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| http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer-world/canonicals-services-play-revenue-windfall-or-trap-878 === I'm running the Ubuntu 10.04 beta === http://insidesocal.com/click/2010/04/im-running-the-ubuntu-1004-bet.html |
Info``World's Neil McAllister thinks it's tough to compete in an industry where your customers expect your product to be free. Recently, a few software vendors have begun offering Internet services as a way to add value to their products and raise revenue, but the latter model is not without its pitfalls. Take Canonical, for example. The company behind the Ubuntu Linux distribution now offers cloud-based data synchronization services under the Ubuntu One brand. You can get 2GB of storage for free; $10 per month gets you 50GB. Soon Canonical will be expanding its offering to include contact synchronization for smartphones -- also for a fee -- and an Ubuntu One Music Store as a Linux-based competitor to i``Tunes. These are bold moves, to be sure but there's just one problem: For a small company whose core competency is software development, an online service-based business is a whole new ballgame. Software vendors who hope to follow in Canonical's footsteps should tread carefully. Offering Internet services presents unique challenges, costs, concerns, and risks. Large companies, such as Apple and Microsoft, are able to adapt quickly to the new model. Maybe Canonical will, too. Other, smaller players may decide that it's more prudent to stick to what they know best. http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer-world/canonicals-services-play-revenue-windfall-or-trap-878 |
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| http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_lts_perf&num=1 | Michael Larabel of Phoronix notes that last week he shared that Phoronix was benchmarking Ubuntu's current and past LTS releases and began by running graphics benchmarks looking at how the proprietary drivers from the past compare to open-source drivers from the present, but now he has an assortment of system benchmarks to publish from the Long-Term Support releases of Ubuntu 6.06.1, Ubuntu 8.04.4, and an Ubuntu 10.04 development snapshot. While in some areas the performance in Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" has dropped due to the slower -- but more reliable -- performance of the default EXT4 file-system, in a majority of the tests, later Ubuntu LTS releases are getting faster and not slower. In nine of the 18 tests, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS was the clear winner over Canonical's previous two Long-Term Support releases. This is good for dispelling any rumors that Ubuntu Linux is getting slower with time, but in fact for many areas it is getting faster. Other areas like the boot speed and power efficiency has improved dramatically with succeeding Ubuntu releases. What is also making Ubuntu 10.04 an exciting Long-Term Support release is addressing more usability issues, the use of Plymouth for the boot screen, Ubuntu Netbook ARM improvements, the introduction of the Ubuntu One Music Store, a new desktop theme, and many package updates. As earlier tests have shown, the overall open-source graphics support is greatly improved in Ubuntu 10.04 compared to even Ubuntu 9.04 or 9.10 with the ATI Radeon support now using kernel mode-setting and the introduction of Nouveau support for NVIDIA graphics. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_lts_perf&num=1 |
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| http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODE0MQ | Phoronix's Michael Larabel recalls that a month ago the Canonical crew working on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS received an unreleased Catalyst 10.4 driver from AMD for inclusion with the Lucid Lynx since the publicly available ATI Catalyst drivers had not -- and to this day still do not -- support the X.Org Server 1.7 used by this next Ubuntu release. Similar pre-releases for Ubuntu have happened in the past when AMD hasn't been quick to the game in supporting new Linux kernels and X Servers. This driver was made available in Ubuntu 10.04 even before Catalyst 10.3 was released. Catalyst 10.4 still has not been publicly released, but another updated 10.4 driver has made its way into the Lucid repository. As a Sunday morning update, an updated fglrx-installer package has entered Lucid that provides a new upstream release. fglrx 8.723.1 fixes an issue with the X.Org Server causing a segmentation fault when certain ATI graphics cards are installed. There may be other changes too "under the hood" with this driver release, but that's all that is officially mentioned. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODE0MQ |
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| http://lifehacker.com/5516863/ubuntu-one-music-store-open-for-testing?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifehacker%2Ffull+%28Lifehacker%29 | Kevin Purdy of lifehacker reports that the DRM-free digital music store we previously peeked at has now opened to the public—at least the public that's using the Ubuntu 10.04 Beta. It's fairly easy to use, and automatically syncs your purchases to your free cloud storage. Technically, the Ubuntu One store launched late last month, but it must have slipped our attention. As it stands, you'll still need to head to your Software Source menu and enable the copyright-restricted sources to install the necessary MP3 plug-ins, but once you do, buying and downloading music from Ubuntu One is very painless, based on a test purchase of some Jimi Hendrix tracks. http://lifehacker.com/5516863/ubuntu-one-music-store-open-for-testing?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifehacker%2Ffull+%28Lifehacker%29 |
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| http://www.linuxuk.org/2010/04/ubuntus-new-web-office-integration/ | LinuxUK.org's Jamie Bennett thinks that desktop Integration with the cloud is hot news. Ubuntu One is a great example of this. Currently Ubuntu One integrates file storage, contacts and notes sync, and now you can even buy music from the online store, delivered straight to the Rythmbox media player. But for some devices, integration with the cloud isn't just a nice feature, it completely changes the user experience (UX). Take for instance a low powered, possibly mobile/embedded system with limited processing power and memory. A cloud based service for these devices could allow resource intensive tasks to be offloaded to an online server somewhere, greatly improving the UX. One set of tasks that are used often but can put a strain on resources are related to office document editing. Online services such as Google Docs and Zoho are out there, but neither of these are tightly integrated with the desktop, until now. Enter webservice-office-zoho. This functionality is currently only available as default on Ubuntu's ARM images, typically where limited hardware resources are more commonly found. But that's not to say webservice-office-zoho can't be used on any other Ubuntu install. There are lots of things planned for the future of webservice-office-zoho. If you have comments, idea's or just want to rant, come along to the web integration UDS session this May, either in person or via online methods. http://www.linuxuk.org/2010/04/ubuntus-new-web-office-integration/ |
WORK IN PROGRESS
Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #189 for the week April 11th - April 17th, 2010. In this issue we cover ...
UWN Translations
- Note to translators and our readers: We are trying a new way of linking to our translations pages. Please follow the link below for the information you need.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Translations
In This Issue
General Community News
Ubuntu Stats
Bug Stats
- Open (#) +/- # over last week
- Critical (#) +/- # over last week
- Unconfirmed (#) +/- # over last week
As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad
Translation Stats Lucid
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx", see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/
Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week
- heading
- heading
- heading
- heading
- heading
Ubuntu Brainstorm is a community site geared toward letting you add your ideas for Ubuntu. You can submit your own idea, or vote for or against another idea. http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/
LoCo News
New in Lucid Lynx
Launchpad News
Ubuntu Forums News
The Planet
In The Press
Canonical's services play: Revenue windfall or trap?
InfoWorld's Neil McAllister thinks it's tough to compete in an industry where your customers expect your product to be free. Recently, a few software vendors have begun offering Internet services as a way to add value to their products and raise revenue, but the latter model is not without its pitfalls. Take Canonical, for example. The company behind the Ubuntu Linux distribution now offers cloud-based data synchronization services under the Ubuntu One brand. You can get 2GB of storage for free; $10 per month gets you 50GB. Soon Canonical will be expanding its offering to include contact synchronization for smartphones -- also for a fee -- and an Ubuntu One Music Store as a Linux-based competitor to iTunes. These are bold moves, to be sure but there's just one problem: For a small company whose core competency is software development, an online service-based business is a whole new ballgame. Software vendors who hope to follow in Canonical's footsteps should tread carefully. Offering Internet services presents unique challenges, costs, concerns, and risks. Large companies, such as Apple and Microsoft, are able to adapt quickly to the new model. Maybe Canonical will, too. Other, smaller players may decide that it's more prudent to stick to what they know best. http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer-world/canonicals-services-play-revenue-windfall-or-trap-878
From Dapper To Lucid, Four Years Of Ubuntu Benchmarks
Michael Larabel of Phoronix notes that last week he shared that Phoronix was benchmarking Ubuntu's current and past LTS releases and began by running graphics benchmarks looking at how the proprietary drivers from the past compare to open-source drivers from the present, but now he has an assortment of system benchmarks to publish from the Long-Term Support releases of Ubuntu 6.06.1, Ubuntu 8.04.4, and an Ubuntu 10.04 development snapshot. While in some areas the performance in Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" has dropped due to the slower -- but more reliable -- performance of the default EXT4 file-system, in a majority of the tests, later Ubuntu LTS releases are getting faster and not slower. In nine of the 18 tests, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS was the clear winner over Canonical's previous two Long-Term Support releases. This is good for dispelling any rumors that Ubuntu Linux is getting slower with time, but in fact for many areas it is getting faster. Other areas like the boot speed and power efficiency has improved dramatically with succeeding Ubuntu releases. What is also making Ubuntu 10.04 an exciting Long-Term Support release is addressing more usability issues, the use of Plymouth for the boot screen, Ubuntu Netbook ARM improvements, the introduction of the Ubuntu One Music Store, a new desktop theme, and many package updates. As earlier tests have shown, the overall open-source graphics support is greatly improved in Ubuntu 10.04 compared to even Ubuntu 9.04 or 9.10 with the ATI Radeon support now using kernel mode-setting and the introduction of Nouveau support for NVIDIA graphics. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_lts_perf&num=1
Ubuntu 10.04 Gets A New Catalyst Pre-Release
Phoronix's Michael Larabel recalls that a month ago the Canonical crew working on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS received an unreleased Catalyst 10.4 driver from AMD for inclusion with the Lucid Lynx since the publicly available ATI Catalyst drivers had not -- and to this day still do not -- support the X.Org Server 1.7 used by this next Ubuntu release. Similar pre-releases for Ubuntu have happened in the past when AMD hasn't been quick to the game in supporting new Linux kernels and X Servers. This driver was made available in Ubuntu 10.04 even before Catalyst 10.3 was released. Catalyst 10.4 still has not been publicly released, but another updated 10.4 driver has made its way into the Lucid repository. As a Sunday morning update, an updated fglrx-installer package has entered Lucid that provides a new upstream release. fglrx 8.723.1 fixes an issue with the X.Org Server causing a segmentation fault when certain ATI graphics cards are installed. There may be other changes too "under the hood" with this driver release, but that's all that is officially mentioned. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODE0MQ
Ubuntu One Music Store Open for Testing
Kevin Purdy of lifehacker reports that the DRM-free digital music store we previously peeked at has now opened to the public—at least the public that's using the Ubuntu 10.04 Beta. It's fairly easy to use, and automatically syncs your purchases to your free cloud storage. Technically, the Ubuntu One store launched late last month, but it must have slipped our attention. As it stands, you'll still need to head to your Software Source menu and enable the copyright-restricted sources to install the necessary MP3 plug-ins, but once you do, buying and downloading music from Ubuntu One is very painless, based on a test purchase of some Jimi Hendrix tracks. http://lifehacker.com/5516863/ubuntu-one-music-store-open-for-testing?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifehacker%2Ffull+%28Lifehacker%29
Ubuntu’s New Web Office Integration
LinuxUK.org's Jamie Bennett thinks that desktop Integration with the cloud is hot news. Ubuntu One is a great example of this. Currently Ubuntu One integrates file storage, contacts and notes sync, and now you can even buy music from the online store, delivered straight to the Rythmbox media player. But for some devices, integration with the cloud isn't just a nice feature, it completely changes the user experience (UX). Take for instance a low powered, possibly mobile/embedded system with limited processing power and memory. A cloud based service for these devices could allow resource intensive tasks to be offloaded to an online server somewhere, greatly improving the UX. One set of tasks that are used often but can put a strain on resources are related to office document editing. Online services such as Google Docs and Zoho are out there, but neither of these are tightly integrated with the desktop, until now. Enter webservice-office-zoho. This functionality is currently only available as default on Ubuntu's ARM images, typically where limited hardware resources are more commonly found. But that's not to say webservice-office-zoho can't be used on any other Ubuntu install. There are lots of things planned for the future of webservice-office-zoho. If you have comments, idea's or just want to rant, come along to the web integration UDS session this May, either in person or via online methods. http://www.linuxuk.org/2010/04/ubuntus-new-web-office-integration/
In The Blogosphere
How Canonical Can Do Ubuntu Right: It Isn't a Technical Problem
http://broadcast.oreilly.com/2010/04/how-canonical-can-do-ubuntu-ri.html
Selling Ubuntu to the “Third World”
http://www.workswithu.com/2010/04/11/selling-ubuntu-to-the-third-world/
Ubuntu Is A Poor Standard Bearer For Linux
http://broadcast.oreilly.com/2010/04/ubuntu-is-a-poor-standard-bear.html
In Other News
Monthly Team Reports: <MONTH> <YEAR>
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Community Spotlight
Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10, 9.04, 9.10, and 10.04
Security Updates
Ubuntu 6.06 Updates
Ubuntu 8.04 Updates
Ubuntu 8.10 Updates
Ubuntu 9.04 Updates
Ubuntu 9.10 Updates
Ubuntu 10.04 Updates
UWN #: A sneak peek
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Conclusion
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UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue189 (last edited 2010-04-18 21:06:03 by user80)