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Ubuntu on tablets

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Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#41

Post by donniezazen »

kaolinite wrote: post #13

Yet another announcement by Canonical that isn't backed by a "Buy" button. I understand that it's not exactly easy for them, but it's becoming a bit boring how they keep announcing new "products" with no way of actually purchasing them. Couldn't they have waited for a year or so for this to be ready to ship and then launch it? At the very least it'd be good to have "Available to buy in July, 2013" or whatever.

It's been picked by all major media outlets. Canonical is trying to create a buzz so major vendors start paying attention to it. I think they have been really successful in doing that. If Ubuntu comes with 10 basic apps that I use let's say Chrome browser and an ePUB reader. I would totally switch.

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#42

Post by bitsoda »

I still don't understand the tablet form factor. I concluded that it's not for me some time ago, but am waiting for the general population to come around to one glaring flaw: you have to hold it. For me, it doesn't matter how light a tablet is. A five pound laptop will always feel lighter since it will effectively weigh nothing because it's always on some kind of platform during use, either my lap or a flat desk/table surface. The tablet holds your hands and/or your legs hostage as you need to get into that special tablet-viewing position to prop the thing up on your thighs. I don't mean to come across as a cranky person who bemoans tablet use, I just feel the process is cumbersome not being able to have your hands free and wonder if people really think this is the form factor to usher in the "post-pc" era, whatever that is.

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#43

Post by potatolicious »

chx wrote: post #25

I still don't get it. This emphasises on "productivity". Tablets, lacking any efficient ways of input are not productivity devices. They are great at consuming content, of course. There is a reason the iPad and the Kindle Fire rules the field.

There is more to productivity than fast, accurate text input.

Touch is inferior for text input, but superior for other types of input. I know many designers who are salivating at the prospect of being able to do their work with a stylus that's also a screen (as opposed to the Wacom way of doing it).

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#44

Post by orofino »

rufugee wrote: post #21

As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm now using Cinnamon as a desktop environment. I really, really wanted Unity to work, but I've had continued performance problems which make it ultimately unusable for me. I understand Ubuntu's need to turn a profit, but I really wish they'd focus on making Unity stable and performant before chasing down these other opportunities... Disclaimer: I run three monitors, so I'm probab…

I'm not using Unity, so I won't talk to that point, only the phone/tablet opportunity you think they should be ignoring.

Apple is already a heavyweight in this area and Google/Samsung have a dominant second place. Viable tablet alternatives need to establish a foothold now, before there is too much lock in from the existing entrants. Every iOS or Play app that I buy will make me (as a consumer) less likely to switch platforms. This is true for me, even as an early adopter. For a normal consumer that doesn't have the free cash, nor the desire for constant change, it is a killer.

Every month that they fail to have this out the door, they lose potential customers.

[edit: just a bit of editing]

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#45

Post by kaolinite »

cryptoz wrote: post #26
kaolinite wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why not wait a week and announce it then?

There are plenty of reasons. Virtually no technology / OS vendor announces and ships on the same day. Apple gives a few weeks lead time between announcement and shipping too.

There's a big difference between providing the OS to download and shipping a product. I wouldn't expect to be able to buy it and have it 2 days later, but a pre-order option would be good.

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#46

Post by chx »

JonnieCache wrote: post #29
chx wrote: post #25

I still don't get it. This emphasises on "productivity". Tablets, lacking any efficient ways of input are not productivity devices. They are great at consuming content, of course. There is a reason the iPad and the Kindle Fire rules the field.

There are vast portions of the workforce for whom productivity does not depend on getting stuff out of ones brain and into the computer, like it does for us. For lots of people, primarily managers, productivity involves getting stuff out of the computer and into the brain. Touch interfaces are very productive for these kinds of tasks. Typically these people are the ones holding the purse strings, so targeting them is…

Really? So they don't need to produce lots of documents, presentations, spreadsheets and emails?

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#48

Post by mtgx »

levesque wrote: post #35
rufugee wrote: post #21

As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm now using Cinnamon as a desktop environment. I really, really wanted Unity to work, but I've had continued performance problems which make it ultimately unusable for me. I understand Ubuntu's need to turn a profit, but I really wish they'd focus on making Unity stable and performant before chasing down these other opportunities... Disclaimer: I run three monitors, so I'm probab…

I find that Unity feels sluggish and inelegant, performance wise. There is always a slight delay when I open the dash, and I generally dislike it's behavior. However, I stay with it because I dislike the alternatives, so no point switching for me. I think this is good news for Unity on the desktop because it means they will be tweaking the hell out of it for performance. I read that it's already better in 13.04, and…

I really hope Canonical doesn't intend to release a quad core Cortex A15 Ubuntu tablet with even the slightest lag or stuttering. I'd rather they delay it for months until they fix that, instead of releasing it like that. People are not going to take that for tablets anymore, and not with today's hardware.

From what I read somewhere, Ubuntu for phones was pretty CPU intensive, which could mean it didn't have hardware acceleration. I did notice some stutters when switching between apps in their own video. So that better not be happening when they actually release the devices, or people aren't going to give it a second thought.

In Ubuntu mobile's case, the first impression will literally decide whether Ubuntu has a future in mobile or not. So they better make sure everything is absolutely flawless, instead of hurrying up to ship it. If Ubuntu for phones and tablets has the same performance issues as on desktop, then might as well call it a dead-end now.

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#49

Post by nsoun »

habosa wrote: post #24

This is a really great step. I previously though Ubuntu was going to ruin itself by getting into the mobile game so late but it seems like their solution might be unified enough (as a result of the time they spent watching others) to actually gain some foothold. I have a Nexus 7 and if they can allow me to dual boot somehow I will be all over this. I'd love to have a little touchscreen Ubuntu PC in my backpack. I'm s…

One of the benefits of entering late is they're able to learn from the competitions missteps.

Re: Ubuntu on tablets

#50

Post by orangethirty »

If they would just sell the damn thing and not have advertisements built into it. I have been using (a paying) Ubuntu user since v.7. It just angers me that they just wont outright charge for it.
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