Heads Up: Smart Scopes Not Landing

[Jono Bacon]

Hi Charles,

I will be blogging about it in a few hours and Oliver will update the FFe
then. We just wanted to wait a few hours to give you folks a chance to
digest this and ask any questions.


On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 9:54 AM, Charles Profitt <indigo196 at rochester.rr.com
> wrote:

> Jono:
>
> Thanks for the heads up.
>
> One question with these -- will there be an official public announcement
> or is this something we can blog about?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Charles
>
> ---- Jono Bacon <jono at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> > Hi Everyone,
> >
> > I just wanted to give you what I think is a pretty uncontroversial heads
> up
> > as I promised to do a better job preparing our leaders for any
> > announcements.
> >
> > As some of you will know, the dash team has been working to get the new
> > smart scopes functionality in the dash ready for 13.04; this
> functionality
> > delivers a far more comprehensive dash experience, performing searches
> over
> > 50 or more different data sources.
> >
> > The team has been working as part of a Feature Freeze Exception (FFe) to
> > get this into 13.04. but unfortunately the feature is simply not mature
> > enough for 13.04 -- it is nearly there, but doesn't meet the quality
> needs
> > for Ubuntu, so the team has decided not to peruse landing in in 13.04 and
> > to instead move it to the Ubuntu 13.10 cycle where it will be developed
> as
> > soon as the archive opens. Currently this feature has been developed in a
> > PPA and has not landed in 13.04 yet.
> >
> > Now, this might cause a few questions as there has been some blogging
> about
> > the feature as it stands in the PPA and some folks may be expecting the
> new
> > privacy features to land in 13.04. I worked with the team to prepare a
> FAQ
> > with the key questions. Copied in is Olli Ries who can also answer any
> > questions. The FAQ is below.
> >
> > Olli will update the FFe late today, and I plan on notifying the news
> sites
> > to let them know and will blog about it on Planet Ubuntu. This should
> > ensure everyone is on the same page, but do let us know if you have any
> > queries.
> >
> >
> >
> > *
> >
> > Q: The FFE (1154229) got a sabdfl override and is now being rejected, how
> > come?
> >
> > A: A sabdfl override always has high requirements regarding code quality
> > and User Experience. After looking at the current status of the smart
> > scopes project we decided that the User Experience simply needs more work
> > and it does not meet the quality requirements for Ubuntu. We would prefer
> > to delay the feature until the next release cycle to ensure that it is
> rock
> > solid.
> >
> > Q: Why was this feature being pushed at the last minute?
> >
> > A: We believe the feature does provide additional benefit to Ubuntu Users
> > by improving the search experience in the Dash, which is Unity’s weak
> spot.
> > Landing the feature in 13.04 would have given us 1 additional cycle on
> the
> > way to 14.04 to train and improve the suggestions provided by the server
> > and further refine the overall Dash experience.
> >
> > Q: When, if at all, will the feature make its way into Ubuntu?
> >
> > A: We are planning to provide the feature in a PPA for Ubuntu Raring
> which
> > will be always rebased on Unity shipped on Raring. It will land it as
> soon
> > as we are confident enough on the feature quality in Ubuntu S.
> >
> > Q: What about the in-dash purchases feature? Will that be landing?
> >
> > There were some final outstanding issues with in-dash purchases and we
> are
> > striving to have a conclusion to this ready for early next week (week
> > beginning 1st April).
> >
> >
> > Q: What about the privacy enhancements that were part of the smart scopes
> > project?
> >
> > A: It is unfortunately not possible to get the privacy enhancements from
> > the smart scopes projects without the larger project itself. Smart Scopes
> > would have allowed to disable individual scopes and limit network access
> > for searches at all. In Ubuntu 13.04 you will still be able to disable
> all
> > server communications  through the settings apps. You can also remove the
> > scopes and lenses you are not interested in using them by directly
> > uninstalling the corresponding packages.
> > *
> > Thanks!
> >
> >    Jono
> >
> >
> > --
> > Jono Bacon
> > Ubuntu Community Manager
> > www.ubuntu.com / www.jonobacon.org
> > www.identi.ca/jonobacon www.twitter.com/jonobacon
>
>


-- 
Jono Bacon
Ubuntu Community Manager
www.ubuntu.com / www.jonobacon.org
www.identi.ca/jonobacon www.twitter.com/jonobacon
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