Removal of PulseAudio from Ubuntu

[Ryan Oram]

>On Thu, 2010-05-06 at 05:54 +0000, Mario Vukelic wrote:
>Many companies are switching their internal phone systems to VoIP. The
>company I work for (15,000 seats, half of the users mobile with laptops)
>just finished this transition, and the next step will be a migration to
>PC-based phones for those who prefer it. Bluetooth headsets, certainly.
>
>Also, there is this little application called Skype that I hear people
>are using.
>
>I don't see the point of the false dichotomy "either bluetooth headset
>support *or* proper game support", either.

I do not own a traditional phone and use Skype to make all of my
calls. The $3 a month plan is god send compared to traditional POTS
service for a starving student.

Skype will work on infinityOS and on any audio system that I propose
Ubuntu should adopt. Skype works fully on the pure ALSA system
employed currently by infinityOS as I use it personally.

<personal anecdote>
However, Bluetooth headsets are a giant mess. I bought a Nokia one to
use with my computer and it was always a pain to get working and
connected (this was on Mac OS X and Windows). I highly suggest, based
on my own personal experience, that you do not deploy Bluetooth
headsets at your workplace. Bluetooth is a half-baked technology that
barely works when it does work. Hell, half the time your headset will
randomly decide to connect to your phone instead of your computer for
an arbitrary reason.
</personal anecdote>

Bluetooth support will be in what ever audio layer infinityOS uses (or
anything I support Ubuntu to use) or at the very least be on the
roadmap. Game support is, however, just a plain higher priority, as it
is required by home users while you can choose to use a different
headset (such as USB or RF wireless) to work better on Linux (or just
plain work better in general, Bluetooth is nothing but problems).

Ryan