Rethinking the Ubuntu Community in Terms of LaunchPad

Fri Dec 19 00:52:50 UTC 2014

> Besides, LP plays a very important role for themselves,
> apparently, so they should try to make it better.

If any of us in the Ubuntu project find ourselves talking about what
"they" should do, rather than what "we" could do, it should cause us to
stop and re-think out position.

If you have an idea of how to make something better, you have two options:

1) You do it yourself, if you're capable. You don't need permission to
try, and if you succeed and it's good it will likely be supported by other.

2) If you can't do it yourself, you have to convince somebody else that
they want to do it. You don't do this by telling them that they should,
but by explaining in detail (the more the better) how it would be done
and how it would benefit them and others.

I would note that #2 isn't going to be less work for you than #1. Ideas
are easy and plentiful, you can't just throw one out and expect someone
to pick it up and do it. Those people all have a dozen ideas of their
own that they haven't implemented yet, so you not only have to convince
them that yours is worth working on, you have to convince them that it's
more worthwhile than the other things they have in mind. That means you
have to do a lot of planning and research ahead of time, and a lot of
organizing, promotion, testing and more during development.

Michael Hall
mhall119 at ubuntu.com

On 12/18/2014 05:59 PM, Gustavo Silva wrote:
> @Nathan,
> 
> Hello, nice to meet you!
> 
> My email was not vague nor content-less. Forgot to mention I agree with
> all suggestions in that blog post and they should be implemented, for
> the sake of many small projects connected via Launchpad. I think you
> will understand now what I mentioned by "outdated".
> 
> The development of Ubuntu leads to the development of Linux for several
> reasons which I am not going to mention here because you know it better
> than I do. Besides, LP plays a very important role for themselves,
> apparently, so they should try to make it better.
> 
> "What is urgent about the opinion of non-developers who don't have a use
> for Launchpad?"
> This was a bit unnecessary IMO for many reasons. But, I'll guess my
> english and email wasn't very clear. I hope that I've replied to you
> before. Even I, as a non-developer, have a saying, I think. And I don't
> think it is attractive to cooperate in a project that is connected over
> a out-dated, non-practical nor simple platform. Oh, and it's entirely
> public, which totally drives away profitable projects. But, their
> (Canonical) loss if they want to think like that.
> 
> 
> "And once we have a set of tasks (not vague concerns), we can all work
> together on them."
> Since you put it that way:
> - Proper notification system that doesn't fill your email inbox with too
> many emails;
> - Make it more user-friendly;
> - Create the possibility to create bookmarks/favourites in order to
> quickly jump into a specific project (needless to say, without having to
> save them on your browser);
> - The edit of Blueprints doesn't make much sense, unless the creator
> decides to post a full article and specifications. In a way, LP doesn't
> help much to discuss anything, technical and non-technical. It is
> confusing and you have to read a gigantic wall of text with your
> attention over 200%.
> - There is no formatting options and there should be - old-fashioned
> bold, italic and underline. Not a complex thing though. I personally
> don't find that useful.
> 
> Aside from the UX critic, which I can't say much, I guess these are same
> as proposed in that blog post.
> 
> Thanks for replying +1
> 
> 
> 2014-12-18 22:42 GMT+00:00 Nathan Haines <nhaines at ubuntu.com
> <mailto:nhaines at ubuntu.com>>:
> 
>     This is a very popular style of email lately, and it's completely
>     contentless.  And this is a big problem because it's a call to
>     action with no regard as to what the action is.
> 
>     The blog post is even worse (in that it's wrong), but since Svetlana
>     doesn't want to discuss it on the list, I will respect her wishes.
> 
>     Gustavo, I appreciate that you want to help, and there are a lot of
>     ways you can help without being a developer!  But the best way you
>     can help with development is to be specific in your concerns.  For
>     example, your email was extremely vague.
> 
>     On 12/18/2014 02:22 PM, Gustavo Silva wrote:
> 
>         Although I can't contribute in technical terms, I recognize that
>         LP is a
>         bit out-dated compared to other solutions out there.
> 
> 
>     In which ways specifically?
> 
>         In a sense, most of
>         that blog post makes sense and whoever is responsible for LP
>         should put
>         some work on hands.
> 
> 
>     Canonical maintains Launchpad and they think it is complete.  What
>     else, then, should they work on?
> 
>         However, you guys made clear that it is not that
>         easy. But, the community has a big role in the development of Linux.
> 
> 
>     Launchpad is not Linux, and the community had never had a notable
>     role in the development of Launchpad, which was created by Canonical
>     to serve their needs in developing Ubuntu.
> 
>         Therefore, I think someone must hear us.
> 
> 
>     Launchpad is a technical development tool.  What is urgent about the
>     opinion of non-developers who don't have a use for Launchpad?
> 
>         Our importance has to be
>         considered by them, no matter what.
> 
> 
>     Bluntly speaking, we're not important.  Those who are important are
>     the target audience of Launchpad, but Canonical considers that to be
>     developers directly working with Ubuntu code.
> 
>     "No matter what" is almost always wrong.
> 
>     There's been a lot of general hand-wringing in this thread, but
>     we're trying really hard to come up with concrete things that the
>     community can do.  Launchpad development isn't one of them (because
>     Canonical is no longer actively developing it) but I would love to
>     hear specific goals that you think can be accomplished.
> 
>     And once we have a set of tasks (not vague concerns), we can all
>     work together on them.
> 
>     -- 
>     Nathan Haines
>     Ubuntu - http://www.ubuntu.com/
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Best Regards / Obrigado e com os melhores cumprimentos,
> Gustavo
> 
> 
> 