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Ubuntu Edge

indiegogo.com

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Re: Ubuntu Edge

#341

Post by rlpb »

vog wrote: post #340
mtgx wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good point, and I'm sure Canonical will do that in the future, too, but then they'll only be able to tout Ubuntu Touch's features and apps, not of the "full Ubuntu". The full Ubuntu needs the kind of hardware the Edge will have to get decent performance when used in PC mode. If they made it low-end, they could only use Ubuntu Touch in there, and that suffers from the same problem as FF OS - no native apps, j…

> suffers from the same problem as FF OS - no native apps, just web apps In my opinion, this is one of the main features of FirefoxOS: Every app has to build on open (web) standards. No vendor lock-in, no trying to impose proprietary native APIs on the app developers. The market would be a lot more efficient of all smartphone OS were forced to push their great features by improving and extending open standards instea…

> No vendor lock-in, no trying to impose proprietary native APIs on the app developers.

I don't think that it's fair to characterize an OS built on Free Software as "vendor lock-in", or as the Ubuntu Touch API and implementation (which is Free Software) as a "proprietary native API".

I love the Linux Free Software ecosystem. There are multiple vendors (eg. Debian, Red Hat, Suse) and they all support multiple "proprietary native APIs" that happen to all be the same. My Qt application written on Ubuntu will run on Suse, as will my GTK one, as will my wxWidgets one. IMHO the breadth and quality available in distribution repositories far surpasses what is available in (say) Android's app store, or available in HTML5 "apps" today. Sure - there is plenty of bad software there, too. But there's good Free Software available for practically every task. Not so for the current phone app ecosystems.

Ubuntu may be the first to bring this ecosystem to the smartphone, but it doesn't necessarily have to be the only vendor for this ecosystem in the long run.

Ubuntu is bringing the Free Software ecosystem to the smartphone, and it's all under licensing that protects the FSF's four freedoms [edit: I suppose it's not all GPL, but what new code is being written is. That's as close as we can reasonably get, I think]. That's good enough for me. No proprietary APIs or lock-ins here. Even HTML5 apps don't compare, since they are typically not Affero GPL licenced.

Although binary-only proprietary apps will be permitted, AIUI, they are permitted in every other ecosystem as well. But I'll be cheering on the Free Software apps, and Ubuntu's smartphone seems to be the best way for them to become the norm (there are some great Free Software apps available on Android, but they are not the norm).

Re: Ubuntu Edge

#342

Post by seferphier »

vog wrote: post #326
reedlaw wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This hardware looks like it blows everything else out of the water. So far, Firefox OS hardware offerings have been on the low-end.

This is a bit counter-intuitive, I think, because although Ubuntu's mission is "for the people", they target high-end smartphones instead of low-end smartphones. So in relatively poor countries those Ubuntu phone won't spread that much, while FirefoxOS seems to be spreading there quite fast.

innovations trickle down to "the people". innovations requires a lot of sunk cost.

elon musk's vision is electric cars for everyone but decided to make the high end car first. Now he is slowing moving to mass market.

Re: Ubuntu Edge

#343

Post by YokoZar »

effn wrote: post #317
YokoZar wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you only need the money for a year, there is no reason you can't buy 30 year bonds and sell them later. Short term treasury bonds get a much lower price because they are dominated by buyers that are obligated to buy them for some reason (they've even had negative interest rates in the past).

No, short term bonds get lower yield because they carry much less interest rate risk. There's no free lunch.

That cannot explain a negative interest rate.

Re: Ubuntu Edge

#344

Post by bbrks »

mwcampbell wrote: post #158

I thought about backing this myself, but then I remembered that it's our propensity as developers to get the best hardware for ourselves that leads to resource-hungry software, which means a poor experience for the less fortunate of our users. In that light, it seems to me that a super-high-end phone like this, particularly one aimed at developers, is obscene. So I won't be buying one of these. Indeed, I'm thinking o…

I have a low end Android phone (Galaxy Ace) and it's painfully slow to use. It won't even keep up with me typing in the Messages app, let alone browsing the web or using any apps.

So much so that all I use my phone for (besides the occasional call) is to enable wireless tethering and use my iPod Touch as my primary device instead.

Re: Ubuntu Edge

#346

Post by scholia »

voltagex_ wrote: post #285
slgeorge wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the things that's interesting about the phone industry is that in general there's no equivalent of the special tech-focused PC platforms. So Ubuntu Edge is a way to unlock both a new software platform (Ubuntu phone) but also to bring forward a set of hardware technologies that won't be in the mainstream for a while. It's a really high target caused by how expensive these platforms are to manufacture. But if we…

Do you think I'll be able to get one of these phones after the campaign is done? I can't do $630 right now (IndieGogo is debit-immediately, rather than Kickstarter's debit-when-successful).

Canonical is still working with networks and carriers to provide some mid-range as well as high-end smartphones. These will be mass produced and should be cheaper.

The Indiegogo campaign is just a sideline, not the core strategy.

Re: Ubuntu Edge

#347

Post by scholia »

e12e wrote: post #302
danudey wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of OS is zero when acquiring a new computer through a retail outlet, and zero only for Linux users when acquiring computers through donations, salvage, etc.

In my experience donated/salvaged/second hand PCs usually come with an OEM licence (also true for second hand macs). Perhaps that's different in the US? And while you theoretically pay for the Windows licence that come with a new machine a) most people aren't aware of that, and b) aren't aware that you can get that money back if don't use it.

(b) because usually you can't. Nor should you be able to...

Re: Ubuntu Edge

#348

Post by scholia »

fpgeek wrote: post #62
sciurus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, absolutely. I'd love to have a phone that I can use as a phone, insert into a "laptop dock" (like what the motorola atrix had) and use as a laptop, and insert into a more traditional docking station (to which I've attached a large monitor, ethernet, etc) so I can use it as a desktop. I'd much prefer to have a single trusted device than spread my digital life across "a cloud".

Exactly. Even with most of my stuff in the Google cloud, the cognitive overhead of going from my Note 2 to my Nexus 7 to my "real" laptop and (recently) to my Chromebook is annoying. I'd much rather have one device set up with all my stuff that automagically turns into the form factor I want, when I want it.

Old idea that has never taken off, and is probably less likely now that chips are really cheap. This graphic shows MCC’s Modular PC idea http://jkontherun.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/solutions_hq.j...

IBM's MetaPad was a similar idea.

Today, the Asus PadFone probably comes closest.

Re: Ubuntu Edge

#350

Post by Casc »

Mexxer wrote: post #313
Casc wrote: post #299

A bit late to the party on this post - I think the next shift we see in mobile will be anointing the phone as the arbiter of identity vs the current situation in which our desktop / laptop OS user loosely holds the title. I've previously expressed affinity for a future in which a device (smartphone) becomes a wallet for saving state, identity, data & applications all served by an OS that adapts based on operating env…

Sorry but I don't want any electronical mobile devices as my physical identity badge which includes my whole life. The dangers of that far outweigh the conviniences. You just wouldn't be able to stay anonymous anymore and everything about you would be up for grab by the government or some hackers. Also just imagine when your phone gets stolen. Your whole life in the hands of a stranger.

Unfortunately, this is already the case. For instance, your mac address is a pretty good identifier probing AP's periodically wherever you go, 99% of smartphone owners aren't even aware, let alone know to turn off WiFi if they don't want to be tracked.. If my phone fell into the wrong hands today, my whole life IS at their disposal.

With education and advancement of proper security measures I believe these concerns can be mitigated and benefits would outweigh the risks. Transferring information is still too cumbersome, in order for us to progress, this is going to have to become a reality at some point.

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