Ubuntu Edge Gets First Major Corporate Backer, Funding Still Off Needed Pace | Hacker News Reader

Ubuntu Edge Gets First Major Corporate Backer, Funding Still Off Needed Pace

techcrunch.com

82 pointssamspenc21 comments

Even if the Ubuntu Edge campaign doesn't reach its goal, I'm super excited about Ubuntu Touch. I've been running Ubuntu Touch on my Nexus 4 for a while and it is just awesome. Super smooth, great experience and it really shows its potential.

I do hope Ubuntu Edge does reach $32M, but even if not, the future for Ubuntu on phones is very bright.

A few folks from Canonical on IRC told me that they don't have any plans to support upcoming major smartphones. It sounded like they were hinting at hiring a Chinese OEM to make them a custom branded phone that they would support (but not a brand new phone; just a standard Android smartphone with an Ubuntu logo).

I said that was a terrible idea, and that it would severely limit the number of adopters of Ubuntu Touch, but they basically said "not your problem." True, I suppose, but I hope I misunderstood what they were saying.

Frankly, F/OSS driver support for current smartphones is crap (binary blobs), and for future stuff the future looks bleak (no public driver releases at all from upstream, not even in binary form -- look at the new Nexus 7 shenangians).

To be honest, I don't think Canonical could plausibly support new major smartphones even if they wanted to.

Do you think the Edge's hardware will be a major improvement over the Nexus 4?

I am asking because I wonder why I should wait until next year for the Edge when Ubuntu Touch works just as well on a Nexus 4.

It "should" be considerably more powerful as it's designed to not only run ubuntu touch but also a full fledged ubuntu when its plugged into a monitor.

See this video for what that currently looks like on a nexus 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk9-v8Sl4yU Not that nice in my opinion.

> Ubuntu itself is seeking an exorbitant $32 million to make [the Edge] happen...

That is a really annoying misuse of the language. There's nothing exorbitant (unreasonably high, excessive, inordinate, extravagant, undue, exceeding all bounds of custom or fairness) about it. Yes, it's a lot of money, but I trust Canonical's judgment that this is what it will take.

Perhaps the word the author was looking for was "ambitious".

I think exorbitant is a valid word for it. yes, it is the actual cost of the manufacturing run, but expecting to raise that full amount via crowd funding rather than seeking any traditional investors qualifies it as exorbitant.

Does it state anywhere that this is the full amount required? Maybe they need this amount for the finances to work to push it forward and eventually seek additional funding.

in the reedit am a the Ubuntu team did they said they were seeking full funding via indiegogo

'Exorbitant' is a bit too loaded, whereas 'ambitious' is too forgiving. I would say 'unrealistic', given Indiegogo's previous records.

Sounds like free advertising with a very likely possibility that they never have to pay a dime at the end of the day.

Same here! Anyway, nice they did it though. Couldn't ubuntu advertise this in Dubai where rich people waste money in stupid projects ?! Who knows...

Whether it passes or not Ubuntu edge has set the tone for what to expect in the next generation smartphone/personal computing.

I bet Google, Apple and Microsoft are already on their drawing board.

A bit of a pre-cursor leading up to this, from Roy Bahat (head of Bloomberg Beta): http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130801174730-38...

Hmmm, looks like that's a personal post saying why he supports Ubuntu Edge though ... no hint of that being a reason why Bloomberg supported it? But I could be wrong...

(I'm an employee) True, it is Roy's personal opinion, but he's able to voice his opinion at the office too :) The official quotes from the CTO are in a few of the articles out there and on the project page[1]. We do a lot of work in the mobile space (both consumer and professional, on iOS, Android, BB), which people may or may not be aware of.

[1]: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge?c=activity#act...

Ah thanks for the clarification!

Ubuntu needs to offer an $8K plan: identical to the $80K one but with only 10 devices rather than 100.

They already offered additional plans to meet demand, why stop now?

Forgive my crowd funding ignorance, but what's to stop them from just paying themselves (as a mysterious donor) whatever the gap is at the end so that they keep whatever amount they do manage to raise?

Mark specifically said in Reddit AMA, he won't do it. That would defeat the whole purpose. Its less of a profit making endeavour and more of a "testing the water" project. Think of Google Nexus brand, only smaller scale.

Isn't the Canonical the first Major Corporate Backer?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com