Ubuntu Focusing on Tablets and the Cloud in 2013

sfcrazy writes "Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Ubuntu, has shared his plans for 2013. It was clear from the Nexus 7 initiative that Ubuntu is eventually looking into the mobile space more seriously. Google created the cheap device Ubuntu was looking for wider testing and development. The initial builds of Ubuntu for Nexus 7 also showed that, despite popular perception, Unity is far from ready for the mobile devices. In fact quite a lot of 'controversial' technologies introduced in Unity don't fit on a mobile devices such as Global Menus or HUD. So there are many challenges for Mark — redesign Unity for mobile, which may upset users again, get Ubuntu app developers to redesign apps for Ubuntu mobile, get top developers to write apps for Ubuntu... Is it all feasible when companies like RIM or Microsoft are struggling or is Ubuntu becoming a 'me too' company which is not brining anything new to the table and is simply trying to claim a pie?" Shuttleworth also wants to do something or other with the cloud: "It’s also why we’ll push deeper into the cloud, making it even easier, faster and cost effective to scale out modern infrastructure on the cloud of your choice, or create clouds for your own consumption and commerce."

Re:One condition

[plover]

As long as we can run our own cloud on our own server at home, I'm all for it. Otherwise, screw it. I don't want to give any company control over my own godamn data.

Then perhaps you want to check out ownCloud [owncloud.org]. It's Open Source. You can host it yourself. They also have a provider you can rent from (which is how they make ends meet.) There are native clients for Android and iPhone. It supports SSL and can encrypt files stored on the server if you choose. It does a rudimentary form of versioning. It can even translate ODF files to HTML for easy online viewing of documents.

Your data, your control, your responsibility. Everything you just asked for.

Re:Whose perception?

[Culture20]

The bad thing is, Ubuntu was something of great value just four years ago. At the time, it was the only version of Linux that you could show someone out of the box and get them excited about using a new operating system. Part of the allure was beryl/compiz, but most of what made it special in the Linux world was that it played nicer with the mandatory binary blobs (like wireless firmware and graphics drivers). It was an acceptable compromise between the GNU way and everyone else.
And a lot of us geeks spread the gospel of Ubuntu to the unwashed masses. Now it's turned out that Ubuntu was a false prophet, so we're having to do a lot of damage control (and further explanations of why Ubuntu's off the deep end).

Re:One condition

[Anonymous Coward]

Tonido is also pretty good in this respect. You can even buy a plug computer from them running their software.

Ubuntu wants to be on tablets?

[blind biker]

Ubuntu is doomed. If tablets are Ubuntu's goal, they fucked up already: first off, Unity, which is drek on the desktop is also drek on tablets - so they alienated a large part of the desktop users in favor of nothing (add the local search beamed to Amazon thing for extra bonus points of alienation).

And in the meantime, KDE waltzes in, almost effortlessly creates Plasma and already now there is a distribution, Plasma Active, running on the Nexus 7, and it's actually usable and easy on the eyes.

I should also mention that the tablet marketplace is cutthroat-competitive, and even Microsoft has its work cut out to get in.

Ubuntu should step back from the precipice right fucking now.