ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Alan Pope <alan.pope@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

Thanks for your continued interest in the future direction of Ubuntu.
I did enjoy your 'crickets' email. It raised a smile, and I learned
something about Spanish culture too :)

On 4 January 2017 at 16:33, advocatux <advocatux@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I don't think it's negativity. People are investing time, money, and passion
> in this project and want to hear what is the official plan, from an official
> source.
>

Not "the official plan, from an official source" but here's two pieces
of information:-

An email from Thibaut Rouffineau - Canonical's "Head of Devices
Marketing - Phone & IoT" went out to developers who had uploaded a
click to the store. The mail went out on the 16th December 2016.
Here's the content:-

"Hi there,

Thanks for your incredible work with Ubuntu Phone! You are the
cornerstone of what makes Ubuntu a great place to work and play. I
just wanted to clue you in on what is next for Ubuntu and Canonical.

Earlier this year we launched snaps [0]. This is a new packaging
format, derived from clicks, that works anywhere, irrespective of
device, distro, or developer. Snaps are simple, secure, and universal.
We are making them the new standard format for apps in Ubuntu across
cloud, desktop, IOT, and beyond. As an example Rocket.chat, NextCloud,
Jenkins, VLC, and others now take minutes to deploy.

As a developer, snaps allow you to target multiple platforms, come
with a store, and a built-in mechanism for beta software distribution,
making it simpler for you to get feedback before you release major
versions. We have also built out extensive documentation and tooling
for making snaps dead simple to understand and use.

Now, while we plan on ultimately retiring click packages and the store
in preference for snaps, rest assured, it is not going to happen
immediately. We are though encouraging our awesome community members
such as yourself to start preparing to move to snaps so we can make
this transition smooth.

Now, we want to make this as quick and easy as possible. Here is how
you can get started:

STEP 1: Head to snapcraft.io [1] where you can learn more about snaps
and find tools, tutorials, and tips to get started.

STEP 2: If you have any questions about getting started, feel free to
post to Ask Ubuntu, use our IRC channel, or join
snapcraft@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Also, you might want to give snaps a go [2] on Raspberry Pi with
Ubuntu Core. It is a load of fun to play with and shows the potential.
There is even a competition [3] for the best seasonal snap you can
join if you need additional motivation!

If you have any questions, concerns, or otherwise, let us know, and
thanks so much for your incredible work!

Thanks!
Thibaut Rouffineau
Head of Devices Marketing - Phone & IoT

[0] - https://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/06/14/universal-snap-packages-launch-on-multiple-linux-distros
[1] - https://snapcraft.io/
[2] - https://developer.ubuntu.com/core/get-started
[3] - https://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/12/01/competition-build-a-seasonal-snap-on-your-raspberry-pi/
"
At a recent Ubuntu event in Germany, there was a presentation [4] from
Jane Silber, the Canonical CEO. As part of the presentation there was
a short Q&A which was unfortunately not published online, but was
recorded. During the Q&A someone asked about further devices beyond
the ones that already shipped. Jane gave some detail about why the
rumoured/expected Meizu device never appeared, and talked a little
about future plans. I don't have a recording, and wouldn't want to
mis-quote my boss, so won't.

The short version being that the focus for us all right now is moving
everything to work in the new snap world, and merging all the existing
project code to one converged platform.

> I myself asked about it very positively on December, 15th. So no 'when
> most sensible working people are on holidays' kind of excuse for the lack of
> response.
>

Apologies for the delay in response. I was on vacation from December 15th...

Cheers,
Al.

[4] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EShrpxtUB18

-- 
Alan Pope
Community Manager

Canonical - Ubuntu Engineering and Services
+44 (0) 7973 620 164
alan.pope@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://ubuntu.com/