Ubuntu Product Launch Day Google+ Hangout | Hacker News Reader

Ubuntu Product Launch Day Google+ Hangout

benjaminkerensa.com

23 pointskotakufanb10 comments

Here is a video of their announcement for those unable to reach the site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU

Any ideas on what it is? I would guess Ubuntu for Android that they had talked about previously, but I have no idea of how far along that work is.

I think they (canonical) have hinted at Ubuntu with touch support. This could be interesting for some of the touch laptop hardware that has been coming out with W8.

Ubuntu ported to phones/tablets.

What I'd like to see, but probably won't, is for Canonical to partner up with an OEM to actually put Ubuntu branded devices in stores.

Honestly, if I may digress, that is what Canonical should have done from day one. We didn't need another distro, guys. And we definitely didn't need ads when we search for files and programs on our own desktop. What we need from a billionaire like Shuttleworth is preinstalled GNU/Linux on hardware that regular people can buy in stores.

I would disagree with the not needing another distro comment. At the time, Linux was progressing fairly slowly. Ubuntu really picked up the ability for mainstream adoption by pushing the software and driver support further along at a quicker pace. They've put a lot of work into making Linux nice to use as a desktop OS, and it has pushed back into other distros as well. Anything they've done beyond that can be debated, but I have to give them credit on that front.

Ubuntu branded devices come after Ubuntu is ready to hit the brick-and-mortar market. System76 is one vendor selling Ubuntu-branded devices, and they're showing there is a market for it.

System 76 is not Canonical, though. And you can't buy them in stores. They were a lifesaver though when I wanted a linux laptop, and my current laptop is a S76 Gazelle running Slackware. I recommend them.

Your first paragraph I'll give you. I actually started using Linux with Ubuntu in 2006 before I moved on to other distros, so I'm not actually sure what the pre-Ubuntu Linux world was like.

However, I still contend that the most important thing the GNU/Linux world needs, both now and in 2004, is to be preinstalled on hardware and sold on store shelves next to Macs and Windows machines. If Canonical can do this for phones I'll take back all the things I said about them after the Amazon ads debacle. However, I'm not holding my breath.

Announcement story is at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4998045

Well, the counter hit 0 and the site went down.

Where is the link to the hangout?

It's not up yet, but it is supposed to be on that page and on OMG Ubuntu as well once the link is announced.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com