Ubuntu Edge

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Lennart Sorensen <lsorense-1wCw9BSqJbv44Nm34jS7GywD8/FfD2ys at public.gmane.org>
| To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org
| Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 10:58:52 -0400
| Subject: Re: [TLUG]: Ubuntu Edge
| Reply-To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org
| 
| On Tue, Jul 30, 2013 at 10:52:10AM -0400, David Mason wrote:
| > Cool phone, idea, and video.  They're almost 1/4 of the way to their
| > corwdfunding goal!
| > 
| > http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge
| > 
| > I have a big investment in the iOS world, but I'm definitely tempted.

I haven't studied this closesly since I wrote it off early, but I'll
explain why.

What is the innovation here?
- sexy new hardware
- sexy old/new OS

Attmepting two innovations at once severely reduces your chances of
success (or reduces your risk tolerance in each innovation, an
unfortunate thing).

What's interesting about each?

Sexy new hardware: stated goal is to make it capable of being your
desktop, when plugged into stuff like a monitor and keyboard.  That's
interesting to me.  Motorola tried that and failed.

Everything else appears to be the same goals as many other handset
makers are striving for, and doing well.  I don't think that I have to
front the risk to make this happen, it will anyway.

Sexy old/new OS:  Shuttleworth is an interesting guy.  He's on a very
different value-system from me.  I don't like where Ubuntu has been
going and I imagine that the phone will only be more off-track.

Will the Linux we're comfortable be any more visible on Ubuntu for
phones than on Adroid?

A project closer to my heart was the Neo FreeRunner.  We all know how
that turned out.

How about Replicant?  I've not followed that, but it seems
interesting.

| Hmm I looked at it and had some issues with the design:
| 
| Screen resolution too low

"Resolution" is ambiguous these days.  As you later said: not enough
pixels on the screen.  You didn't object to the pixel density.

I guess it would be great for a phone right now.  But phones seem to
get stale within a couple of years.  And this phone is still perhaps a
year out.

| It has Ubuntu on it

Interesting to have Ubuntu.  Not good enough to invest a lot of time
into.

| It has Android on it

I've forgotten which of the many possible objections you might have
are central.  Would Replicant address some of them?

The mobile phone culture is really wrong for me.  The default
expectation of massive information leaks is horrible.  It would be
great if there was an alternative that was mainstream.  Ubuntu's
behaviour suggests they are part of the problem, not the solution.

I love (some) mobile phone hardware.  I just bought a Nexus 4 phone
for somelthing like $150, no commitment.  That's awesome.  1280x768
isn't good enough for Lennart.  It's good enough for me, at least for
now.  I intend to discover if it is all I need to carry
when I leave the house.

I think the saddest lack of pixels is in notebooks.  Mainstream
netbooks had significantly fewer (1024x600) than my new phone.  Most
other notebooks are 1366x768.  Yuck.  Only the 15" MacBook Pro with
Retina display (2880x1800; $2199) beats my Nexus 10 tablet
(2560x1200; $409).

My tastes may differ from the mainstream.  I see very little mention
of the Nexus 10 in Kijiji which suggests few were bought
(alternatively: few are unloved).
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