Simon Law, head of the Quality Assurance department at Ubuntu, has given a talk to the UW Computer Science Club.
In the talk, Simon explains how Ubuntu is better able to respond to user request and bugs than traditional software companies, and how Ubuntu is taking advantage of the open-source model. Particularly interesting are Simon’s views on what motivates open-source developers to produce software, and how open-source oriented businesses (specifically Ubuntu’s Canonical) are making money.
The Ubuntu project has two exciting volunteer opportunities!
Localisation/Translation Team Leader
If you’re a whizz with Launchpad’s Rosetta translation tool, enjoy making sure things get done and have experience with localisation, get yourself to the next Community Council meeting.
If you’re the right person for the role, you’ll be keeping in touch with translation teams and coordinating with the Rosetta and language pack development teams. If you’re up to the job, step up at the next Community Council meeting.
Sound designer
The Ubuntu Art Team is looking for a sound designer. The rich log-in and event sounds are as much a part of Ubuntu’s human-friendly appeal, as its warm colours and easy to use interface.
If you can create meaning in a snatch of sound, without it becoming irritating, read more in Troy Sobotka’s post to the Art Team’s mailing list.
As an aside, prog-rock hero Robert Fripp has developed Windows Vista’s sound environment. Let’s hope he didn’t go for a twenty minute drum solo at start-up.
Opera 9 is one of the longest-surviving web-browsers out there, eclipsing classical Netscape and dodging any purchase and eliminate moves from Redmond. Some common features even appeared in Opera first. Back in the late-1990’s, I remember seeing “tabs” in use (but they were along the bottom of the window then!).
Over the years the makers of Opera (also called Opera) have been very supportive of the GNU/Linux community.
Several versions of their browser have been available for us freedom lovers, especially for users on Apple’s PowerPC chips and even a .deb package for Debian on Sparc. In recent years Opera’s blistering speed and compact size have given it a comfortable home on hand-held PDAs and mobile/cellular phones, so much so that they have been able to drop the price to a beautiful zero Norwegian dollars (for non-Americans out there, the currency is actually called “Kroner”).
Now all that power and excitment joins forces with the power and ease-of-use of Ubuntu. Opera 9 is now available with Ubuntu 6.06 LTS upwards—installing only takes a couple of clicks (directions behind the link). KDE and Kubuntu fans can also rejoice because Opera uses the Qt libraries and will fit in perfectly with your desktop.
Today, Friday 28th July, is the Annual Sysadmin Appreciation Day, celebrating the hard work of the tireless, hard-working people who jump out of bed to the sound of their pagers vibrating at 03:00 in the morning. Instantly wide-awake, they enthusiastically hop and skip down to the data-centre to fix whatever is required (like happened this weekend!).
The Ubuntu servers are looked after by a valiant team of three. James Troup (lovely cuddly “elmo”) has been with Ubuntu since the project started and has also famously been Debian’s single-point-of-failure for the last decade. Karl Tilbury (“Znarl” on IRC) started along side James about a year ago and just recently in the last month, Nick Moffit (aka “Spads”) joined the crew. If you can spot them hiding out on the IRC channels be sure to wish them your best regards.
In celebration of the day, our friends over at the UKUUG have produced an animation to liven up the day and just in case you haven’t got proprietary Flash installed, you can download an OGG audio file to listen to.
Hugs, flowers, chocolates and kisses can be sent via Claire at the Canonical office.
In Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter – Issue #7 for the week of July 15 – 21, 2006, you'll find:
Keep up with the latest in the community and submit your own stories.
This issue put together by Rich Johnson (Nixternal).