<div dir="ltr">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. </div> <div class="gmail_extra"> <div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 9:54 AM, Charles Profitt <<a href="mailto:indigo196@rochester.rr.com" target="_blank">indigo196@rochester.rr.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">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 <div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"> ---- Jono Bacon <<a href="mailto:jono@ubuntu.com">jono@ubuntu.com</a>> 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 > <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com" target="_blank">www.ubuntu.com</a> / <a href="http://www.jonobacon.org" target="_blank">www.jonobacon.org</a> > <a href="http://www.identi.ca/jonobacon" target="_blank">www.identi.ca/jonobacon</a> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/jonobacon" target="_blank">www.twitter.com/jonobacon</a> </div></div></blockquote></div> -- Jono Bacon Ubuntu Community Manager <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com">www.ubuntu.com</a> / <a href="http://www.jonobacon.org">www.jonobacon.org</a> <a href="http://www.identi.ca/jonobacon">www.identi.ca/jonobacon</a> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/jonobacon">www.twitter.com/jonobacon</a> </div>