Ubuntu Touch Beats Firefox OS For 'Best of MWC' From CNET

Jono Bacon writes "This week at Mobile World Congress both Firefox OS and Ubuntu have been wooing the audience with their mobile offerings. CNET reviewed both and felt that Ubuntu was 'the clear winner.' From the article, 'The team thought that Ubuntu Touch, the tablet version of which we got our hands-on for the first time at MWC, feels more like the complete package at this point. We liked its slick, elegant interface that makes use of every side of the screen and puts your content and contacts front and center, minimizing the time spent hopping back to a home screen.'" They still liked Firefox OS though, and the mere existence of multiple Free Software mobile systems with carrier support is a good sign if you ask me.

Comments

But but but

[noobermin]

Ubuntu is evil! Richard Stallman says so!!

Re:But but but

[exomondo]

I tried the preview build of it on my nexus 7 and while it seemed to work ok - although a LOT of functions didn't work (not implemented yet) and most of it was populated with dummy data - I didn't really see why I would want it.

Re:But but but

[exomondo]

I lost a lot of respect for Stallman when he sunk to the RIAA/MPAA level with statements like 'proprietary software is unethical because it takes away users' rights', of course it doesn't take away anything, just like music piracy doesn't take away profits like the RIAA/MPAA claim, they can't take away something of yours if it's something you never had in the first place. You may not have been granted rights you would otherwise get with free software, but nothing was taken away.

Re:But but but

[exomondo]

Proprietary software enforces controlled standards, locked systems, treacherous computing like UEFI.

Rubbish, if i run a proprietary application on my system i don't end up with a 'locked system', it doesn't enforce any 'controlled standards' and I don't end up with UEFI. I haven't had anything taken away, even if it does aid your agenda to suggest that.

Fragmentation

[Anonymous Coward]

the mere existence of multiple Free Software mobile systems with carrier support is a good sign if you ask me.

Actually the mere existence of multiple such systems fragments the market for them, thus reducing the already-slim chance they have of becoming real competitors to the established players in the market.

Re:Fragmentation

[ozmanjusri]

In 1997?

Proprietary vendors keep spreading this FUD, as "fragmentation" is core to Linux/FOSS adoption. Freedom and opportunity for choice in the Linux world means anyone can start their own distro, or fork an existing one to meet their own needs. To many of us, this is one of the truly great benefits of the open source world.

OS vendors like Microsoft and Apple have a sales/distribution model that's antithetical to this sort of freedom, so it's in their best interest to portray one of Linux's great advantages as a negative. Hence the more than a decade's worth of FUD.

c|net?

[MrEricSir]

Why the hell are still linking to c|net articles again? Would it kill the editors to wait for a real news organization to review Ubuntu Touch instead of just posting the first crap that comes along?

slick, elegant interface

[Osgeld]

glad is uses every side of the screen, but just like every other mobile device its almost all unused dead space in the middle, glad it takes millions of pixels to put "5 facebook updates" in plain text onto a screen

Just sue CBS

[D H NG]

If Canonical sues or gets sued by CBS, they'll just get disqualified.

but nothing.

[tuppe666]

Ubuntu is evil! Richard Stallman says so!!

No Richard Stallman says this http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/ubuntu-spyware-what-to-do which is about the intrusive nature of an opt-out system on them in which local system search terms are sent to Amazon.

Quit with the hyperbole already. It is what it is.

WebApp API

[alexandre]

I just hope that Tizen, Ubuntu, FirefoxOS et al. can agree on a common WebApp API...

Re:Microsoft has all you information

[ozmanjusri]

From Microsoft:

  "When Microsoft receives a Bing search query, we collect a number of pieces of information, including the search query provided, IP address, unique identifiers contained in cookies, browser configuration and the time and date of the search,"

“Microsoft may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications, in order to: (a) comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process; (b) protect the rights or property of Microsoft or our customers, including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of the software; or (c) act on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, customers, or the public,”

“Information collected by or sent to Microsoft by Windows 7 may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries, or service providers maintain facilities. Microsoft abides by the safe harbor framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of data from the European Union, the European Economic Area, and Switzerland.”

These are the Windows 7 modules that Microsoft acknowledge phone home

1. Activation:
2. Device Information Retrieval:
3. Device Manager:
4. Dynamic Update:
5. Event Viewer:
6. Gadgets:
7. Games Folder:
8. Error Reporting for Handwriting Recognition:
9. Personalization Training:
10. IME Word Registration (available in Japanese IME only):
11. Installation Improvement Program:
12. Microsoft Error Reporting Service:
13. Plug and Play:
14. Program Compatibility Assistant:
15. Program Properties Compatibility Tab:
16. Rights Management Services (RMS) Client:
17. Teredo Technology: 18. Update Root Certificates:
19. Windows Anytime Upgrade:
20. Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP):
21. Windows Defender:
22. Windows File Association:
23. Windows Help:
25. Windows Speech Recognition:
26. Windows Time Service:
27. Windows Troubleshooting:
28. Windows Internet Explorer 8:
29. Update Services:
30. Microsoft Genuine Advantage:
31. Windows Media Center:
32. Microsoft Windows Media Player 12:

Re:Microsoft has all you information

[ozmanjusri]

"he searched for a string in the files of his Windows system, it sent a packet to some server, which was detected by his firewall"

"Our telemetry data shows that 67% of all searches in Windows 7 are used to find and launch programs. Searching for files accounts for 22% of all Windows 7 Start menu searches, and searching for Control Panel items about 9%. Searching for email messages via Start Menu is very rare (less than 0.05%). The remaining 2% are searches executing the “Run” functionality."

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/10/18/designing-search-for-the-start-screen.aspx