Hello everyone.
This time I will write about the Q&A that happened two weeks ago. This miniseries will be overviewing the regular weekly Q & A's held by the Canonical community team. I don't promise to do this miniseries regularly because of my own time constrictions. I also will not write about every question that was asked, I will only write about questions and answers which I consider interesting. And I will only indirectly report what was asked and how it was answered. You can find those details in the video of the sessions themselves. I will however put a link to the videos(if I forgot the link, please tell me so in the comments). So let's start with the first question.
13:14 Who is the guest today?
Nobody.
13:34 What happened to the Meizu MX4?
It will probably come back. It was sold out.
15:37 What about making CChromium the default Ubuntu browser instead of Firefox?
It will not happen in 15.10. Perhaps in 16.04. If you have arguments then bring them out in the mailing list.We shall also talk about the Ubuntu browser or any other browser. It is good to have that discussion regularly.
19:30 Would Popey and Michael describe themselves as free software advocates, where is the line between transparency and convenience?
Popey is a pragmatic FSF advocate but he also does use proprietary software. He admits he is one but he is a bad one. Michael is kind of the same. He uses Linux exclusively and uses OSS whenever it is an option, but he is not an idealist, i.e. he uses Chrome instead of Firefox. However when he has the option even if it is a bit of an inconvenience he will still ose OSS
22:00 is the 25000 Ubuntu phones sold estimate correct?
They don't have the information. Probably a good estimate. It is better to look at the number of Ubuntu desktops. 5 Years ago that was 20000000 installations. Right now those numbers are not important for them as a company. They are currently building an enthusiast product. Right now they are only trying to break even in profit, and they are doing that. It is more important that the OEM's want to continue carry on making phones and that has happened with BQ so far.
27:35 what happened to popeys disco ball?
The room was redecorated. Now he has a lavalamp.
28:50 How do you guys feel about the 2 month OTA updates?
Compare it to Android and iOS, it is interesting how the mindset is different with Ubuntu. You can run rc-proposed if you want. The target is actually 6 weeks, not 2 months and they think that is alright. You are welcome to help fix some of the bugs.
35:00 Is there a place where we can suggest guests in the obvious apps and suggests guests for the Q&A ,who is doing the scheduling?
You can reach them on the mailing list and IRC.
35:50 is there going to be a cradle for the convergence phone, and why not when Android is kicing butt in this area?
They don't know. They don't know about the hardware specfics. Bq is very open source friendly and they are big on 3d printing,they might provide some 3d printable models.
37:00 As IPlayer works on the Ubuntu phone, does Netflix work?
No. They are missing DRM extensions.
38:00 Are popey and mhall watching the bad voltage live stream from germany?
Mhall won't. Popey might. They think it is a great show though.
39:26 Willy Werewolf is pretty close to launch now, can you give us a background as to the promotion by Canonical, and how to get involved with loco groups and will Mark Shuttleworth give us a keynote?
Find your closest loco team and just get involved. Planning events is probably one of the best ways to get involved and a lot of people will get involved. The best is to just make an event, no matter hoiw many people are interested into getting on the event.
41:31 Why not use the Ubuntu browser, are there any plans to support plugins within it?
No plans to support plugins yet. They are not yet at that point int the development.
42:00 When is the next UDS?
It depends if you mean the UOS or the in person developer sumit? The next online summit will be in the first week of november.
43:00 Since browsers are large and complex programs, and therefore it takes a lot of effort, would it not be better to delegate it to some organisation like Mozilla?
Yes. That is why the ubuntu browser is based off chromium. Chromium provides the engine, while Canonical provides the UI and everything else. That is why they were able to build the browser. There is nothing stopping anyone else to bring their browser to Ubuntu. There are other browser.
45:00 Are there any Telegram updates, the Telegram application is far behind the Android based application?
Upstream Telegram is super active and they are developing a new version of Telegram.
46:00 What are Popey and Mike doing for movember?
Popey does not do movember.Mike only grows facial hair when he is lazy, because of his wife it won't happen.
47:00 Will Firefox come to Ubuntu phone?
Yes if someone ports it. Opendocument support will come though.
48:00 Is it possible to include pepper flash plugin-nonfree in Ubuntu restricted extras, it is important for Chromium, because most people ask me how to use it in Chromium?
The question is how it implements flash in the system. You should ask on the mailing list.
49:30 Do you know what the big picture mode in steam is, could the mobile UI be used on TV for greater viewing distance?
Yes, that is part of the big plan for unity8. That is why we have grid units. They are still keeping the TV in mind. Also TV will be part of convergence. But now the priority is the converged phone.
51:50 What are your twitter and Google+ user names?
Michael hall:mhall1119 on twitter, on Google+ Michael Hall119
Alan Pope:Popey everywhere.
52:45 What is your favourite app at the moment and what is on your wishlist?
Monster wars and Neverball. Wishlist: Whatsapp just so that people stop asking :P. Mhall would like a better facebook application.
54:05 If Jolla can make a tablet why can't Canonical?
Because Jolla paid for it. Canonical will revisit tablets next year. Canonical does not want to be a hardware company. They would be surprised if we will not have a tablet next year-
54:45 If you could buy the uber webcam but definitely work with ubuntu 100% of the time, which one would you suggest?
A logitech webcam, or whatever one is in your laptop.
55:45 Is Popeys cat a girl or boy?
Boy.
56:06 Is anything being done about the memory management killing applications?
The main focus is to reduce the memory footprint. There is a state saver for applications. It is similar to android.
57:00 What kickstarter,indiegogo or patreon have you seen that really appeals to you?
Popey backed the scraps games. It is a game where you build cars and drive around, and Mycroft...
Michael hall has backed mycroft which is an open source AI appliance.
As usual the link to the video is here:
