Ubuntu Weekly News: Issue #32

[Martin Albisetti]

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #32 for the week March
11th - 18th, 2007. In this issue we cover Ubuntu's new Website
redesign, Breezy Badger's end of the road and Ubuntu's involvement int
the year's Google Summer of Code. Feisty is also going into Beta, so
everyone can feel the excitement in the air.

== In This Issue ==

 * New Ubuntu Website
 * Feisty Fawn (7.04) Beta Freeze
 * Bye bye Breezy!
 * Ubuntu in Google's 2007 Summer of Code
 * New ISO Testing Team
 * Ubuntu-PH in First Conference FOSS in eGovernance
 * Ubuntu-be.org spreads Ubuntu Love

== General Community News ==

=== New Ubuntu.com look unveiled ===

The website team at Canonical have been hard at work on a new look for
the Ubuntu website and this week, that new look was unveiled. Based on
Drupal, the old website was based on a customized MoinMoin engine, the
new website also sports a shiny new theme. Matthew Nuzum, Ubuntu.com
webmaster, said the Drupal theme is already ready to download and
themes for other CMS and Wikis would be made available soon. You can
see the new look at http://www.ubuntu.com and read Matthew's email at
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/loco-contacts/2007-March/001196.html


http://ubuntu-ph.org/node/104

=== Bye bye Breezy! ===
0n October 13th, 2005, Breezy Badger (5.10), the third Ubuntu release
was announced. On Friday April 13th 2007, it will reach its
end-of-life and at that time, Ubuntu Security Notices will no longer
include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 5.10.

Breezy Landmarks:
 * Edubuntu was first implemented - http://www.edubuntu.org/
 * Ubuntu for servers
 * OEM installer support
 * Graphical startup process with progress bar (USplash)
 * Add/remove menu

If you are still running Breezy, it is recommended to upgrade to
Dapper Drake (6.06 LTS, Long Term Support release). From Dapper, you
can then upgrade to Edgy Eft (6.10, current stable release). Read the
full announcement
here:https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2007-March/000099.html

So, bye bye, Breezy, and welcome Feisty!


https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BelgianTeam/VLOD_2007/Report

=== Forum Council Notes, March 13th, 2007 ===

The following points were covered:

 * The Jail will not be viewable by Forum Members. Members will be
able to see their own posts in the event a post is jailed. Matthew is
going to revise the Current Forum Guidelines.
 * The Council is searching for a new Team Leader for the Hardware
team. The leader will be decided at the Next FC meeting.
 * Ubuntu Forums will support an ISO testing team within the forums,
and promote ISO testing.
 * Ubuntu Forums staff hiring process will not change. Matthew will
put pen to paper and write out the process and send it to the other FC
members for approval.
 * Ubuntu Forums will no longer honor a members request to delete
their account. Members who add multiple accounts will be handled in
the following manner. First duplicate account, the member will receive
an infraction. Second duplicate account, the member will be banned.
 * Ubuntu Forums will have a forum for Desktop-Effects. Finally a
place for all those "Beryl broke my compooter" threads.
 * Next meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 11th, 2007, 20:00 UTC

You can read the full log of the meeting here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/ForumCouncil/2007March13/Logs and
notes from Vorian, the FC secretary, on the forum thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=383549

=== Ubuntu participates in Google's 2007 Summer of Code ===

Slightly older news, but Ubuntu has been accepted as a mentoring
organization in the 2007 Google Summer of Code, a program to help
students with a summer job while working on various Open Source
projects. Some ideas are beginning to be collected at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GoogleSoC2007 and you can read the
announcement, including how to participate at
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2007-March/000260.html

=== Ubuntu-Women Training Session for GNOME Bug Day ===

The GNOME Bugsquad will have a Bug Day from Wednesday, March 21, 16:00
UTC to March 22, 05:00 UTC in #bugs on irc.gnome.org.

In order to encourage more ubuntu-women to get involved in the
upcoming GNOME Bug Day, ubuntu-women is hosting a little session on
how to start triaging for GNOME in #ubuntu-women on March 20th
starting at 21:00 UTC. Everyone welcome to join!

Read the full emails from Susana on Ubuntu-Women mailing list here
(you will also find relevant links to the GNOME Bug Day events):

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-women/2007-March/000680.html

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-women/2007-March/000681.html

Ubuntuforums thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=2316719

=== New ISO Testing Team ===
In the past, the Distro Team, formed by ubuntu-core-devs, tested all
the ISOs, in all the supported architectures, with a lot of testing
cases, as you can see here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/Matrix
But there is a big problem with that: the developers can't focus in
fixing bugs, as they would do if they shouldn't have to test the ISOs.
To improve this situation, we would like to make a Community effort,
and form a Community Team which would test the ISOs, letting the devs
concentrate in fixing bugs, and improving Ubuntu!
We are going to start with the Ubuntu and Kubuntu Live CDs in x86
architectures. If you can help us out, just mail us to
iso.testing at gmail.com (instructions in:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=383067).


== LoCo News ==


=== Ubuntu-PH participates in First Conference FOSS in eGovernance ===

The FOSS fiesta in eGovernance was held at EDSA Shangri-La last March
7-8, 2007. With the active participation of the Ubuntu-ph team on the
said event, with Yolyne Medina, Zak B. Elep and Juan Carlos Torres
taking charge of the Ubuntu-PH table.

=== Ubuntu-be.org spreads Ubuntu love at VLOD education conference ===

Flemish education conference, the Ubuntu-be.org volunteers spread
their Edubuntu enthusiasm around the directors and ict-responsibles of
all Belgium schools. The VLOD-conference is the biggest education
conference in Flanders which about 8000 people, mainly decisionmakers
attend. People were interested to discover this system everybody was
talking about.Ubuntu-be.org showed them the possibilities and
advantages of 'free software', and gave them a demo of thin clients.


== New in Feisty Fawn ==

=== Feisty Fawn (7.04) Beta Freeze ===

According to Tollef Fog Heen on the Ubuntu developers announcement
list, the freeze for uploads has taken affect in order to anticipate
the beta release of Feisty. The freeze took affect on Thursday and
means that "During the freeze, all uploads to main [repository] must
be approved by a member of
the release team." Any changes that need to be taken into affect
should go to the release team as soon as possible. These are exciting
times for the whole Ubuntu community as it means the Feisty Fawn in
very close to release.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2007-March/000262.html

=== Feisty translations now open! ===
Launchpad team have imported existing translations both from Ubuntu
6.10 (Edgy) and directly from upstream projects. Each language remains
untranslated on the Feisty translations overview page.
There are some problems converting from Open Office language pack
format to the .po format used by Launchpad. This means that Open
Office isn't yet available to translate.

http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/817

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/feisty/+translations

== In The Press ==

iDart (Intelligent Dispensing of Antiretroviral Treatment) is a Java
GPL application used by antiretroviral (ARV) pharmacies to treat over
8500 HIV patients. Cell-Life has created an iDart-in-a-box solution
running Ubuntu where the iDart database can be backed up securely over
the cellular network, making it useful in areas where there is no
Internet connectivity. Read the full article:
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1407

Mercian Labels, a UK security label printer, is in the process of
migrating from Microsoft to Ubuntu and other open source technologies.
Because of the lack of case studies for small companies to use open
source, Mercian is blogging their transition at
http://www.selfadhesivelabels.com/blog. Read the full article:
http://www.prbuzz.com/mercian-labels-blogs-case-study-1268.html.

Ed Moltzen blogs about Mark Shuttleworth's
[http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/100 post], which discusses
issues and solutions arising from widespread interest of pre-installed
Linux in Dell's [http://www.dellideastorm.com/ IdeaStorm]. Read the
post: http://www.crn.com/software/198000735

Canonical announced its Partner Programme to stimulate awareness and
adoption of open source platforms. This will help partners that use
Ubuntu as part of their solutions and help Canonical build
relationships with vendors. Read the full article:
http://www.ubuntu.com/news/Global-Partner-Program

OS News has a glowing review of Feisty. The article states Ubuntu has
a found a good middle ground between hard core Linux users and new
users coming from Windows and OS X. Read the full article:
http://www.osnews.com/story.php/17505/Ubuntu-Feisty-Fawn-Desktop-Linux-Matured/

Frank Koehntopp posts about installing Ubuntu on 16 computers at a
primary school in Germany. Read the full post:
http://www.gadgetguy.de/2007/03/12/primary-school-goes-ubuntu/

== Meetings and Events ==

=== Monday, March 19, 2007 ===

==== Kernel Team Meeting ====
 * Start: 15:00
 * End: 16:00
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
 * Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/Meeting

=== Tuesday, March 20, 2007 ===

==== Community Council Meeting ====
 * Start: 18:00
 * End: 20:00
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
 * Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CommunityCouncilAgenda

=== Wednesday, March 21, 2007 ===

==== Edubuntu Meeting ====
 * Start: 12:00
 * End: 14:00
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
 * Agenda: https://wiki.edubuntu.org/EdubuntuMeetingAgenda

=== Thursday, March 22, 2007 ===

==== Ubuntu Development Team Meeting ====
 * Start: 16:00
 * End: 18:00
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting

=== Sunday, March 25th, 2007 ===

==== Ubuntu-Women Meeting ====
 * Start : 11:00 UTC
 * End : 12:00 UTC
 * Location : IRC channel #ubuntu-women

=== Tuesday, March 27, 2007 ===

==== MOTU Meeting ====
 * Start: 08:00
 * End: 10:00
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
 * Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/Meetings

==== Technical Board Meeting ====
 * Start: 20:00
 * End: 22:00
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
 * Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TechnicalBoardAgenda

=== Wednesday, March 28, 2007 ===

==== Edubuntu Meeting ====
 * Start: 20:00
 * End: 22:00
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
 * Agenda: https://wiki.edubuntu.org/EdubuntuMeetingAgenda

==== Xubuntu Meeting ====
 * Start: 22:00
 * End: 23:59
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
 * Topic: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Xubuntu/Meetings

=== Thursday, March 29, 2007 ===

==== Ubuntu Development Team Meeting ====
 * Start: 21:00
 * End: 23:00
 * Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting

=== Saturday, March 31, 2007 ===

==== Ubuntu Conference in Croatia ====
 * Start: 00:00
 * End: 23:59
 * Location: Zagreb, Croatia
 * For more info: http://www.ubuntu-hr.org/konferencija/index.en.php

== Community Spotlight ==

=== Team of the Week: Mozilla Team ===
The Mozilla Team is focused on raising the quality of the Mozilla
Foundation's application in Ubuntu. The Mozilla Team takes into
account the many packages that interact with Mozilla products, such as
Flash, Java, and extensions. The Mozilla Team is strongly committed to
upstream and relations. By analyzing crash reports, the Mozilla Team
has found several master crash cases which are in progress. The
Mozilla Team can be found at #ubuntu-mozillateam on irc.freenode.net.

== Updates and security for 6.06 and 6.10 ==

=== Security Updates ===

 * USN-432-2: GnuPG2, GPGME vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/432-2
 * USN-436-1: KTorrent vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/436-1
 * USN-435-1: Xine vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/435-1

=== Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Updates ===

 * vmware-player-kernel-2.6.15 2.6.15.10-11 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2007-March/012376.html
 * xine-lib 1.1.1+ubuntu2-7.6 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2007-March/012373.html
 * ktorrent 1.2-0ubuntu5.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2007-March/012378.html
 * gpgme1.0 1.1.0-1ubuntu0.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2007-March/012379.html

=== Ubuntu 6.10 Updates ===

 * cacti 0.8.6h-3ubuntu0.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-March/008248.html
 * xine-lib 1.1.2+repacked1-0ubuntu3.4 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-March/008249.html
 * ktorrent 2.0.3+dfsg1-0ubuntu1.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-March/008250.html
 * gnupg2 1.9.21-0ubuntu5.3 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-March/008251.html
 * gpgme1.0 1.1.2-2ubuntu0.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-March/008252.html
 * update-manager 0.45.2 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-March/008253.html
 * mldonkey 2.8.1-1ubuntu0.1~proposed1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-March/008254.html
 * bluefish 1.0.6-1ubuntu0.1~proposed1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-March/008255.html
 * mod-mono 1.1.17-3edgy1~proposed1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-March/008256.html

== Bug Stats ==

    * Open (24292) +444 # over last week
    * Critical (17) +0 # over last week
    * Unconfirmed (11896) +206 # over last week
    * Unassigned (17925) +395 # over last week
    * All bugs ever reported (83170) +1566 # over last week

As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started,
please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HelpingWithBugs

Check out the bug statistics: http://people.ubuntu-in.org/~carthik/bugstats/


== Archives and RSS Feed ==

You can always find older Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter issues at:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue32?action=diff&rev=35
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== Additional Ubuntu News ==

As always you can find more news and announcements at:

 http://www.ubuntu.com/news

and

 http://fridge.ubuntu.com/

== Conclusion ==

Thank you for reading the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter.

See you next week!

== Credits ==

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

 * Martin Albisetti
 * Rj Ian S. Sevilla
 * Isabelle Duchatelle
 * Freddy Martinez
 * Corey Burger
 * anyone else that contributes
 * And many others

== Feedback ==

This document is maintained by the Ubuntu Marketing Team. Please feel
free to contact us regarding any concerns or suggestions by either
sending an email to ubuntu-marketing at lists.ubuntu.com or by using any
of the other methods on the Ubuntu Marketing Team Contact Information
Page (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MarketingTeam). If you'd like to
contribute to a future issue of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, please
feel free to edit the appropriate wiki page.