ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Oliver Propst <oliver.propst@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 2014-07-17 at 13:35 +0100, Alan Pope wrote:
> Hi Oliver,
Hi Alan thanks for your detailed reply I think its shows that
Canonical actually cares about the community and welcomes input. 

> On Wed, Jul 16, 2014 at 6:45 PM, Oliver Propst <oliver.propst@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > As of now the the newest device that is officially supported is still
> > the soon two years old Nexus 4, is not about time to consider support a
> > newer device?
> >
> 
> We are already working on new devices, those that will ship from BQ
> and Meizu later in the year. It makes little sense for us to divert
> attention to do the hardware bring-up of another 3rd party device
> (with little or no help from the manufacturer / SoC vendor) when we
> have these two devices being worked on, closely with the
> manufacturers.
> 
> They will be available for people to buy soon, no doubt.
Yeah that sounds great, I hope the bootloader will be open 
(I'm afraid it will be not, this have also been an issue with
some FirefoxOS deceives released on the market).
 

> > I find the wiki [1] very scare of details on how to get involved, it
> > seems not to be any real effort from Canonical to create a community
> > around Ubuntu Phone in the same way with the Ubuntu operating system or
> > maybe more relevant for Ubuntu touch, FirefoxOS.
> >
> 
> I find this feedback very interesting. Building a community is
> something we're constantly working on, if we're missing something, I'm
> keen to hear about it.
I think its much about communication, personally I feel the wiki more
less list some list some facts and is not really encourages community
participation. 

Some things I think would be great to have are a FAQ about Ubuntu
PhoneOS and presentation material the community can use, Mozilla provide
both [1] [2].

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS/Firefox_OS_FAQ
https://wiki.mozilla.org/ReMo/Tools_and_Resources/Slide_decks

> We have frequent hack days, conduct our discussions in open irc
> channels and mailing lists such as this one, and the code is all
> available on launchpad. I spend personally spend a significant portion
> of my day working with community people on Ubuntu, and I know many
> others do too.
Thats great. I think also important to document releases so its
easy for developers to get info about the progress of the platform. 

> > Mozilla for example have a program where community members and
> > developers can get testing devices[2] [3], is there any plans for for
> > similar initiative around Ubuntu Phones?
> 
> We have already shipped a bunch of Nexus 4's running Ubuntu to various
> developers all around the world who we selected and are hacking on the
> platform and apps. We also have a community fund where people who are
> keen on helping, but have no device can apply for funding for one, and
> we've sent devices to some people who have applied.
Ok.

> >  When Mozilla launch FirefoxOS
> > in new markets they tend to work very closely with the local community
> > [4], I don’t get the impression that Canonical are doing any real
> > efforts in area, (not yet at least).
> >
> 
> Well, there's a significant difference here. We haven't shipped any
> retail devices yet and the platform isn't finished. You're talking
> about Mozilla with a finished device from a manufacturer, setting
> aside budget to buy some of those and send them to people. We can't do
> that yet.
Ok understand, with that said I guess its good to have in mind that to
launch a mobile platform requires significant investments (I'm sure you
are all aware of that),

> While *we* are all developing on Nexus devices (which incidentally you
> can't buy in retail anymore) the devices we'd expect developers and
> users to actually use are those that will ship from BQ and Meizu later
> this year, and devices from other manufacturers next year and beyond.
> We're immensely proud that some early pioneering developers have
> actually gone out of their way to flash the daily images on devices,
> or port to new devices, but that doesn't work for everyone.  Most
> developers want a reliable inexpensive device they can buy with the
> software pre-installed, ready to hack on. We're not there yet, but
> will be _very_ soon.
I guess the bootloader can be a concern for developers. Mozilla
partnered with a manufacture to create a reference devices [3]
specifically that would target the needs of developer (such as open
bootloader and ensure that Mozilla could redistribute binaries).

3https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS/Developer_phone_guide/Flame


> Cheers,

-- 
-mvh Oliver Propst