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Ubuntu Tablet OS To Take On Android, iOS
snydeq writes "Canonical CEO Jane Silber discusses the Ubuntu maker's ambitions in the mobile market, saying there is plenty of room for a new player in tablets, TVs, and maybe even smartphones. 'There is a real demand for an alternative platform. We believe Ubuntu has all the characteristics that are needed to become that platform,' Silber says, adding that she expects to see Ubuntu on tablets later this year. 'And we think we can do that effectively because of characteristics of Ubuntu as a platform, industry dynamics, and an increased wariness around the walled gardens of Apple and to some extent Google and even Amazon, as they are increasingly in this game as well.' Silber cites openness, open governance, collaboration, and a strong developer ecosystem as key for Ubuntu as a tablet platform, when compared with Android and iOS."
This will probably be the first tablet I buy. While I hate unity for the desktop, on a tablet it might work.
This really doesn't seem like what the Linux/Android community needs right now, more competing against itself.
Since tablets are considered a fundamentally different device than a desktop/laptop, I feel this is where Linux could shine. Ubuntu always seemed to be in the best position to capitalize on it as well. I am anxious to see what they come up with because I would almost definitely ditch my iPad for an Ubuntu tablet. I should note that no machine in my regular use runs Ubuntu or any other form of Linux as it could not replace what I need my desktops and laptops to do.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
Well now we know the purpose of Unity. Too bad Ubuntu has lost all its good-will in the community by foisting it on desktop users.
Not after witnessing Canonical's meddling with (what used to be) a once decent distro.
Anyone who has seen Unity saw this coming. Its not very fluent for most peoples desktop usage, but would be great on a tablet or smart phone.
Ubuntu and unity are only fit for tablets at the moment. If they could admit that and make it a separate distribution many would be much happier.
(Posting AC because I'm at work)
There is a real demand for an alternative platform.
Um, no there isn't. Or, more specifically, there isn't sufficient demand for an alternative platform to lead to success. Just because a small handful of people want an alternative does not mean the market wants one...
Linux has always been about diversity, and freedom. One can see it as 'competing against itself', but the multitude of distributions which characterise the Linux ecosystem could be seen as its most unique strength.
Touch-screen hand-held devices require radically different metaphors to desktop/laptop computing. They are much more context-sensitive in terms of how and where they are used, and in the amount of attention the that user can give the UI. If Canonical can actually address this and are innovative, that would be great.
Unfortunately, looking at how Canonical are trying to force (other people's) mobile metaphors onto the Desktop, I seriously doubt their ability to build a better UI experience for mobile users. They don't even get that mobile and desktop computing is like chalk and cheese, let alone express any real innovation.
For most consumers, the idea of "openness", especially when concerning the software itself, hardly ever crosses their mind. It's not really going to be a selling point that they will latch on to.
...and I'll buy your tablet.
How about nobody cares about that. Unless you have a multi-billion dollar marketing budget to match Android or iOS and a market place that can run all of the apps that Android does Ubuntu has no chance of being a serious player. I'm not against more players in the game but lets be real with ourselves, Ubuntu is used by power users who care to work with Linux. I'm going to take the plunge this summer when I can safely back up all my data and take a few days to play with it but I realize I'm part of a tiny minority. While the minority may be wealthy enough to make this venture possible it is highly unlikely they'll ever unseat one of the big two or even be a serious third. Android won't win awards from the open source community but they aren't a walled garden and that is in particular unless Ubuntu can seriously cut the cost of Android products will have a hard time competing in the marketplace for mOS's
People in the WebOS community are already running Ubuntu on HP TouchPads..
This will sell about as good as WinPhone. Oh well...
I dumped Ubuntu a while ago. I don't like the direction they're going in.
Instead...well, I've been a fan of Maemo, then MeeGo, now Tizen for a while now. If I don't want to run Android, I'll wait for a usable Tizen build to put on my tablets, thanks anyway.
If manufacturers start adopting Ubuntu, they would no longer need to pay royalties to Microsoft for using Android.
And, given the open source nature of Android, I don't see why can't Ubuntu get some of the features of Android, either by just grabbing the code, or by recoding the same features in the style of the Linux vs. SCO case.
So it is a win win situation, Ubuntu adopts the characteristics that make Android good, maybe even adding some of their own features to the OS, and present it as an alternative to manufacturers that are currently being bullied by Microsoft and others to pay royalties for using Android.
And then it should be called as Tubuntu with T for Tablet?
Canonical should go and pull all othes, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu and Ubuntu and make a single Ubuntu DVD with a installer what gives a user a choice to choose what to use.
On LiveCD user could logout and back in to try other desktops.
Just like how Mandrake made it.... boot, choose and login... logout and try next one. Install what you wanted...
Openness is all fine and dandy, but ultimately consumer friendliness and usability are what will make a successful platform. Whether geeks want to admit it or not, that's why Apple's offerings are so successful.
End users don't care about "openness, open governance, collaboration", and really don't mind walled gardens.
Fujitsu U810/820, P1620, etc - smaill, powerful, cheap on eBay, and run about any distro. And there are easily installed debian packages to enable the touch screens, that sort of work anyway without that.
RO
I used to be a big fan of Ubuntu, but it seems that all of this recent effort to make Ubuntu work on tablets/touchscreens has come at the cost of the stability and robustness of the desktop product.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Actually, I *love* my HTC Flyer and Samsung Galaxy Tab Plus; both 7" form factor tablets.
In fact, nothing has changed the way I live more since my first personal computer. Albeit, I use them almost totally as ebook readers, music players, occasional browsing and the rare sudoku game.
I carry a tablet with me everywhere these days. 7 inch tablets fit nicely in my pants pocket, the battery lasts 8+ hours of *active* use. What's not to like?
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I have to go with Bill Gates on this one. I am willing to pay for a better Desktop Environment (Windows or OS X) for non work applications.
Whenever I have to reboot from Linux to Windows to run Word or play a game that doesn't run in Wine, I remember what a horrible, clunky kludge the Windows interface was.
I don't know where Jane Silber she draws her conclusions from but I humbly disagree. If Microsoft, with all their millions (dedicated to marketing) haven't been able to gain barely any market share in smartphones with windows phone 7 I don't see what could Ubuntu do. Besides that, there are several alternative smartphone OSes which have failed and not because of technical reasons. E.g: WebOS, Maemo/Meego. She's just expressing her wishes and hoping it becomes true but seems unlikely.
"increased wariness around the walled gardens of Apple and to some extent Google and even Amazon"
Apple, google and amazon are who gets decide which OS is on their device. Not the customer.
And? She never said Ubuntu tablets would be on sale tomorrow.
Tablets are still a new thing and they don't seem to be going away anytime soon. As long as the market still exists a year from now, they Canonical has plenty of time to hammer out OEM deals (if they haven't already.) There are desktops, laptops, and netbooks sold with Ubuntu pre-installed. As tablets become a commodity item I don't see why they'd be any different.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Just give me a phone with a full OS, That when I am home has blue tooth for a keyboard WIFI for a networked hard drive and internet and a HDMI to connect to my TV
and a mouse blue tooth..and one more feature a button on the desktop that says phone mode on/off.
And while it is connected to the TV and a incoming call displays on the screen if you take it hands free or let it go to voice mail. you know pops up the caller ID.
So Its a phone and a Mac Mini.
This is my geek device wish. I have seen thing the get very close already.
http://gizmodo.com/5393584/windows-xp-phone-a-first-look-at-its-touchscreen-interface
"Take on iOS?" What the hell are people smoking? The Apple devices offer a pure e2e experience. There is no competition within that space that does nto reveal APple, once again, got it right. people like the walls, albeit a little annoyed , at times, with the control issues (Flash, Porn). But the fact is Apple makes wonderful devices for the consumer that simply work , are seamlessly integrated, and have high quality usable apps. the markets are not the same, and people how buy tablets could give a rats ass about Ubuntu, Red Hat, Linux or anything else hackers/engineers think is important.
...tighten things up a bit more. I found the 11.04 an 11.10 releases to be terribly unstable if you are upgrading in place. Let us hope that any tablet, TV or phone OS release of theirs has a much tighter development model. People who buy TVs, phones and tablets want to have those devices "just work". Computer users are used to having to work around problems. Can you imagine the horror of having to wait for a TV to boot, or to have functionality of the TV change to the point where you have to relearn everything after an upgrade? And I'm an Android user... I love to tweak things which is why little else appeals.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
The only reason I don't use Ubuntu on my primary desktop is because I *have* to run Windows for games. Ubuntu has been the king of "easy-to-use" linux for a long time and I think an Ubuntu Tablet OS would be awesome.
Also, people will undoubtedly bring up "fragmentation" like its a bad thing - isn't fragmentation a vital part of what makes Linux so great? Fragmentation is what breeds competition and constant improvement, its only a bad thing if you don't want to be given choices.
I don't know about that - maybe most do, but probably by a narrow and narrowing margin.
In our household we watch Netflix on various portable devices (80%), different computers (10%) and yes on TV(10%) via consoles (Wii, PS3, Blue ray player) where % is % of Netflix viewing time.
While my household may not be as typical as most, in our demographic neighborhood, we are not that unusual.
And certainly that is one question I get asked about a lot - can we watch videos on portable device x ( ostensibly follow up question possible to watch video without 4g or other form of wireless).
Remember the last hype from those guys? "Canonical sent along a note announcing that its Ubuntu Linux OS (10.10) is now available pre-loaded on three ASUS Eee PC models including the 1001PXD, the 1011PX and the 1015PX. More models packing Ubuntu will be made available throughout the year.", back in June 2011. Didn't happen. Still hasn't happened. Canonical has no credibility.
InfoWorld: Will you compete with Google Android, Apple iOS [4], and others?
Silber: Yes. And we think we can do that effectively because of characteristics of Ubuntu as a platform, industry dynamics, and an increased wariness around the walled gardens of Apple and to some extent Google and even Amazon, as they are increasingly in this game as well. There is a demand for a platform that has characteristics that Ubuntu meets. The characteristics in my mind that are important are openness, and by openness I don't just mean open source code, I mean the governance structure, the ability to collaborate, the ability for there to be multiple devices from multiple vendors.
There is? Last time I checked, the things people care about most are getting nice phones at a good price that they can play Angry Birds on and snap pictures with to upload to their Facebook/Twitter accounts.
This is the first quote that frustrates me from this snippet: I mean the governance structure, the ability to collaborate, the ability for there to be multiple devices from multiple vendors.. Do they not realise that this is exactly the status quo? Collaboration and governance are HUGE objectives for all of the major players in this game. Apple has iCloud, Microsoft has Windows Live and Office 365. Android has Google account synchronisation, control and access deeply ingrained into its fundamentals. All of these are free. Ubuntu's offering costs money. Umm...
This is the second most frustrating quote: we think we can do that effectively because of characteristics of Ubuntu as a platform. Let's not forget that this is the platform that's changed their stance on the minimise/close button three times in between, what, the last three releases?
There has to be a strong developer ecosystem, and we've spent a lot of effort and time in the last couple years building up that developer ecosystem. Building up our software center, building tools to be able to connect the dots between developers and users so that a developer can write an app and submit it through a website and get it into the hands of users very quickly. A free app or a commercially paid app.
Like Android's NDK with Eclipse integration or Apple's iPhone/iOS SDK with XCode or Windows Phone's leveraging of .NET with Visual Studio? Still wondering what they're bringing to the table at this point.
There's a certain level of quality and features that is needed in order to be a viable platform in this category, and Ubuntu has that, whereas some of the projects that have come and gone in the last couple years have never really cracked that. We've seen Moblin [5] come and go from Intel, Maemo [6], MeeGo [7]. Tizen [8] is the latest incarnation -- we'll see if they ever produce anything.
No, those projects never cracked the marketing required to reach the big time. Nokia could have really flaunted Maemo/MeeGo but chose to ride the sidelines while Apple and Android made themselves known everywhere. MeeGo, as far as I undersatand it, was actually a pretty reliable mobile OS and had a lot of potential.
This "advantage" is weak at best. In fact, I'm hard pressed to rely on this since I can't trust Ubuntu (or any Linux distribution) enough to install it for my non-technical peers and clients. While it certainly offers the nicest GNU/Linux UX experience available, there are some things still left to be desired on the hardware side.
The other problem I have with this is that Unity, compared to Android or iOS, does not really offer any real usability advantages over those other platforms. As far as I see it, it offers an OS-X like icon dock (that doesn't work nearly as nicely) and a focus on searching for things. It's a good starting point, but it's hard to see where they are going with it and how
Tell that to HP.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
Here are some reasons why:
* You don't have to think about drivers and hardware conflicts. Once you get a tablet working with Ubuntu, it just works.
* If a tablet costs $100 or $200, no one is going to want to pay for an OS.
* People don't have expectations about what should work on their tablets. They aren't going to be all, "But what about Excel on my Tablet!"
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Ubuntu used to be a great distro for education, academia, and general desktop use. It now is chasing futile dreams of dominating the tablet market.
Futile because almost no Linux developer writes tablet software, and it seems doubtful that a lot of them will start in the future.
There is a real demand for an alternative platform... we think we can do that effectively because of characteristics of Ubuntu as a platform, industry dynamics, and an increased wariness around the walled gardens of Apple and to some extent Google and even Amazon, as they are increasingly in this game as well. [emphasis mine]
Oh please. I have a fondness for Linux as much as the next average Slashdotter but if the last 15 years of "X will be the year of Linux on the desktop!" has shown us, the world at large does not care about privacy, security, data robustness, or the consequences walled gardens. You buy something, you use it, and hope all goes well. If you lose your data for any reason, you rebuild.
People are already used to the possibility of losing real-life items to theft, loss, or damage, so if a picture collection or list of contacts disappears because a company went under or changed their TOS or didn't have good backups, people deal with it an move on. Is there a better way? With data, yes, there usually is. Do people care that much? No. (People have moved away from DRM a tiny bit, but that has more to do with Apple's and Amazon's music services being naturally popular than the Microsoft's "PlaysForSure" debacle.)
I'm guessing that 2012 in tablets will look a lot like 2011 did, with the one difference being the Kindle Fire. The price and prominence of that device will move a lot of units, but I'm predicting that on December 31, 2012, the market will be 60-70% iPad, 20-25% Kindle, and 10-15% everyone else combined. (Though I'm not sure how to count Windows 8 if it starts shipping on a large number of touch-based tablets that are 95% similar to the current crop of Windows-based, stylus-using tablets. I'm mainly thinking of a "tablet" as "a touch-based device that doesn't ship with a keyboard, and functions 100% as designed without one.")
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
However, despite the huge variety of android tablets on the market, none of them have really been all that successful in gaining market share.
Google has enormous resources, and yet hasn't succeeded in gaining significant market share in tablets in competition with Apple; Microsoft is gearing up to make a play in that market. Microsoft has enormous resources, and hasn't succeeded in gaining significant market share in smartphones, in competition with Apple and Google.
As far as I know, Canonical has a tiny staff, little in the way of resources, no revenue model that's proven to work, and relies upon the contributions of its user community. This last is important, and is as it should be for FOSS. The trouble is, Canonical has been risking the loss of its user community by pushing major changes to the default user interface, apparently in an effort to move to a unified user experience across desktops, mobile devices, and entertainment devices. Personally, I like the Unity interface, but I'm unhappy with the way Canonical has ignored criticism of it.
So tiny Canonical is going to make a play in markets that are hotly contested by some of the wealthiest, most powerful, and most ambitious corporations in the world, and in so doing, is apparently sacrificing its greatest strength. All in all, this seems like a suicidal move, and a sorry end to a promising effort at popularizing Linux.
I have an ASUS Transformer with keyboard dock and I think it's great. I really do. It's my netbook as necessary and a tablet which is particularly good for tabling events.
My problem with the Transformer is that it runs Android. I would prefer Android over iOS any day, but Google continues to develop Android as a single-person data collection device (requiring me to be constantly signed into a variety of services) instead of a multi-user platform where *I* get to choose who sees what.
If/when Ubuntu gets prepped for tablet distribution and I can install it on my Transformer, I will do it the very night it's available. Google has just over-stepped its bounds for me to give it the benefit of the doubt with my data any more.
My pipe dream is a tablet that comes with decent RAM, speed, ports etc and NO OS! Just the ability to plug in a USB drive and load your own choice.
I don't dislike the Windows interface. But I don't see it having any significant advantages over free desktop environments. I can say the same of OS X; in general, most user interfaces for general purpose desktops and workstations have been functionally equivalent for years, and the differences are matters of taste. Frankly, if you look at photos of the monitors of computers at the Xerox PARC laboratory from the 60s, you can see most of the basic elements that most graphical user interfaces have been using ever since. They don't really vary that much.
The thing people really care about in choosing an operating system is whether they can use the applications they want or need to use. And given how frequently the application wanted is a Web browser, serving as the interface to internal or external services, even that question doesn't matter much.
Love the idea! Way to go Ubuntu! Finally someone other than Google is taking Linux to the tablet/mobile world!
As big as Ubuntu is getting can they be trusted any more?
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
The main problem as I see it is that they're years late and 3/4ths of an app-store short. Microsoft came late and they're having a hell of a time making any ground. One could argue that the abundance of .Net developers should have been a boon to their app store but it seems they haven't hit critical mass.
How is Ubuntu planning on overcoming this? They're not seriously considering using their vanilla apt repository as a source, are they? Few of the desktop apps I use would work worth a damn on my phone. Working off of the assumption that they have a plan for designed-for-mobile apps then they will be behind even Microsoft. As someone above mentioned... no OEM deals? So right from the start this will be a very niche OS unless that changes. Mindshare and recognition of their brand... that is going to be a tough one to get past even if they snag some OEM support.
Having competitors to IOS and Android is a good thing. I just can't envision Canonical spending years trying to gain back ground without any appreciable market share (and income from it) while either juggling the desktop or blowing it off altogether. IMO they jumped the shark on this one and it's going to bite them(no pun intended).
Yes, there is a little frustration in my post. Former Ubuntu user.
I'll believe in corporations having personhood when Texas executes one... - advocate_one
Sorry, but you can't get that app until you update your repositories
Please... I have only been using Gnome 3 shell for a few months after years and years and years of using Windows. There is no question, when I go back to Windows, it feels old, clunky and slow to me.
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can I just run 'startx' from a console?
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
There will never be a year of the linux desktop but every year will be the year of the linux tablet. I can live with that
Good luck sometimes arrives disguised as bad
I used Windows exclusively until 2000 (the year and the version), it was a pain to use Windows within a few months of dual booting. But I guess I'm just a fanboi too who was too used to a better OS?
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
This year will be the year of "Tablet Linux"!
I just unlocked my phone and installed Ice Cream Sandwich on it. It's beautiful and fast. Pretty much the exact opposite of Unity. Unity is more like... you know when two ducks are fucking, and the mommy duck isn't entirely sure she wants to be involved in what's going on? Unity kind of reminds me of that. Except maybe a bit more awkward.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
...I just wish Nokia had had more of a clue and made more of Maemo open so we could see it running on more devices. It's an awesome system...or at least the Debian bits are. The Nokia bits...less so. So much potential though.....
Boo.
I'd love to see this running on a Kindle.
Unless you are a newbie you run Vanille debian on everything (Linux (unless you are the masochistic RPM type)). "Debian is only for nerds..." it is so hard to configure..." whine.. whine.. whine.." Thats all just bullshit. Debian is not significantly harder to configure and use. On the other hand it is a LOT more stable and predictable. and doesn't suffer from "the fad og the month syndrome" like Ubuntu.