Ubuntu surprise | Hacker News Reader

Ubuntu surprise

manilastandardtoday.com

41 pointsspacestronaut26 comments

Honestly I don't understand the constant whining and whinging about ubuntu/canonical commercialization.

Fucking shock horror they want to be profitable, while releasing quality open source software.

Big Fucking Deal. Microsoft? Apple? Anyone? A profitable open source Linux OS vendor is a real benefit to open source software. It can provide much needed investment in open technologies and drive hardware and software vendors to releasing linux friendly products.

I truly don't understand all the ubuntu hate I keep seeing lately...

I do. It's hard enough to bring people out of closed OSes while Ubuntu is free. I still think Canonical should do like many successful startups these days: make a large userbase and only then start to deploy the business model.

We're not going to bring many people to OSS if we make it as expensive as the system they're locked in. One more obstacle.

"I still think Canonical should do like many successful startups these days: make a large userbase and only then start to deploy the business model."

But isn't that exactly what they are doing? Ubuntu has been around for 8 years now, would many startups last for 8 years without being profitable? And when should they start deploying their business model? When we are happy with it?

I think that many of us are being two-faced about Ubuntu. We want Linux to succeed, but not Ubuntu. We want to prove that you can make money from open source projects, but object to Ubuntu doing so.

But it is NOT as expensive as the system they're going to. Ubuntu is and always will be free. It's also open source. The majority of users are not thinking of freedom when choosing an OS and price is only part of the story. In the end, like it or not, Users choose OS's based on a number of factors, including the eco-system of the operating system, software availability, hardware and device support. etc etc. Ubuntu users are not getting locked in. They can still do whatever they like with their operating system once ubuntu is installed.

Rumors? Secret projects?

Ubuntu should stop aping Apple and behave like an open source project again.

This is Canonical we're talking about, not Ubuntu. I've found myself forgetting that there are hundreds of volunteers behind Ubuntu, it's not just Canonical and their "product" decisions.

Canonical is the face of Ubuntu, both to consumers and enterprise customers. Until Ubuntu is freed from Canonical's sticky fingers then Ubuntu will continue to be tainted.

Don't forget that Ubuntu draws on the many volunteers behind Debian, and then gets most of the credit.

Their site has been updated with a countdown. http://www.ubuntu.com/ I'm saying it's a tablet.

It might be an Ubuntu phone they were shopping around for partners for a while back. http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android

I'd agree, especially with this "you can touch it" text being included.

I'm hoping for multitouch gestures via the existing synaptics driver. Converting millions of existing laptop touchpads into multitouch pads would make a far more exciting announcement than launching a new tablet or phone or whatever.

It seems unlikely that it's a tablet. The public effort to get Ubuntu working on tablets just began in the 13.04 cycle, and it's focused on the core (e.g. power management and memory usage) rather than the user interface; see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Nexus7

Right now Ubuntu on a tablet is "essentially unusable", as https://lwn.net/Articles/525458/ explains.

This reminds of what Opera did a few years ago. Announcing "We have some secret project that will change the web forever!" then released a new browser with an HTTP server embedded into it that was about as popular as <make up your own thing here>.

I guess the most likely thing here is the Ubuntu TV?

The fact that the message on http://ubuntu.com says:

    > So close, you can [ ... ] almost touch it.

... suggests that it has something to do with touch screens. Probably a mobile or tablet interface.

Maybe they're finally announcing Ubuntu for mobiles, which they demoed a while ago and looked pretty nice.

That was more about integrating Ubuntu with Android, though. I think they want their own OS for mobile.

Maybe, but I'd be much more excited about using my docked phone as a computer than yet another mobile OS that won't be as good as Android.

I don't think Android is a good mobile OS. I think the hardest part for a new mobile OS is to take on the Android ecosystem.

What's wrong with Android, in your opinion?

There are lot of bad decisions done on the platform and people on the interwebs have said enough regarding this topic, how another opinion is going to help you ?

You just fed a troll with troll candy!

Blast!

What is needed badly is someone to deliver compelling open hardware with kick ass design under CC for phones and tablets. Then the (r)evolution will happen on its own. What is the point of pouring immense intellectual resources into software when the hardware for it is nonexistent?

If someone creates a smartphone on which you can install hassle free whatever you can - will have my money in a second.

With it requiring the licensing of tens of thousands of patents to make a phone, that is, unfortunately, not likely to happen.

"So close you can almost touch it." Probably Ubuntu for Tablet (officially)?

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