Ubuntu Brainstorm Launched!

Today a new feedback site is launched at brainstorm.ubuntu.com that will make it easier for users of Ubuntu to suggests ideas for improvements. Voting makes it clear which ideas have the most support in the user community and should be given priority. We have of course been inspired by the IdeaStorm site from our good friends at Dell but modified the concept to fit our needs.

The development team can now take the pulse on the most pressing user issues and propose the ideas as topics at the Ubuntu Development Summits and ultimately as specifications. Ubuntu development is in turn driven by detailed specifications written up in the wiki and tracked as blueprints in Launchpad.

An idea on brainstorm can easily be linked to a Launchpad blueprint as well as to a bug or a forum discussion thread. In this way we expect to bridge the locations where ideas are often submitted now, as forum posts or bug reports, with the blueprint format they should be expressed in to be implemented.

The site has been designed and coded by the Ubuntu QA community as part of a more general feedback website (qa.ubuntu.com) designed initially to collect test reports from ISO testing. A huge thanks to stgraber, nand and thorwil!

Have an idea for improving Ubuntu? Post it at Ubuntu Brainstorm!

Kubuntu-KDE4 Alpha Released

kubuntu kde4 desktop

Kubuntu has released an alpha for the Kubuntu-KDE4 CD. This will be released as part of 8.04 which will have a choice of commercially supported Kubuntu (KDE 3), or a community supported Kubuntu (KDE 4).

We recommend the KDE 4 edition to those who want to try this exciting new desktop version and can put up with some missing features.

Release notes notes concerning this new alpha release of Kubuntu 8.04 with KDE 4 can be previewed at https://wiki.kubuntu.org/HardyHeron/Alpha5/KubuntuKDE4. This new CD can be downloaded from either of the 2 following locations:

Weekly Newsletter #79

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 79 for the week February 17th – February 23rd, 2008 is now available. In this issue we cover the release of Hardy Alpha 5, Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex, Ubuntu Developer Week, newly approved LoCos and members, interview with the Ubuntu Server Product Manager, and, as always, much, much more!

  • Hardy Alpha 5 Released
  • Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex
  • 5-a-Day
  • Newly Approved LoCos and Members
  • Review of Developer Week
  • Interview with Nick Barcet, Ubuntu Server Product Manager
  • Florida Team Rocks the Florida Linux Show
  • In The Press & Blogosphere
  • Meeting Summaries
  • Upcoming Meetings & Events
  • Updates & Security
  • Bugs & Translations

If you have a story idea for the Weekly News please submit it via email or on the wiki !

UWN is brought to you by the Marketing Team.

Five a day

DIGG THIS AND SPREAD THE WORD!

From Jono Bacon’s blog:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, I am pleased to announce a brand new initiative in the Ubuntu community that we have been working on for a little while, and one that has been alluded to by some members of our incredible community. It is of course…5-A-Day!!

One of the most incredible things about any community is that when you unite people around a concept – it is incredible what a large collection of individual users can achieve, when they come together as one consistent force. With enough feet marching in the same direction, stunning things can happen, and with this in mind, we have produced a united method of Ubuntu contributors helping to improve and refine Ubuntu – via our bug list. This initiative is called 5-A-Day.

The idea for this came from a recommendation in many countries that to stay healthy and fit, it is recommended that you eat five portions fruit or vegetables *every day*. If you make a conscious effort to do this, your body will thank you for it. It is a simple concept that a variety of manufacturers have supported, and it provides an easy metric for normal people to determine how to contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Many people try to stick to the five portions of fruit or veg a day, and it is simple and easy to get involved, with long-term benefits for people in general. Lets apply the same ethos to Ubuntu…

The idea with 5-A-Day is simple – everyone in the Ubuntu community works to tend to at least five bugs every day. When we say tend to, this naturally depends on the kind of contributor you are.

As such:

  • If you are a developer – you could fix five bugs, package fixes etc.
  • If you are a user – you can help triage and confirm bugs, contribute your experience to bug reports. Test bugs and share
    your experiences.
  • If you are an upstream contributor – you could help forward bugs upstream and help to get these bugs fixed.

To make things ultra-cool, and to spread the word, we have some rather nifty methods of automatic reporting which bugs you have worked on for 5-A-Day and we have a Launchpad Team you can all join. This gives us an idea of how many people are participating in 5-A-Day. People are already starting to contribute their 5-A-Day bugs in their email signatures, and I would love to see the 5-A-Day bugs that people contribute to shown in weblogs, IRC channels and more. If you have a nifty little script to do this, do get in touch.

Weekly Newsletter #78

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 78 for the week February 10th – February 16th, 2008 is now available. In this issue we cover Developer Week, MOTU Freeze Team, Hardy Alpha 5, Hug Day, PulseAudio, and, as always, much, much more!

  • Ubuntu Developer Week
  • MOTU Freeze Team
  • Hardy Alpha 5 Coming Thursday, 21 February
  • Hug Day – 19 February 2008
  • PulseAudio in 8.04
  • In The Press & Blogosphere
  • Meeting Summaries
  • Upcoming Meetings & Events
  • Updates & Security
  • Bugs & Translations

If you have a story idea for the Weekly News please submit it via email or on the wiki !

UWN is brought to you by the Marketing Team.