Hello all,<br><br>This email regards wubi, a tool used to set up Ubuntu in a dual boot configuration in a manner that does not require disk partitioning. Wubi is a windows program. It is currently delivered as a standalone
executable downloadable from the web, as well as part of official Ubuntu
images. You can read about wubi in the excellent user guide:<br><a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide">https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide</a><br><br>I am proposing a small but notable change to how we deliver wubi for 12.04. I am proposing that:<br>
<br> 1. We continue to test and bug fix wubi.exe as the separate Windows program<br> 2. We cotinue to offer wubi.exe for download as the separate Windows program.<br> 3. We disable the ability to do a wubi installation from the Ubuntu 12.04 ISOs. (wubi will remain on the images for the purpose of providing Windows users some feedback and functionality if they put a Ubuntu CD into a running Windows computer, but won't offer to install).<br>
<br>Separating the wubi.exe experience from the ISOs will give us the following important benefits:<br><br> 1. We will be able to do maintenance and enhancements to wubi outside of the Ubuntu development cycle.<br> 2. Significant reduciton of QA work for an already over-streched QA team.<br>
3. Better overall 12.04 quality, and less stress at release time.<br> 4. We won't get stuck with a poor (or worse) user experience on the CD since is a good chance that wubi will not work properly with Windows 8.<br>
<br>I am proposing these changes to the plan because:<br><br> 1. The key use case for wubi is being able to download and run the installer on Windows, not installing from the ISO.<br> 2. Wubi is difficult to test, so has been difficult to assure that it will meet the quality standards we have set for 12.04.<br>
3. There are no developers treating wubi as their top priorities. This combined with the QA difficulties has historically caused late breaking changes that add stress at release time and frequentily invalidate already executed ISO testing.<br>
4. Most significantly, Windows is changing it's boot system with Windows 8, and it's not clear how wubi will work with Windows 8, if at all.<br><br>Cheers, Rick<br>