Since there is no longer an Ubuntu Touch should these forums be renamed?
http://mhall119.com/2014/02/there-is-no-touch-only-ubuntu/
Not sure "if the juice is worth the squeeze" as everyone who uses these threads knows they are here regardless of the title.
bkerensa said:
Since there is no longer an Ubuntu Touch should these forums be renamed?
http://mhall119.com/2014/02/there-is-no-touch-only-ubuntu/
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The article is op-ed by a blogger. Read past the article into the comments.
Ubuntu Touch isn't Ubuntu just yet, at any rate. That's a future target area...
Its not an op-er by a blogger its a post by Michael Hall who is Community Liaison for Canonical Ltd. And oversees the Ubuntu for Phones, Tablets etc..
He posted this because some sites were still improperly calling the platform Ubuntu Touch which is what it was called early when it was a mashup of Cyanogenmod and some Ubuntu bits.
Today it is not that mashup but instead is Ubuntu.
The true convergence is yet to come... Still future. The phone/tablet and the desktop are not identical yet.
Cruise through the Ubuntu website... Can't download the phone versions there. It's still treated as a separate class in all the literature.
Despite whatever title Mr. Hall might have - the article is posted on his private blog. Where is the official sanction for dropping any modifier after Ubuntu? What is the Title of the latest wiki for install? "Installing Ubuntu for Devices" Absent Canonical calling it simply "Ubuntu," the article you quoted must be taken as op-ed from a blogger. Here's a quote from that wiki to show how Canonical is treating it.
Disclaimer
“Ubuntu for devices” is released for free non-commercial use. It is provided without warranty, even the implied warranty of merchantability, satisfaction or fitness for a particular use. See the licence included with each program for details.
Some licences may grant additional rights. This notice shall not limit your rights under each program’s licence. Licences for each program are available in the usr/share/doc directory. Source code for Ubuntu can be downloaded from archive.ubuntu.com. Ubuntu, the Ubuntu logo and Canonical are registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
“Ubuntu for devices” is released for limited use due to the inclusion of binary hardware support files. The original components and licenses can be found here.
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There have been a few changes in how this project is getting promoted. IMHO it's all diluting a brand that Canonical spent well over a year building up in the public mind.
You, and Mr. Hall, can lobby to simply call it Ubuntu, but it isn't the same yet and only adds confusion to the general public.
I've noticed that it's mostly called "Ubuntu for phones" on the official homepage now and that Canocial employees tend not to use the name "Ubuntu Touch" but it's still used sometimes (example).
However, it's the name everyone knows. Therefore, I vote for not changing it. Simply try to use Ubuntu for phones instead of Ubuntu Touch as often as possible.
But why not ask @mhall119 himself?
RumoredNow said:
The true convergence is yet to come... Still future. The phone/tablet and the desktop are not identical yet.
Cruise through the Ubuntu website... Can't download the phone versions there. It's still treated as a separate class in all the literature.
Despite whatever title Mr. Hall might have - the article is posted on his private blog. Where is the official sanction for dropping any modifier after Ubuntu? What is the Title of the latest wiki for install? "Installing Ubuntu for Devices" Absent Canonical calling it simply "Ubuntu," the article you quoted must be taken as op-ed from a blogger. Here's a quote from that wiki to show how Canonical is treating it.
There have been a few changes in how this project is getting promoted. IMHO it's all diluting a brand that Canonical spent well over a year building up in the public mind.
You, and Mr. Hall, can lobby to simply call it Ubuntu, but it isn't the same yet and only adds confusion to the general public.
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Click to collapse
Absence of convergence does not mean it is not the same OS which it is. It is pretty common for Canonical employees to announce decisions or official statements on their blogs. Mark Shuttleworth for instance announces each release name on his blog versus the Canonical Blog.
UDS is also announced on personal blogs not on Canonical's blog.
Naddict said:
Not sure "if the juice is worth the squeeze" as everyone who uses these threads knows they are here regardless of the title.
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I'm inclined to agree with this, since there isn't an "Ubuntu Desktop" forum here, or anything really to do with the desktop Ubuntu, it's really not going to cause confusion with the current name.
Related
Hi,
I am an experienced professional programmer who wants to delve into Android programming. I also wish to investigate cross-platform programming using tools like PhoneGap or Titanium.
However, I am a bit in doubt of which learning strategy is best.
One approach is to get a good feeling of the Android environment and later on explore the possibilities of the cross-platform tools.
Another approach is to jump start using say Titanium (which to me looks like the better option of the two mentioned) and then after a while look into the underlying Android building blocks. The reason why this approach seems worth considering is that although I have earned my living on programming for 20 years, I have no experience what so ever with Java. And the feeling of getting something done has always been encouraging to me.
What do you think? Does option 2 make sense, or would it be more sensible to get an understanding of the Android environment first?
Thanks in advance,
Martin
PS. I am not allowed to post in the Developer forum which is why I post here.
Is there a better place to ask this question?
I am not yet allowed to post in the developer forum?
marlar said:
Is there a better place to ask this question?
I am not yet allowed to post in the developer forum?
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Click to collapse
Dev forum is not the place for Qs, they are for development projects and developer discussions, this is why it is limited (it is not a support site).
Probably best place is here:
Android Development and Hacking -> Android Software Development
There is a thread which is the same/similar question as you too:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1173176
I'd recommend learning the basics of android and java first, since you can be sure that tools like Titanium (I've not used it though) will probably run in to some issues so you'll need some basic understanding to resolve.
As mentioned in that thread there are plenty of examples for the basics, although I have found it difficult so far to make that extra leap on to the more advanced stuff yet.
After you got some basic knowledge of Android, I would recommend going through alot of the android questions at stackoverflow.com
(I am not yet allowed to post direct link to questions tagged with android)
You learn alot of tips and tricks this way that you otherwise would have missed
A lot of it is actually pretty self-explanatory once you set up the tools (as least if you're familiar with Java... I had a bit of a problem with the whacked way callbacks are handled, since Java is well... not what I use every day).
There are samples included (including the standard Android application template) that will already tell you how the Android UI system works.
Aside from that there are a lot of good articles on the Android dev site that should get you started quickly with the way Android uses resource files. It's not at all complicated.
The specifics of course depend on what you want to do. My guess would be simple form-like applications... the articles there cover that part quite nicely.
I'd do native development first, then look at cross-platform tools so you can better evaluate the drawbacks they have. The Android platform is tuned to be as simple as possible for simple projects... just try to ignore what your guts tell you and don't worry about threads, memory and so on and you should be fine.
We all know -- getting the user feedback is essential, but it's hard. At least I find it so.
For example, judging from data gathered from random Android app and game samples, on average:
about 10-20% of all users that have downloaded the app, have actually reviewed the app,
about 10% of those that reviewed the app also leave a comment (making the number of comments approximately 1-2% of all downloads),
about 1% of users communicate via in-app channels,
about 1% of users respond to social posts.
As I mentioned already, this is based on a random sample and the rather small sample size (10) may be biased by statistical error. Nevertheless, it "feels" right
Now, let's say that your user base is wide enough to get the accurate feedback about your product, but only if you could motivate more users to respond to Rate and Leave Feedback requests... but let's leave that for a separate discussion.
What I wanted to ask you all is:
Which questions would you ask your users if you knew they will answer truthfully?
Think survey!
Think user satisfaction!
Think best loved feature!
Don't think girl's/boy's phone numbers!
In the end, I'll try to compile the result in a single survey separated in categories (and based on the popularity of suggested questions) for the community to use.
Let's start asking
<placeholder>
Starter
To get us going, here're some example questions (courtesy of zoomearng.com):
What Features Can You Not Live Without? – Asking people what features they must have on your upcoming product is a great way to find out what is in the highest demand. In short, this online survey question shows you, overall, what features you cannot leave out.
What Is the Most You Would Pay? – Understanding your potential customer’s price range can help you better understand what you can realistically afford to include, and exclude, to hit those price points.
What Did You Like Best About Our Old Product? – If you had an older version of a product and are updating it, finding out what features your customers liked best. Use this online survey question to find out what you should not change in future versions of your product.
What Other Brands Would You Consider? – This online survey question helps you quickly locate and understand your possible competition. Knowing what you’re up against will help you better gauge where your energies should be focused for your product.
What Else Should We Know? – Let your online survey respondents have the floor. This question gives them the opportunity to sound off about things maybe your online survey questions missed. Find out all you forgot to ask about with this question.
One thing that I was not sure how to proceed is the personall, demographic questions. How deep to go and what are the limits?
I believe that the answer to this is in type of survey, but also in giving the user the possibility to opt-out or to make those questions non-mandatory.
What's the safe zone with demographic questions?
I think you can safely ask for:
Country
Age
Occupation
Service Provider(if any, or if necessary)
Another question that can be considered is "Do you primarily use this app for business or personal use?" Obviously only certain apps would use this.
Just a suggestion, but since a lot of questions could vary between apps(like between recreational or utility apps) maybe if you made a tool that allowed app developers to customize and then compile a survey which can then be added to their app with minimal effort it would be awesome. That way developers could ask more app specific questions alongside the more general ones you mentioned above. The hardest thing about that would probably be making it compile into a universal format that can be copy pasted into any apps code, but I'm sure it's not too hard. If the tool automatically created the proper classes along with each survey then it literally could be copy pasted into whatever part of the app the dev wants it in.
Just my 2 cents.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA
Good suggestions, AlanB412.
The Country and Service provider are quite well covered by Play Store statistics (though, should be considered in case app is not published on Google).
Other "personal" stuff, I compiled into one (multiple choice) question for the survey I'm creating for m-parking:
Please tell us something about yourself. Check all that apply.
• Female
• Male
• Younger than 30 years
• 30 years or older
• In school
• Employed
• Unemployed
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Click to collapse
The details of occupation, like industry and field of work, deserve a dedicated question, if needed, of course.
Ideally, the availability of questions should be dependent on previously made choices (e.g. occupation industry should be asked only if employment status "employed" or "self-employed" were previously selected). That kind of branching should make the survey more engaging as opposed to presenting the user with irrelevant questions.
The idea about the "tool" for developers sounds interesting.
How I'm looking at is a library project that has many out-of-the-box available questions, but that allows also for customizations and works dynamically with any question specified in standard strings dedicated resources.
The tricky part is actually not the inclusion of such Survey-library in apps or its dynamic handling of question-answer configuration. It's in (collecting) the reports part. For that to work seamlessly out-of-the-box, a third party "cloud" reporting service should be available -- to collect and provide access to reports.
News from the Portal of XDA.
http://www.xda-developers.com/annou...addition-to-sharing-policy-on-xda-developers/
Posted August 22, 2012 at 6:00 pm by egzthunder1
We are going to deviate a bit from our regularly scheduled programming to let you know about an upcoming change in the rules in the XDA forums. As time has gone by, our site has grown by leaps and bounds from what it was a couple of years ago. With a membership base of over 4.5 million registered users and an average of 35-40 thousand people active at any given time, we need to ensure that this place can offer the best possible environment for all people, both experienced developers and people who come here looking to learn about mobile devices. Because of this reason, the rules of our site need to be amended from time to time to accommodate the needs and wants of such a large user base, but without losing our principles and forgetting what XDA was founded on in the first place.
Just a bit of background: XDA was a website founded by hackers and developers for hackers and developers. People coming here shared one common goal, which was to get more and more out of their expensive toys and they did so by reverse engineering, creating new code to expand the device’s capabilities, and doing things with hardware that most people cannot do (mainly due to lack of knowledge or technical ability). The site prospered to what it is today because these very same people knew that their collective ideas and efforts would yield more results if they collaborated by sharing what they knew with others. More often than not, this resulted in fantastic feats such as the original XDA online kitchen, the very first port of WM5 to the mythical HTC Blue Angel, and many more accomplishments that are stored in the depths of XDA’s forums.
XDA-Developers has always been a place for sharing knowledge. People spend countless hours on their projects and give back to the community in several different forms, either by releasing the complete work to the community, or by sharing its source and methods by which the work was conceived. The latter allows others to pick up the work and tweak it to improve it (think of the Linux kernel for this to make sense). XDA’s own foundation is much like that as well. However, often times, this concept of the sharing of knowledge gets confused with the concept of sharing everything. If you frequent our site, you will have undoubtedly come across a few threads were discussions about sharing are on going. Essentially, some people demand for work to be released or even think that they can take as they please without following rules already present on our site. Likewise, people sharing their work sometimes have rather bizarre ways of doing so, which has a bad tendency to develop in what we like to call “dev wars”.
We (administrators and moderators of this site) truly believe that intellectual property (IP) is a very important part of what is done on xda-developers. As such, we cannot and will not support any kind of action which forces a developer to share their work with others if the developer does not wish to do so. A developer of anything has rights over their work and as such he/she can choose to do with it as he/she pleases (give it away, share the source, burn it, give it to an orphanage, or eat it for breakfast). We support whatever decision is taken by its developer. Having said that, over the years people have found what can only be categorized as a loophole in our current sharing policy, and thus people are forced to do things in exchange for permissions to use certain pieces of work by others.
After a long deliberation with the entire moderator and administrator staff, we are implementing the following addition to our sharing rule (Rule 12) – revisions are in bold:
12. Using the work of others.
If you are developing something that is based on the work of another Member, you MUST first seek their permission, and you must give credit to the member whose work you used. If a dispute occurs about who developed / created a piece of work, first try to settle the matter by private message and NOT in open forum. If this fails then you may contact a moderator with clear evidence that the work was created by you.
Convincing evidence will result in copied work being removed. If there is no clear evidence you created the work then in the spirit of sharing all work will remain posted on the forums.
As an addition, developers have the right to hold exclusivity over their work for as long as it is deemed necessary by the dev or freely share it. However, if the work is claimed as exclusive, it must remain as such. No selective sharing will be allowed (ie allowing certain people to use it and not others). Should the dev decide to start sharing the work with others, the work automatically becomes fair game for all to use.
In regards to permissions, same rules remain for this but if permission was already given, unless there is a very valid reason, it cannot be revoked (same applies to major updates on the work). Under that same premise, permissions cannot be denied unless the work is exclusive or under severe circumstances.
In plain English: If you want to keep your work exclusive, go for it. However, if you are going to share your work, do it fairly.
These rules apply to all software posted on XDA (including but not limited to ROMs, RUUs, apps, games, kernels, themes, icons, etc) unless that software comes with a license that waives these rules.
The problem with the aforementioned permissions is that the rule never really stated anything regarding continuity or longevity of said permission. On top of that, selective sharing creates a massive problem on our site as it tends to give place to kanging (unauthorized copying and/or redistribution of work), fights between devs (so called “dev wars”), and tons of time wasted on investigations, which normally involves a large number of people from our staff. This needed to stop as it was reaching critical mass and high levels of anxiety were generated for no apparent reason on something that should be a hobby.
So, if you are a developer on this site and would like to keep your work as something exclusive, we encourage you to do it. If you would like to freely give it out so that others can use it and make it better, we encourage you to do it as well. However, we will no longer accept claims from anyone who picks and chooses who gets what. As stated in the rule, you either share or keep, but if you do share, do it fairly. Favoritism has created a great divide in our site and our community and it is only hurting development as a whole. People focus more on pointing fingers than they do on trying to create original work.
Permissions should still be sought as a matter of common courtesy, much like the original rule stipulated. However, unless a valid reason is provided, a simple “no, you cannot have it” will not suffice, especially if the work is being shared with others and permissions are denied out of spite.
Lets all work towards a new, rejuvenated XDA that is based on the core principles placed by the site’s founding fathers. Sharing of knowledge is what brought many of us together on this site and we should strive as a community to keep it that way. Please share your thoughts on this.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
XDA-Developers Administration Team
Not to say this will make it a reality for us to receive an official unlocked boot loader but check out Motorola Mobility's External Idea Submission page here http://eis.motorola.com and let us be heard formally. According to the site, "EIS is the only method by which Motorola Mobility will receive and/or review any unsolicited external idea. Any external idea submitted to Motorola Mobility, Inc. by any other means will not be reviewed and will be promptly returned to the submitter, if physical, or automatically deleted, if electronic."
We can only hope and let's keep this going guys. At least at the moment, unofficially via the Motorola Forums, a Motorola Employee and forum moderator has responded to my questions in reference to our recent response to Soni's announcement and request for an unlocked boot loader and additional drivers necessary to support the devices on our own. This at least shows us in one avenue they are hearing us outside of the social sites.
So let's file our requests formally to get it into their ticketing system as another avenue of hope. Or maybe I am just too optimistic and delirious at this point. :silly:
Cheers,
GP
What does the term external idea mean specifically to the site you reference?
It sounds rather vague and searching for it shows some different meanings.
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
hoslayer13 said:
What does the term external idea mean specifically to the site you reference?
It sounds rather vague and searching for it shows some different meanings.
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
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I believe "external" means outside of Motorola and unsolicited means that they did not pursue or give us a list of ideas or option to choose from that could sway their vetting process. Just another mechanism to possibly be objective in picking or researching the next features or functionality to implement in their devices. Because if they were to conduct internal feedback then it is "internal" and may not be what customers/consumers really want.
Plus, maybe an employee could be voicing an opinion or request from consumers but also receiving requests externally it validates what they have already on their list of topics and ideas for releasing? Just my guess. But at least there is a "formal" way of getting our requests heard.
hoslayer13 said:
What does the term external idea mean specifically to the site you reference?
It sounds rather vague and searching for it shows some different meanings.
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
So I filed my formal request for the idea of having the official bootloader released and here is the general information that they provide, which is an actual EIS ID # to track the request and the following verbiage which I hope shines some more light into your question:
Thank you for providing Motorola Mobility, Inc. with your unsolicited idea.
We have a dedicated team, “External Idea Submissions” that reviews such submissions. Our team will contact you within thirty (30) days to indicate if we are interested in discussing your idea further. (Please note: Only the External Idea Submissions team has access to your submission.)
For your records, below we have reproduced the terms and conditions under which you agreed and provided your submission.
We wish you good luck in your endeavors.
Sincerely,
Motorola Mobility, Inc.
External Idea Submissions
Intellectual Property Section
Law Department
EIS LEGAL NOTICE:
PLEASE BE ADVISED, MOTOROLA MOBILITY INC. IS ONLY WILLING TO RECEIVE YOUR UNSOLICITED IDEA SUBMISSION UPON THE CONDITION THAT YOU AGREE TO ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CONTAINED IN THE BELOW AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT, CLICK THE "CANCEL" BUTTON AND YOUR INFORMATION WILL NOT BE SUBMITTED TO MOTOROLA MOBILITY, INC.
MOTOROLA MOBILITY, INC. -- EIS LEGAL AGREEMENT
Over the years many ideas for improvements have been voluntarily submitted to us by persons outside of Motorola Mobility, Inc. ("Motorola"). We appreciate the confidence in Motorola shown by such persons. We do not require that the submitter obtain, or even to have applied for, a patent on an idea before submitting the idea. If a disclosure is made under the conditions recited herein, and the Motorola is interested thereafter in further considering the idea, negotiations will be undertaken to try to arrive at terms which are equitable to both parties and will take care of the needs of the particular situation.
Motorola is only will to permit Your submission of Your unsolicited idea, if you agree and acknowledge that Your submission hereunder does not imply or create:
1. A confidential relationship for any idea submitted to Motorola.
2. A promise to pay, inasmuch as Motorola's obligations to You, the submitter, under all circumstance shall be only those which are made to You in writing; and
3. A recognition by Motorola of either the novelty or originality of the Your unsolicited idea.
Motorola cannot consider an idea on the condition that it shall return any material submitted if the idea is not found to be of interest. When the material is submitted to Motorola hereunder, You, the submitter, should keep a duplicate for Your own record, and should any controversy unfortunately arise, this material is necessary as evidence of what was disclosed to Motorola.
If a patent has issued, You may simply submit a copy of the same with additional comments that might be helpful.
If an application for patent has been filed, a copy of the same can be submitted to Motorola for its consideration. Otherwise the disclosure should be by written description and sketches, and all should be sufficiently complete and clear so that Your unsolicited idea can be readily understood.
In whatever form an unsolicited idea or a patent invention is submitted to Motorola, it will be helpful if You, the submitter, point out what You believe to be new, and set forth some of the advantages which You think Your unsolicited idea has over known devices or processes.
Motorola will give Your submission such consideration as in the judgment of Motorola it merits, but in reporting its conclusion can assume no obligation further than to say whether or not it is interested in acquiring patent rights or other rights.
This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between You and Motorola with respect to Your submission hereunder, and supersedes all previous communications, representations, understandings and agreements, either oral or written, between You and Motorola regarding Your submission. This Agreement may not be modified or waived except in writing and signed by an officer or other authorized representative of each party. If any provision is held invalid, all other provisions shall remain valid, unless such invalidity would frustrate the purpose of our Agreement. The failure of either party to enforce any rights granted hereunder or to take action against the other party in the event of any breach hereunder shall not be deemed a waiver by that party as to subsequent enforcement of rights or subsequent action in the event of future breaches.
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Idea submitted. Thanks. Hopefully others will follow suit
I have seven threads across two sites pointing to the Official Support My Moto thread. Would you mind reposting this info there?
Lokifish Marz said:
I have seven threads across two sites pointing to the Official Support My Moto thread. Would you mind reposting this info there?
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Click to collapse
Sure. Done as requested.
Dear android developers
I am happy to tell you that, recently there is a new promotion activity ...
<snip>
Mod edit: Details removed
Mod edit: Quote removed
Ok, I would like to see some proof instead of signing up to some Ponzi scheme.
$5,000,000 USD is a lot of money to spend on a new company so I am leaning towards the aforementioned.
Ok now it seems even more dodgy, you have no proof but your promising $5,000,000 revenue?
Ok..
Turmin said:
Our company has other branches and the budget is already above $5,000,000. The publisher system's data is private information for individual publisher, we can't share the report here. Thanks for your understanding.
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Ok you can prove this by showing us some customer vouches or something. I would not trust this service otherwise.
Thread closed
This forum is intended to be used for discussion by app developers to share general monetization ideas. It is not to be used by ad network companies to promote their business... that's spamming and not allowed on the forums.