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View Full Version : SO how active is the Ubuntu development for tablets?



cptrohn
October 2nd, 2011, 05:57 AM
I remember seeing Ubuntu tablets selling on ebay a while back (some cheap off brand stuff, don't know how well they worked) But with the tablet boom going on I was just wondering if there was a big push for tablet development going on?

3rdalbum
October 2nd, 2011, 08:06 AM
There was a brief push. A very brief push. It seems to have stalled unfortunately; I think there was a lot of upstream resistance to Ubuntu's plan to retrofit touch gestures to the existing Gnome desktop.

whatthefunk
October 2nd, 2011, 08:26 AM
Does Ubuntu need to develop a Ubuntu for tablets? Does every OS on the planet all of a sudden have to have a tablet counterpart and a cellphone counterpart? Ubuntu is an OS for desktops and if it starts to waver and tries to hit some vague middle ground between tablet OS and desktop OS (Unity anybody?) it will loose popularity. Maybe somebody could develop a spinoff called Tabluntu?

michaelcarey95
October 2nd, 2011, 05:45 PM
Ubuntu should focus on what it does best; getting a kick *** Linux Desktop OS out on the market.

Let someone else worry about tablets or phones. Some other Linux company/group can work with tablets.

Dr. C
October 2nd, 2011, 06:42 PM
The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer (http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_TF101/) is the kind of device where Ubuntu can excel. Basically a tablet that docks to become a netbook.

elliotn
October 2nd, 2011, 08:42 PM
my idea for canonical to make bucks and promote Ubuntu is to talk to hardware makers like ZTE or Huwaei and ask them to build a tablet dedicated to Ubuntu but instead of naming it ZTE or Huwaei they could name it Ubuntu One Smart (smart could be anything like natty etc) then load Ubuntu on it. like apple approach, tablet could have an Ubuntu logo blah blah like the way vodafone is doing in mobile phones

dniMretsaM
October 2nd, 2011, 09:10 PM
You might be interested in Kubuntu Mobile (http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu-mobile/releases/11.04/release/)

viperdvman
October 2nd, 2011, 10:48 PM
Never heard of a Kubuntu Mobile. I have heard of a Netbook Edition like Ubuntu had (before integrating Unity into the desktop version).

*goes to download it to check it out*

cptrohn
October 3rd, 2011, 12:05 AM
Does Ubuntu need to develop a Ubuntu for tablets? Does every OS on the planet all of a sudden have to have a tablet counterpart and a cellphone counterpart? Ubuntu is an OS for desktops and if it starts to waver and tries to hit some vague middle ground between tablet OS and desktop OS (Unity anybody?) it will loose popularity. Maybe somebody could develop a spinoff called Tabluntu?

except that technology is moving more and more to a mobile world.... the line between the traditional desktop experience and the mobile market is getting blurred more and more everyday.... Sure there will always be some folks that will hang onto their desktops.. (I am a tech and am one that will myself) but I also have a wide group of freinds that have NEVER owned a traditional desktop and have absolutely no plans to ever buy one, and alot of those folks are moving towards the tablet world...

If folks in the Linux world want to stay at the cutting edge then they have to embrace the change that the technology world is going towards.

And I stand firmly in this statement, 5 to 10 years from now a traditional desktop experience will be relegated to mostly the technicians and the server market... the rest of world is moving to more mobile technologies. If Ubuntu and other linux flavors don't want to jump on board then their dream of market-share will whither and die along with the unwillingness to change.

One just needs to take a look at MS and see how they are fighting tooth and nail to get into the mobile/tablet movement now... Think Ballmer regrets his decision to blow off the Iphone and the Ipad? You betcha he does.

whatthefunk
October 3rd, 2011, 01:48 AM
except that technology is moving more and more to a mobile world.... the line between the traditional desktop experience and the mobile market is getting blurred more and more everyday.... Sure there will always be some folks that will hang onto their desktops.. (I am a tech and am one that will myself) but I also have a wide group of freinds that have NEVER owned a traditional desktop and have absolutely no plans to ever buy one, and alot of those folks are moving towards the tablet world...

If folks in the Linux world want to stay at the cutting edge then they have to embrace the change that the technology world is going towards.

And I stand firmly in this statement, 5 to 10 years from now a traditional desktop experience will be relegated to mostly the technicians and the server market... the rest of world is moving to more mobile technologies. If Ubuntu and other linux flavors don't want to jump on board then their dream of market-share will whither and die along with the unwillingness to change.

One just needs to take a look at MS and see how they are fighting tooth and nail to get into the mobile/tablet movement now... Think Ballmer regrets his decision to blow off the Iphone and the Ipad? You betcha he does.

I dont see this happening at all. I use my pc mainly for typing and typing on a tablet is miserable. Do you really believe that college students who have to type papers are going to be doing it on an iPad in 5 years? Do you think that all the people in the world who have to do non-tech work on a computer are going to be doing it on a tablet? I actually dont know a single person who has a tablet, and none of them are technicians.
And gamers....I know that there are several games for tablets, but I cant imagine playing a good RPG on an iPad. In depth games need more control
options than a tablet offers.
Also, many people, like myself, dont want to be "connected" all the time. Why do I need the internet on the bus? Why would I want to lug around some massive tablet thing just to be able to check my email 20 times a day? I will never own a tablet or a smart phone because to me they are completely useless. There will be a market for desktops for a long time to come.

LMP900
October 3rd, 2011, 02:15 AM
I dont see this happening at all...

Since everyone else is seemingly clueless and moving towards the tablet black hole, it looks like Ubuntu will have the entire operating system market after all.

ninjaaron
October 3rd, 2011, 02:55 AM
my idea for canonical to make bucks and promote Ubuntu is to talk to hardware makers like ZTE or Huwaei and ask them to build a tablet dedicated to Ubuntu but instead of naming it ZTE or Huwaei they could name it Ubuntu One Smart (smart could be anything like natty etc) then load Ubuntu on it. like apple approach, tablet could have an Ubuntu logo blah blah like the way vodafone is doing in mobile phones

I'm not saying this is a bad idea, but how does it make Canonical bucks?

elliotn
October 3rd, 2011, 06:32 AM
I'm not saying this is a bad idea, but how does it make Canonical bucks?

they could ask for a percentage in sales

Mikeb85
October 3rd, 2011, 06:42 AM
I don't think Ubuntu needs to go to mobile. There will be a market for desktops and servers for years to come (who's going develop and host the cloud-based apps mobile devices will run?). Not to mention emerging markets worldwide. As much hype as there is around tablets, once everyone has one, the hype will die down. The PC market is still growing, just not as fast because everyone already has a PC... IMO 4.3-5.5 inch phones are the future, tablets are useless if you have a large screen phone + real computer...

Besides, projects such as Android and Tizen, who have large corporations backing them and are dedicated solely to mobile will be hard to compete with, and frankly, not worth competing with (they still run Linux anyway).

Ubuntu's market IMO is the emerging market. As the 3rd world becomes more connected, there will be huge demand for affordable PCs for families, upstart businesses, etc... And Ubuntu could fill those needs, especially as Microsoft makes their products harder to pirate.

onla
October 3rd, 2011, 07:34 AM
I think Desktop is the king among all these gadgets and no one can ever defeat a king in the race. If you are working professionally, you'll definitely need a desktop. All other things like a tablets, netbooks are just for beginners and kids to learn and have fun. That's it.

cptrohn
October 3rd, 2011, 05:07 PM
I dont see this happening at all. I use my pc mainly for typing and typing on a tablet is miserable. Do you really believe that college students who have to type papers are going to be doing it on an iPad in 5 years? Do you think that all the people in the world who have to do non-tech work on a computer are going to be doing it on a tablet? I actually dont know a single person who has a tablet, and none of them are technicians.
And gamers....I know that there are several games for tablets, but I cant imagine playing a good RPG on an iPad. In depth games need more control
options than a tablet offers.
Also, many people, like myself, dont want to be "connected" all the time. Why do I need the internet on the bus? Why would I want to lug around some massive tablet thing just to be able to check my email 20 times a day? I will never own a tablet or a smart phone because to me they are completely useless. There will be a market for desktops for a long time to come.

Actually yes I do see that happening, it's why I said it after all.... Tablets are not restricted to just using an on-screen keyboard either... most are bluetooth and you can pair a keyboard with it....

But the mobile market is HUGE and the desktop market is dying.. How many college kids actually own a desktop since you pointed that out? Not very many, the laptop market dominated the college market, and tablets are catching on very quickly.

Just look at Windows 8 and who THAT market is targeting, it's targeting the mobile market. The future is with the mobile market, and that is seen industry wide. There is no denying this. Technology marches on and the huge bulky desktops of the past century ARE NOT what the public wants.. they want to be extremely mobile and to be able to access their information anywhere that they are.

Any technology that wants to stay rooted in the desktop market is doomed to fail in the next generation of technology.

whatthefunk
October 4th, 2011, 03:56 AM
Actually yes I do see that happening, it's why I said it after all.... Tablets are not restricted to just using an on-screen keyboard either... most are bluetooth and you can pair a keyboard with it....

But the mobile market is HUGE and the desktop market is dying.. How many college kids actually own a desktop since you pointed that out? Not very many, the laptop market dominated the college market, and tablets are catching on very quickly.

Just look at Windows 8 and who THAT market is targeting, it's targeting the mobile market. The future is with the mobile market, and that is seen industry wide. There is no denying this. Technology marches on and the huge bulky desktops of the past century ARE NOT what the public wants.. they want to be extremely mobile and to be able to access their information anywhere that they are.

Any technology that wants to stay rooted in the desktop market is doomed to fail in the next generation of technology.

I dont think youre looking at the whole picture here. Yes, pc sales are on the decline and mobile sales are rising, but that does not mean that everybody in the world is throwing their pcs out and going to tablets. For many, many things, tablets are totally useless. Check out this site:
http://www.etforecasts.com/products/ES_pcww1203.htm

In the US, 28.2 million pcs are predicted to be sold in 2011. Worldwide, 129.3 million. The site also mentions that in the mobile category, notebook pcs currently dominate. Notebook pcs run desktop OSs, not mobile ones. This is clearly not market that is on the brink of total and complete extinction as you seem to think it is.

Also, a lot of the public do not want to be extremely mobile and do not need to be. Why do I need to work anywhere but at work or at home? Why do I need the ability to work in a forest or while riding my bike or while seeing a movie?

One last thing...Windows is trying to target everybody and I feel that it will miss nearly every target. People who have desktops want a desktop OS. People who have tablets want a tablet OS. People who have smart phones want a smart phone OS. I dont know what good can possibly come of having all these OSs mixed up into one giant memory hogging disaster.