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Planning Dapper +1, The Edgy Eft
Christian Jensen writes "On the ubuntu-announce mailing list, Mark Shuttleworth announced the plans for the next Ubuntu release - 'The Edgy Eft', the successor to Dapper Drake." This release is being touted as both cutting edge (edgy) and containing several comparatively "young" software additions ('Eft' being a 'youthful newt, going through its first exploration of the rocky territory just outside the stream.') like Xen, XGL/AIGLX, and others.
Planning Dapper +1, The Edgy Eft
I read that headline eight times. I ran to the mirror and smiled to make sure both sides of my mouth were working. Then I made sure both my arms lifted fine. "Hrm...", I thought, "I didn't have a stroke. Why does that headline make no sense?"
Trolling is a art,
I got better. But it did make me a bit, you know, edgy...
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
"We can afford to take some risks with Dapper+1, because Dapper has turned
out so well."
I love Ubuntu and all that, but jeez, get it out the door first!
Names matter a lot to those who don't understand what's behind it. For years I marveled at how you would start Windows 3.1 by typing "win" at a dos box. Very shrewd. If a *nix programmer did it, s/he would probably have made it a short snappy abbv for "Load Operating System and Execute Restart", and not think a thing about what it spells to the laity.
;)
Or "Load Unix and Start Running"
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
This is rather off-topic so I'll expect the usual down-mod.
/. should get a new icon for Ubuntu instead of using the Debian one. Yes, I know that Ubuntu is based on Debian Sid, but seeing that Ubuntu is arguably more popular than Debian (based on Distrowatch stats), perhaps an Ubuntu section/icon would be in order?
Perhaps
Are they going in alphabetical order?
At first, they had Hoary Hedgehog, but then they went Breezy Badger, Dapper Drake, and Edgy Eft. If they're going to do this, what happened to the 'C'? And why not start with an 'A'?
Ride the skies
It's real prevelant in the OSS world, unfortunately. Clever names that, well, aren't. OGG Vorbis is a good example. It just sounds... Odd. It's not descriptive of function and doesn't have a cool ring to it. I think that's part of the problem with adoption. MP3 sounds cool (so does AAC). They are the nifty-technology acronyms and they are easy to say.
OSS people need to think more marketing driven. Had I been the one in charge of making the Ogg Vorbis thing, I probably would have looked at calling it something that made reference to MP3. Call it MP5 maybe, for 5th Gen Music Packer. Something that's clearly intended to draw a reference to MP3. If not something so direct, then think up a cool acronym, and figure out something that works for it. AAC is good, nice acronym, good name (Advanced Audio Codec). Sounds all high tech and shit.
Same thing with shit like GIMP. Ok so the full name, GNU Image Manipulation Program isn't horrible, but calling it GIMP is fucking stupid. For nearly everyone the assocation is either Pulp Fiction, or a crippled person. Not something you want. Now Photoshop, that's a good name. Says what it does, sounds cool, conjures up ideas of picture editing, which is indeed what it's for.
So I'm not at all suppirsed to see Ubutnu (which is odd to Western ears at any rate) doing stuff like this. I'm sure they think it's terribly cool and clever, and I'm sure many people agree with them. However I'm also pretty sure they haven't thought it over marketing wise.
I'm sure it's been visited before -- here's a list of names we're used to...but would seem strange without some sort of common usage or marketing force behind them:
Windows NT, ME, XP, Vista, Xbox
OSX...Jaguar, Panther
Apache, IIS
iPod, Nano
MS Excel, Powerpoint
Yahoo, Google
Ubuntu -- Humanity to others. Now as far as the naming conventions of hoary hedgehog, breezy badger, dapper drake, and now edgy eft...get over it. There are lots of fscked up names for projects and sure, it'd be better if they had more appropriate names, but they're still as useful. It's a matter of pulling enough of a marketing spin on things, that's all.
I like and use ubuntu (well kubuntu, really). I don't care about the naming conventions. If nothing else, it's a conversation starter. "Yeah, at home I run dapper drake" -- "dapper drake, what's that?" "oh, it's a version of a linux distro called Ubuntu...you know how Windows has all these version numbers and strange names? Ubuntu's folks decided to use animals in theirs. Kinda like Apple and their big cats."
To each his own, bro...and as long as the Ubuntu folks come up with good stuff and package it in that wonderfully user-friendly manner, I'm all for it. Now if they call the next version "fscked-up falcon" I may reconsider. Nah, I'll probably still use it.
It's hard not to warm to this announcement, imho. It is written in a clear style by someone who comes across as open, approachable and not afraid to take risks. Such a contrast to corporate chiefs who bark out orders, rubbish their competitors or spout incomprehensible jargon written for them by a marketing droid. OK the names for Ubuntu releases may be a bit eccentric but this cool, direct approach is what attracts me to Linux. It's my PC to do with as I wish and it absolutely doesn't have to have a toad from the office or authentication central inside it.
Just my 2 cents, but I think Ubuntu does have some pretty big challenges in front of it quite apart from incorporating "edgy" new technology. It needs to find a self-sustaining financial model and some kind of interface with business and the enterprise, which the Dapper release is meant to kick off, I believe. Anyway, Kudos to them.
Las qué passoun
tournoun pas maï
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DevelopmentCodeNames
It's a long list!
For fuck's sake, stop being 13 years old. If saying "Ubuntu" is enough to make you feel like a jackass, you've got some issues. And anyway, I cannot really understand how "Ubuntu" is any worse than "SuSE." Furthermore, names like Dapper Drake are code names for release targets, not brands.
Our intelligent designer has never created an animal that we couldn't improve by strapping a bomb to it.
Maybe you've heard of it. That's what us open source developers do, have fun. If you don't want to use our software, fine, don't.
What's the difference between open source software an proprietary software?
Open source software is made by engineers.
Proprietary software is made by managers.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Do you run Windows? Which version? Memphis? Cairo? Whistler? Longhorn? Or maybe you're a Mac guy. So would that be Cheetah? Panther? Tiger? Leopard? Of course, now that they've moved to Intel chips you can run either one on your Yonah CPU.
:P*
Everyone does it, it doesn't hurt anyone, and you can always call it by the version number if you really want. Well, except for Windows
*(yes, I know there really is a version number but it won't mean much to most people)
I know I get Edgy when my Dapper is full !
Eft ! Eft ! Come change my Dapper !
*drools*
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
Specific Magic Weapons /bin/target!'
The Edgy Eft
Stats: Planning Dapper +1, (1d4+1, 20/x3)
Special: 3 Times per day, the wielder can activate this weapon using a command word (anything alliterative), causing it to gain +2 to attack and damage against any single foe designated in the previous round. This effect lasts for 1 hour. The target may be changed at any time by pointing it at a new target and shouting 'emerge
Description: This light walking stick seems to have an air of ease-of-use surrounding it, despite being an exotic weapon. It is made of solid chrome, with a gemstone at the top emmiting rainbow colors randomly at all hours, thus earning it it's nickname.
Minimum CL (coder level) 10. Must know C and be a worshiper of Linux to create. Market Value: 0gp*. Cost to create: 10,000gp
*Must be installed by a cleric of Linux, who typically demand pizza and cola in exchange for their services.
For fuck's sake, stop being 13 years old. If saying "Ubuntu" is enough to make you feel like a jackass, you've got some issues.
Not if you're trying to convince a company to use Ubuntu you don't... To the non-Linux crowd (99% of the population), telling your public relations people that you just "Uninstalled Windows XP Professional" and installed "Ubuntu Dapper Drake", they're gonna get a mental image of a Dapper Dan doll in the woods or something.
I agree that the names could be better - but it all depends on who you're talking to. Engineers love weird names like that, it promotes a sense of fun and optimism instead of something mundane and "work"ish. I don't see anything worse about the name "Ubuntu" than "Google" or "Yahoo" at all, at least Ubuntu means something significant.
So "Ubuntu 6.06" to the marketing types, and "Dapper Drake" to everyone who's not trying to fit the mold I guess.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
I can't be the only one who heard "F'd" mentally when reading that headline... hopefully that's not a statement on the release or users who choose to install it. :D
(I love Ubuntu and their funky names.. bring it on!)
Cryptic Allusion - New Mac and Dreamcast Games!
The Dapper quality releases will be strongly tied to future corporate plans. Plus in every release announcement they will clearly state that the Dapper quality releases get extra long support.
Yet the overall quality of the other Ubuntu releases will never hopefully lower to a point where they are unusable by lay persons. I would hope that the kinds of people that a Dapper release was made for (IT managers) would be able to figure out which releases to use where.
Also, I didn't realize that ONLY this release was going to have the extended support. I thought it was from now on they were making releases that would get the longer support. So the in-between, risky, releases will use the breezy support model?
Every two years will bring a Dapper quality release. The way Mark has described it before, its as if the releases in between those two years are basically building up to these Dapper quality releases:
Our current plan is that the Dapper Drake (Ubuntu 6.06 if we hit our June 2006 release date goal) will be the last of this first "set" of releases. So post-Dapper we have the opportunity to define a new "feel" or overarching theme. It would be unlikely to be... blue. But it might be substantially different to the current Human theme.
Each of these in between releases will get the same level of support as all the Ubuntus before Dapper.
I personally have been excited about Edgy long before it was announced. Once you get the hang of it, its easy to spot which Ubuntu releases are for you.
The first releases after the two year major releases will have changes in styles and will be very distinct and maybe a little crazy- just like Warty was when it hit back in the day. All the exciting things the major release had to skip during the year can be added to this release. Mark has already said that Edgy will bring a new color scheme- exciting!
The second release after the major release will be the best of the in betweens- the craziness of the previous release will be polished down some and the time when these releases will come (Spring) is after all the major releases at the end of the previous year. Hoary was really great for this reason.
The third release after a major release will be the most compromised- many new things might be dumped on this release so the Dapper quality release can use the release as development time for its more boring platform. Long before Breezy came out I was scared because it in a bad time of the year for a distro release (right before the new Open Office, Xorg and Firefox were released) and because it had to take on large bites (modular Xorg before Xorg was ready, GCC transition for PART of the system, etc.) to make life easier for Dapper. As a result Breezy seems to be the most buggy release (yet many of these problems - like floppies not working and an unstable OpenOffice- has been fixed post release).
Then we have another Dapper quality release and the IT managers of the world can pay attention again. Long live Ubuntu.
Open Source Sushi
"Edgy Eft is a stupid name" by an obvious connoisseur named Poopie. All is right in the universe.
bau bau chicka chicka mau mau
If you think Ubuntu is a dumb name, that's your problem. Lots of people seem to like it fine.