Slashdot Mirror
Ubuntu Brainstorm Launched
thorwil writes "Brainstorm is a new site where everyone can submit and vote on ideas for Ubuntu. It's inspired by Dell's Ideastorm. By default, you see the ideas submitted by the community sorted by popularity. Each idea is accompanied by arrows so you can vote it up or down (you have to log in first). You can only click once per idea. So this is an easy way to submit ideas and see what people are really wanting."
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goatse buttstorm launched
I vote for a better web server.
and go test it out and offer my, informed, $0.02.
... my head hurts.
But you bastards slashdotted it. Now I'm mad. But I don't really have a reason to because if it weren't for slashdot I wouldn't even know it exists. Yet since I think it's an awesome but can't access it to check it out I hate you all.
So yeah
First post ?
Once I can get to it, I know what I'll be doing this evening :-)
What an excellent idea.
If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.
Change the damn default brown color.
It does not look like brainstorming to me, more like slashstorming.
This is superficially a good idea, until you realize that it's the slashdot crowd that will come out and vote on features. Soon enough, Ubuntu will release its latest version and we will reap the harvest we have sown. Ubuntu 8: HomerCar
1.) Upgrade servers.
And the masses cried out, "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0!"
All those ideas are fine, but requires huge work from developers/testers/doc writers/etc. In fact, infrastructure, framework (a la NetworkManager and GST) are all there, just integrate it in sensible way!
Also, I am kinda worried that this web site will atract just geeks, and geeks have very very different values and thoughts about program choice as common users. Also requests to replace sensible defaults or default beahivour should be taken with grant of salt.
Anyway, nothing new, but it is nice to have it. Let's hope some features requested there will be rolled out in Ubuntu/Kubuntu 8.10.
user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
1. Don't brick a computer if the bootloader fails to install.
2. Don't require a graphical interface to change the refresh rate that's set to a refresh rate out of range of the attached monitor.
3. Don't crash the entire OS when windows are resized. (As in, complete crash: the display is frozen and pressing Capslock no longer changes the Capslock state.)
4. Implement WPA support.
5. Don't crash on install if the update servers can't be reached because of #4.
6. Same as #5, but because there's a firewall and the proxy settings are apparently ignored.
Fix those, and I might actually be able to install Ubuntu.
This is more of a way to see what people who will register yet another account on some website are really wanting, not people in general.
I'm thinking Ubuntu: Server Edition might need a wee bit more work.
"We Didn't Start the Firehose"
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Sometimes its so simple, that you can't do anything. Why doesnt the disk util applet show LVM drives mounted? Why is there no GUI LVM interface?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
That was what, less than an hour?
The problem is, while a person can be smart, the masses are stupid. I am willing to bet if you were to follow the most popular ideas on this project, you'll end up with something that feels an awful lot like Windows.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Good to see that more than me wants this -> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/knetworkmanager/+bug/133814
It's currently second on the list. =)
Of what 'we' have sewn.
Are everyone on Slashdot failing to see what's new here?
Ubuntu has reached a kind of critical mass never before seen for any distro - they have far more non-technical users, far wider participation in the Forums and a great attitude towards newcomers.
The problem is - so far there has been no place except the forums for non-techies to participate and make their voices heard. I see four main categories of users:
1. Developers. If they see a problem, they can code a patch if necessary.
2. Technical users - these can test alpha and beta releases, and help locate bugs etc.
3. Non-technical but internet-savvy users - if they report an issue, it's often a big, missing feature (like, "I want my webcam to work")
4. Users that won't comment online in any case.
There is currently no place for the third category. Dell realized that, and it's really a shame that the FOSS community took this long to realize that there is a need for structured feedback from category three.
Kudos to Ubuntu, I wish them all luck with this initiative. Dell's ideastorm has been a success because Dell has actually listened to the community there. Let's hope Canonical etc. has the resources to fulfill some of the wishes of the community.
because it needs to be done
Definitely, drop Evolution.
Replace with XFCE and Claws. Or simply make Kubuntu the default, it's impressively snappy and sparing on memory in comparison.
What on earth were they thinking making Evolution core to the Gnome desktop?
Deleted
I'm glad I found out about this site from reading /. I have some free time for the next couple of months and have recently started looking for interesting projects I can contribute to. Hopefully once the article falls off /.'s front page, I may even be able to browse the site and see what people are most interested in!
I've always been a big Debian fan but lately have been installing Ubuntu/Kubuntu on everything. Friends, family, and anyone coming to me for help because they are frustrated with their current OS are much more receptive to Ubuntu (and more so Kubuntu) than other distros I've attempted to convert them to. A couple of previous posters have mentioned that a site like this will mostly be visited by sysadmin types, that want things normal users don't, and I believe that's a valid point. My hope is that Ubuntu stays the course and doesn't fall into the trap of trying to please everyone, do everything.
I think I will forward the URL of this site to everyone I've converted over and suggest to them to sign up and voice their opinions. I just hope the top items aren't things the normal folk don't understand or care about.
I'm using 7.10 and having a hell of a time trying to get OpenSWAN to tunnel to a Linksys BEFVP41 at work. It's been difficult sorting through the howtos on the internet and I haven't yet figured out how to edit all the various configs to make it work.
I would hope it can become as easy as setting up a wireless WPA connection is now (kudos for the team for making that part pretty much automatic).
Granted, I don't know to what extent they're using this to drive their development, but...
Most people seem to be commenting that if just suggestions drive their development, the end result will be terrible. That's probably true. But often as a developer you just have no real idea if implementing X, which is on your to-do list, is a feature people even care about, wheras people may really care about implementing Y, another item you know you can take care of but just haven't gotten around to.
I thought it had something to do with Ubuntu supporting that Lego Brainstorm stuff. Or is that product not even around anymore? Still, turned what could've been an interesting article to the crapper - that and the site already being unavailable.
"build-essential" (singular), sorry. n/t (stupid slashdot won't let me post w/o body text)
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
Been running Gentoo for years. Decided to put my lappy on Ubuntu to save compile time. WPA would not work like it has for a long time and couldn't override the stupid defaults. Easier to rebuild Gentoo from scratch. End of story.
I love Ubuntu's long-term support (LTS) versions for grandma and "aunt tillie" because they don't need/want to upgrade the whole OS every 6 months. (Myself, I like the bleeding edge.)
But I'd like to be able to upgrade one LTS version to the next without having to do either the intermediate upgrades or a wipe-install. I know that would require a lot of testing, but for a lot of users who rely on the LTS release it would be a godsend.
[I don't have my finger on the pulse of Ubuntu, so if they've added this already don't flame me TOO much.]
... refocus efforts on fixing stuff that's supposed to work instead of creating new stuff that doesn't work, and I'm not talking about obscure hardware drivers for devices that nobody uses.
I generally can't tell the difference between the things I don't like on my beloved Fedora vs. similar issues on friend's Ubuntu systems. Come on, people. The religion is Linux.
Very similar to Open suse's webpage called Idea Pool: http://idea.opensuse.org/. Last June opensuse and Novell stopped their normal work for a week to work on their favorite ideas from the idea pool. I hope they do it again as My idea was not selected :(.
I think this is a bad idea. Theres going to be people asking for Ubuntu to be more like another distribution in whatever way. Many Ubuntu fanboys will give this idea a "thumbs down" because Ubuntu is, according to them, the very best distribution, and you can't change their mind because they are devoted to it for some reason. Many Linux users are absolutely devoted to their distribution, which I do not understand. They are so devoted, they think they should trash every other distribution for the benefit of the distribution they are so devoted to. Its all Linux, so its all good.
First rule of programming: Don't listen to your users.
How come I had to read about this on slashdot?? I work at UF all day long and never caught wind of this....
Oday ouyay antway otay ayplay away amegay?
On Dell Canada's website, comparing the Ubuntu laptops with the Windows ones, on average you get better specs and in some cases, more components if you get a Windows one.
In the case of the Ubuntu Inspiron 1525N, it's 100$ more expensive than the Windows Vista Inspiron 1525.
I called Dell Canada and the customer rep was at a loss to explain it.
Cannot access their website. Anyway, it probably wants me to jerk around with sudo-passwards before it fails again...
I agree with you -- Dell seemed at first to be earnestly giving Ubuntu a shot, but now they've set the features and pricing so that you'd almost be a fool not to buy a Windows box instead (and install Ubuntu on it after of course).
You're talking about Canadian laptops, I'm talking about US desktops. They only offer one CPU (E2160), and a Vista box with better specs can almost always be had for the same or less. That's especially true since there are often special offers on Windows boxes, but I've never seen the equivalent for Ubuntu.
I mean, it *is* still awesome that I can order an Ubuntu system from Dell knowing that the hardware will just work. But hey Dell -- where are my Ubuntu cost savings?
Ubuntu needs to listen to EDUCATED users who know how to use computers when making technical decisions. Focus should be on maximizing usability, getting things done as quickly and painfully as possible (no nags, useless clicking) and helping users increase their productivity.
1. Computers are a tool.
2. A tool which allows you to perform your jobs/tasks quicker is always desired.
3. Users need to be educated about how to use their tools to maximum efficiency.
You are completely incorrect in saying that users should not be reeducated to help them get more out of their computers. Educating users about how to use their computer to maximum efficiency is THE most important thing that Ubuntu can do.
I went to the site, and I gotta say. There is nothing I would change about Ubuntu. I've been using it at home for years now. I don't think there are any improvements that are going to win anybody else I know. My roommate is excited about Vista(somehow he believes the marketing hype. Also, he's got more money than common sense), My gf NEEDS limewire, My work computer has to have the ability to run virus and antispyware tools, and my boss believes you get what you pay for, everyone else just doesn't care or they pirated XP without guilt.
The brainstorm idea functioned well until Thursday February 28, @01:42PM. And I am not talking about the slashdoted server.
This Brainstorm idea is pretty useless. As if just thinking of it would make it so...but it doesn't.
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Since it seems that a lot of ppl here like using ubuntu. So I just installed it...for about 10 minutes. Ubuntu blows.
You let me down
Which brings me to another thing...why is this on slashdot. It's certainly not current, and it's neither news nor is it interesting.
You let me down again
How about I blog about it and link to that in a submission? Yeah, I think that's news.
Unsubscribe
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardyUpgrades#head-e7f287c730b93116f89de7ea7e05efbe95fa6dd1
Remember, Hardy is still alpha software.
LTS to LTS upgrades have always been part of the plan, and LTS without it, really doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/faq (scroll down to "Enterprise Release" which is marketspeak for LTS)
Clones are people two.
Can someone PLEASE do something to stop that coffee cup holder flying back in every time I try to use it!!!
I gave them mine. It is not just me; but, it is the reason that students at many universities in China can not even consider using Ubuntu, or any other Linux (the other reason is games).
**** Quoted letter***
In China there is a common program used to restrict network access called "Ruijie Supplicant." The Linux client provided by this company does not work and they are not interested in fixing it.
Without this client software Ubuntu simply can not be used on many campuses in China. The solution offered by campus technical support is to provide a pirated copy of windows. There simply is no way to connect to the network without this client and the client does not exist for Ubuntu.
Attachments
forum Ubuntuforums.org thread #681557
There are so many of the requested features that are already available if you use kde as your default desktop.
I must say, I'm very excited at the prospect. I signed up there and started voting on features, and it's great to see that people are banding together like this. I haven't really articulated my opinions on Ubuntu thus far (I've been using it since September last year), but the ones I do have, I've articulated in comments where helpful. Cheers to the admins of Brainstorm. I foresee myself whittling away all sorts of time there from now on.
Anybody know if Canonical will (or have) release the source code for Brainstorm? Or is this to be like Launchpad - you know, proprietary.
Granted it's just a web-site but I can think of several projects that could do with something similar and it would seem to be in the spirit of ubuntu.
Just wondering.
No, you can't change people with software.
Do you know why Lotus 1-2-3 lost out to Excel? Because while Lotus was busy adding in all kinds of advanced mathematical and financial functions, alternate layouts, and basically tons of things for the super-advanced Lotus user, Microsoft decided to go a different route and actually ask people what they used Excel for.
The answer? People used Excel for making lists. So instead of adding all the difficult, prone to bugginess, and hard-to-user features that Lotus was working on, Excel added features to make creating lists easier. Autofill, for instance, and Auto-Format.
Because Microsoft learned this lesson, people use Excel every day (both for lists, and the advanced stuff 1-2-3 was doing), and Lotus 1-2-3 is in the history books.
The instant the open source community figures out that THE USER IS KING, the sooner open source will become popular with the general public.
1) A usability problem is a bug. Period.
2) It doesn't matter whether a user is using your program for the "right" purpose (doing large complex spreadsheet), or for the "wrong" purpose (creating lists, as a mini-database), it should work for them. I can't tell you how many times I've asked "what's why can't open source product A do X?" only to get the reply "you shouldn't be doing X." (Most recently, when I asked about a open source alternative to Microsoft Project.)
Since I'm on the topic, here are some recent usability bugs I've entered for a couple open source projects, all of which have been completely ignored:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1865630&group_id=95717&atid=612382
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1865624&group_id=95717&atid=612382
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=391461
There's a long way to go. That Inkscape bug (the SourceForge "artifact" has been made private, whatever the fuck an "artifact" is) is a good example of a huge "wow this computer's stupid" bug that has been around for ages.
http://schend.net/images/screenshots/alphabetical_disorder.png
Cheers.
Comment of the year
Stop voting for 'Elect Ron Paul!'.
I'm tired of waiting for fsck to force run every 30 boots or having to disable it otherwise. Autofsck needs to be at a minimum included in the repositories and at best be mandatory on a desktop install.
Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
I haven't really run a Linux distro since Slackware in 1997, and that was a pain in the butt. I wanted to check out this Ubuntu and see what all the hype is about.
Insert CD, turn on PC... No video.
Reboot into "Safe video" or whatever it's called mode, it boots. Looks like crap, but it boots.
Try to install it along side of the Windows partition, I don't see that option.
Go to shutdown... it hangs. Never shuts down.
Compared to other Linux, this is probably a good distribution, but man... it still has so long to go before people can take it for granted like they do XP.
The site looks good, and I like the idea.
Does anybody know what software package Brainstorm is running on? Is this an open source software itself?
Use Debian instead, we've had that for years.
... somewhere visibly on one of the main Ubuntu pages.
These images (for Mac PPC, Playstation PS3 and IBM POWER hardware) are kept current by the community, and they are right here:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/7.10/release/
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/ports/releases/7.10/release/
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/ports/releases/7.10/release/
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/ports/releases/7.10/release/
And no, linking there shouldn't be an issue for a "brainstorm" submission.