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Canonical (Nearly) Halts Development of Ubuntu For Android
rjmarvin (3001897) writes "In a since-removed bug report on Launchpad, Ubuntu's issue tracker, Canonical's Matthew Paul Thomas stated that Ubuntu for Android is no longer in active development. In a statement, Canonical stated that while the project is not completely dead, Canonical is currently focusing on pushing Ubuntu for Phones. The company is open to working with partners on Ubuntu for Android, but will not proceed with further U4A development unless they can form a partnership with an OEM partner to launch it. The Ubuntu for Android project was first announced in early 2012."
They have "Ubuntu for Android" and "Ubuntu for Phones", the latter of which seems to run on Android systems. What's the difference here?
it has to be lean and mean.
Whu would you want ubuntu on your phone?
To get a buggy UI and pointless removal of software without notice. Just because they can?
It would nice to be able to have a realistic alternative to Apple and Google. Unfortunately, signs are that Ubuntu will stand with them rather than apart from them with regards to privacy intrusions.
If somehow the phones are not locked to Ubuntu, I'll count that as a win though.
I use Ubuntu as my desktop, because while I like Arch and Slackware, I'm too old to spend time futzing with getting backups to work or writing custom trayer configurations or whatever. (And when I finally got everything I wanted on Arch, half of GNOME or KDE was installed anyway, so I didn't really see the point.)
Anyway, you know what I wish Canonical would work on? Ubuntu for Computers. I don't need yet another mobile operating system; Android is there, iOS is there, Windows Phone is there, FirefoxOS is there. There's nothing that Ubuntu Touch is going to offer that isn't done better somewhere else. All it's doing is cannibalizing resources from Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server. Working on Mir just creates divisions within the open source community; there's nothing wrong with Wayland.
So yeah, Canonical, don't just jump on the mobile bandwagon. You have a core product, focus on it.
...but it's being eaten...by some...Linux or something...
Withdrawical.
Soon, the headline will read: "Canonical Halts Development of Ubuntu, Recommends Users Migrate to Windows 8"
I was really excited for the dual android/ubuntu running off the same kernel they had going (which is, I assume, what this is talking about). it doesn't seem like Canonical is the kind of company to spearhead technology for technology's sake, however
by Richard Stallman - Published on Dec 07, 2012 01:52 AM
One of the major advantages of free software is that the community protects users from malicious software. Now Ubuntu GNU/Linux has become a counterexample. What should we do?
Proprietary software is associated with malicious treatment of the user: surveillance code, digital handcuffs (DRM or Digital Restrictions Management) to restrict users, and back doors that can do nasty things under remote control. Programs that do any of these things are malware and should be treated as such. Widely used examples include Windows, the iThings, and the Amazon "Kindle" product for virtual book burning, which do all three; Macintosh and the Playstation III which impose DRM; most portable phones, which do spying and have back doors; Adobe Flash Player, which does spying and enforces DRM; and plenty of apps for iThings and Android, which are guilty of one or more of these nasty practices.
Free software gives users a chance to protect themselves from malicious software behaviors. Even better, usually the community protects everyone, and most users don't have to move a muscle. Here's how.
Once in a while, users who know programming find that a free program has malicious code. Generally the next thing they do is release a corrected version of the program; with the four freedoms that define free software (see http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/...), they are free to do this. This is called a "fork" of the program. Soon the community switches to the corrected fork, and the malicious version is rejected. The prospect of ignominious rejection is not very tempting; thus, most of the time, even those who are not stopped by their consciences and social pressure refrain from putting malfeatures in free software.
But not always. Ubuntu, a widely used and influential GNU/Linux distribution, has installed surveillance code. When the user searches her own local files for a string using the Ubuntu desktop, Ubuntu sends that string to one of Canonical's servers. (Canonical is the company that develops Ubuntu.)
This is just like the first surveillance practice I learned about in Windows. My late friend Fravia told me that when 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. Given that first example I paid attention and learned about the propensity of "reputable" proprietary software to be malware. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Ubuntu sends the same information.
Ubuntu uses the information about searches to show the user ads to buy various things from Amazon. Amazon commits many wrongs (see http://stallman.org/amazon.htm...); by promoting Amazon, Canonical contributes to them. However, the ads are not the core of the problem. The main issue is the spying. Canonical says it does not tell Amazon who searched for what. However, it is just as bad for Canonical to collect your personal information as it would have been for Amazon to collect it.
People will certainly make a modified version of Ubuntu without this surveillance. In fact, several GNU/Linux distros are modified versions of Ubuntu. When those update to the latest Ubuntu as a base, I expect they will remove this. Canonical surely expects that too.
Most free software developers would abandon such a plan given the prospect of a mass switch to someone else's corrected version. But Canonical has not abandoned the Ubuntu spyware. Perhaps Canonical figures that the name "Ubuntu" has so much momentum and influence that it can avoid the usual consequences and get away with surveillance.
Canonical says this feature searches the Internet in other ways. Depending on the details, that might or might not make the problem bigger, but not smaller.
Ubuntu allows users to switch the surveillance off. Clearly Canonical thinks that many Ubuntu users will leave this setting in the default state (on). And many may do
Last I checked they hadn't released the code for all of us to play with ... if they aren't going to do anything with the code anyways, why not release it so I can break my phone trying to install it? err ... install it on my phone. I for one love the concept and would definitely be interested in the project.
The phones are plenty capable to pull light desktop loads, why not turn this effort into bringing a workable Ubuntu image to phones (read: doesn't require x11rdp/vnc) that works alongside the Android stack?
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
According to their link as of this posting:
Pages matching "1313802" in Launchpad ... describes Ubuntu for Android as "the must-have feature for late-2012 high-end Android phones". Ubuntu for Android is no longer in...
Bug #1313802 “Ubuntu for Android described as "must-have feature...
3 days ago
Since neither them nor Slashdot won't pick up the full content, here is the page content:
Text: Pastebin
Site: imgur
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
That's too bad, but I expected it - they announced it, asked for partners, and then it was crickets until they started on the Ubuntu for Phones path.
It's a damn shame, though, I bet it would ROCK on my Note 3, it's so crazily powered - 2.3 gHz quad-core CPU, 3 GB of RAM and 96 GB of storage. I would freaking LOVE to see Ubuntu run natively on this thing to a screen or a lapdock. Same for the new CyanogenMod phone, except it doesn't have MicroSD storage as an option.
My Ubuntu installations don't have a buggy UI on the desktop. XFCE is great. If you're talking about Unity, then I see the problem: you shouldn't use that. All you have to do is take a look at that, say "ewww" and then you won't even care how buggy or bug-free it is.
Here's the thing: this is basically all about which repository you think sucks the least. I think I've gotten to the point where I don't give a rat's ass which packages come by default in a distro, but I do care which packages I end up running. And in this respect, Ubuntu has turned out to be pretty pleasant. I wish my previous Gentoo system had this few problems, or that "plain" Debian had the right stuff for playing videos (really, that's still an issue?!) on the boxes that need to do that, but they don't. Ubuntu comes though.
Compare Ubuntu to the alternative repository that we're talking about here: The Google Play Store. Because functionally that's all Google Play is: a few files within /etc/apt.
Tell me: do you really want to "who has more garbage that you might actually end up experimentally installing" shit-off about which repo is worse, between those two? Ubuntu so utterly embarrasses Google, that you might as well be advocating Windows 95.
That's why (though I don't use one now) I still do look forward to an Ubuntu phone. I don't care whatever foolish UI projects Ubuntu misguidedly works on, but I still like them as repo maintainers. Like 'em the best, actually. At least right now. (And yes, they're even better than Mint!)
Gnome Shell, in its default configuration, is good for neither desktop nor mobile. Proof the it's not the best UI for the desktop is the way RHEL 7.0 has Gnome Shell set up to look like a polished version of the Gnome 2 desktop.
So in terms of usability, even the chief financial backer of Gnome thinks Gnome Shell needs serious work to be a pleasant experience for users other than its core developers and designers.
Does it provide you with an environment that replaces the Android UI, or is it launched as an Android application? Does it run Android apps or only Ubuntu apps in Ubuntu mode? Does it work only when the phone is "docked"? What are the Android versions supported or needed, and will I be left behind when the Android part inevitably doesn't get updates? What are the system requirements..
That's too many questions and I don't think consumers want or can learn all the details. Only a small fraction of people would ever install or use this thing and that's before considering (non existing) carrier or phone vendor support.
This article refers to ubuntu for android (http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/ubuntu-for-android), wich is different from ubuntu mobile (http://www.ubuntu.com/phone).
The first is a awesome project (imho) that allows you to bring your desktop pc anywhere with integration to your phone (calls, text, ecc.).
The latest is just another os that tries to compete with Android and iOS.
I'm very sad they're going to shut down it
Maemo, Firefox OS