may make us even faster for every application. We’re Social from the Start, but we could get even more tightly connected, and we could bring social features into even more applications. Meerkats are family-oriented, and we aspire to having Ubuntu being the safe and efficient solution for all the family netbooks. They are also clever – meerkats teach one another new skills. And that’s what makes this such a great community.

    Here’s looking at the Lynx

    Lucid is shaping up beautifully, but there’s still a lot to be done to make it the LTS we all want. Thanks to everyone who is bringing their time, energy and expertise to bear on making it outstanding. And I’m looking forward to the release parties, the brainstorming at UDS, and further steps on our mission to bring free software to the world, on free terms.

    Originally posted by Mark Shuttleworth here on Friday, April 2nd, 2010 at 9:00 am



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  2. #2
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    Re: Shooting for the Perfect 10.10 with Maverick Meerkat

    ....Maverick Meerkat

    reminds me of two things

    john "maverick" McCain
    meerkat manor

    both i don't really like
    Someday we'll hit the human carrying capacity. And the band will just play on. -Me

    I'm trying PHP, so my code can probably be labelled "bad and insecure"

  3. #3
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    Re: Shooting for the Perfect 10.10 with Maverick Meerkat

    Hi, there are mainly two aspects of day-to-day users' desktop usage which are currently keeping users still on Windows:

    1) Proprietary drivers for technological gadgets and popular applications (e.g. Tomtom software, iTunes, etc)

    2) Out-of-the-box support for media, such as the ability to play DVD movies, listen to MP4 files, etc

    Whereas huge steps forward have been made as the second point is concerned (today with the installation of few extra drivers it's possible to watch DVDs on 9.10), the huge gap is still represented by point 1. Vendors don't want to provide Linux drivers for some of their products and this is not a matter of prejudices towards the Linux community. No it has to do with far more simple numbers; what's the Windows user base and what's Linux? Vendors make the math and simply find that they will provide drivers for OS where the majority of users are: and today these are Windows and Mac. Never mind that Linux is a brilliant OS, that outperforms Windows big time, that is becoming a user friendly OS; what matters are numbers. So if we want Linux (and Ubuntu with it) to beat Windows and impose itself as the de-facto OS we need to attract more users to the Ubuntu platform, and this can only be achieved if we provide a desktop environment easy to use for the non-IT-oriented users, and believe me there are loads in the Windows community. Windows is popular not because of his quality, but because they were quick (and canny) to get the contract with IBM when Big Blue rolled out its first mass-consume PC. Microsoft was able to obtain that every PC would be shipped with a copy of DOS, and this is how they got popular.

    It's very hard to change users' habits, especially when today users' are used to OS which do everything on their behalf; they don't need to be familiar with IT yet they can browse the internet, install a device (such as an external HD, a TomTom device, Blackberry software, etc) since it will come with Windows drivers but not with Linux (at least not the majority).

    To change things around we need to evangelise the beauty of Linux (and Ubuntu), the fact that it's free and that performs ways better than Windows. Partly this process has already started, with the user base hugely more numerous than before, but still I read on forums and chats that users struggle to get "everything" working on Ubuntu, and once they are fed up they go back to Windows.

    Once we'll have the numbers than vendors will start writing drivers for Linux too, and that will be the moment when Linux (and Ubuntu) will become the desktop OS market leader.

    M.

  4. #4
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    Re: Shooting for the Perfect 10.10 with Maverick Meerkat

    Here's something I think could be part of your "maverick" plan:

    Support ARM processors and touchscreens
    I would like to see this because, while its great that you are trying to win market share from typical Windows users, I wouldn't want to see Ubuntu get left behind if Android/ARM based devices become dominant.

    Having support for ARM/touch right now should make it easier to enter the iPad/touch pad market in the future, and will give developers some time to come up with apps for such devices for Ubuntu, or port current apps to Ubuntu

  5. #5
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    Re: Shooting for the Perfect 10.10 with Maverick Meerkat

    I'd like to see Ubuntu One further evolve into a way to take your information with you wherever you go.

    I'd like to see it implement a Mozilla Weave server, your chat accounts from Empathy, your social network accounts from Gwibber and that way when you go to a different Ubuntu computer you can log in and BAM it's just like you're at home; your most important files, your favourite music, your bookmarks/history, your chat accounts all ready to go and when you sign out BAM it's all securely removed from the location and resides in the cloud.

  6. #6
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    Re: Shooting for the Perfect 10.10 with Maverick Meerkat

    I have been working with optimizing the computing experience, for the human senses.
    Please do read:

    http://www.paradoxuncreated.com/arti...illennium.html

    PS: An update to this article is coming.

  7. #7
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    Re: Shooting for the Perfect 10.10 with Maverick Meerkat

    Music is starting to turn the corner so you're able to see more music availability without DRM. And now Rythmbox even has a music store built in. Sure it's not as robust as iTunes, but it's a start!

    Biggest issue with movies is the legal right to play commercially made DVDs on your linux computer. I'm not talking philosophical legal, but actual law legal, which each and every country seems to have their own rules to.

    Why are these issues still going into the 10 edition of Ubuntu? Frankly, it's the attitude of the traditional linux community. "Everything HAS to be open!" "Everything should be free!" And then when someone develops something, rather than getting a pat on the back for expanding the availability, they're generally told it should've been open instead.

    Just look at the silly Firefox trademark issue that crept up in Debian a year, or so ago. Exact SAME code under the hood, but because the Mozilla Foundation protected the Firefox name/logo through the use of a trademark, it was rebranded by Debian as Ice Weasel! Ugh!!

    Now with that said, I am not against someone keeping their system as "pure" as they want to. They just need to understand that there are certain things that may not work as well as in the two major OS's, or may not work at all.

    Until the whole copyright/DRM thing can be sorted out in court, Linux Mint is probably the best "out of the box" option for a great many people. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the marketing force behind it like Ubuntu, Debian, etc. does. Not to mention the financial backing of someone like a Mark Shuttleworth. Yes, you can get DVDs working by installing some stuff, but there are multiple packages, but it's still not as simple as a single button push.

    My biggest gripe is trying to get my cell phone playing nice with my computer out of the box. I would hope that would be something ironed out fairly easily, but I guess WM causes all sorts of hiccups in there (can only imagine the problem with the iPhone!). The only thing I've actually needed Windows specifically for over the past few months was flashing a new ROM onto my Omnia, which is quite frustrating.

    Anyways, that's my take. Sorry if I offended anyone with my diatribe.


    Peace,

    Robert

    Quote Originally Posted by alzamabar View Post
    Hi, there are mainly two aspects of day-to-day users' desktop usage which are currently keeping users still on Windows:

    1) Proprietary drivers for technological gadgets and popular applications (e.g. Tomtom software, iTunes, etc)

    2) Out-of-the-box support for media, such as the ability to play DVD movies, listen to MP4 files, etc...

  8. #8
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    Re: Shooting for the Perfect 10.10 with Maverick Meerkat

    Quote Originally Posted by alzamabar View Post
    Hi, there are mainly two aspects of day-to-day users' desktop usage which are currently keeping users still on Windows:

    1) Proprietary drivers for technological gadgets and popular applications (e.g. Tomtom software, iTunes, etc)

    2) Out-of-the-box support for media, such as the ability to play DVD movies, listen to MP4 files, etc

    M.
    Most of the people I know that are reluctant to get Linux are as such because of the lack of games. I know you can install wine and play tons of games but most gamers are not actually computer people.

    I remember seeing that "Games for Windows" sticker on stuff, we should do a "Games for Ubuntu" campaign.

  9. #9
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    Re: Shooting for the Perfect 10.10 with Maverick Meerkat

    Linux binaries for the next half life, and you already have most of the people rebooting to windows.

  10. #10
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    Re: Shooting for the Perfect 10.10 with Maverick Meerkat

    Plan for popularity:
    1. Create a storefront for pre-installed Ubuntu machines from partner OEMs. Customers would be able to search for, customize, and purchase machines pre-installed with Ubuntu all in one place. Idea #9193: Links to OEM Vendors on the website.

    2. Start marketing Ubuntu to the general population around the release of the next LTS (not Lucid). Market non-LTS releases as releases for technology enthusiasts and LTS releases for regular users. Build brand recognition among the general population.

    3. Get popular software to be ported to Ubuntu.

    4. Get Ubuntu machines to be sold in regular stores both physical and online.

    Ubuntu needs to be something more positive and well defined than "Linux for human beings". If Windows is for work and Macintosh is for multimedia, then what is Ubuntu for? That question is the one that requires an answer. It can't be games, as that's one of the main weaknesses. It can't be the web, because everyone already does that just as well. Just price alone doesn't mean a thing. Ubuntu needs to fill the needs of a niche that is defined or dominated by Linux enthusiasm. Before it can do that, it needs to know what that niche is exactly.

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