[15:52] <b0o-awesome> 111111111x111111111 is?
[15:53] <b0o-awesome> oh
[16:16] <sebsebseb> hi
[17:21] <jcastro> *tap tap*
[17:21] <jcastro> this thing on?
[17:21] <jcastro> 10 minutes until Q+A with Allison Randall, the Ubuntu Technical Architect!
[17:22] <mikesanderson78> ?
[17:32] <jcastro> welcome to our weekly Q+A sessions with engineering folks in Ubuntu
[17:32] <jcastro> this week we  have Allison Randall, the Ubuntu Software Architect
[17:32] <jcastro> as always, please post your questions in #ubuntu-classroom-chat
[17:32] <jcastro> wendar: ok, introduce yourself and take it away!
[17:34] <wendar> greetings programs!
[17:35] <wendar> I see interesting questions coming through
[17:37] <jcastro> QUESTION:  What does being the Ubuntu Software architect mean?  What do you do?
[17:38] <wendar> The technical architect is a new role for Ubuntu.
[17:39] <wendar> I was brought in as a cross-hire from another open source project Parrot.
[17:39] <wendar> I've been the Chief Architect there for 5 years.
[17:39] <wendar> There are several pieces to a software architect role.
[17:40] <wendar> A big one is being the person with the "overall" view.
[17:40] <wendar> Most people focus on one piece of the distribution, the desktop, server, particular applications, etc.
[17:41] <wendar> But, that means that sometimes things slip through the cracks because they're outside the core focus of all the little teams.
[17:41] <wendar> Or, that things get missed because they involve 2 or more teams, who don't have good visibility into what the others are doing.
[17:42] <wendar> Another aspect of an architect role is planning for the future.
[17:43] <wendar> Not just "heads down" to the next release, but where do we need to be 2, 5, 10, 20 years from now.
[17:43] <wendar> next question, jorge
[17:43] <jcastro> Question: So what will Wayland mean for the future of Ubuntu. Could it help Wine with OpenGL based games?
[17:44] <wendar> You've probably seen Mark's post on Ubuntu's intention to adopt Wayland in the future.
[17:45] <wendar> In the short-term Wayland isn't quite ready, so we won't be using it in Natty, or even the "O" release.
[17:45] <wendar> In the longer-term, Wayland has great potential.
[17:46] <wendar> Wayland was designed with security as a central focus, so it makes more advanced sandboxing possible.
[17:46] <wendar> It's lighter than X, because it's a more minimal subset of features.
[17:47] <wendar> Performance improvements, especially on netbooks, etc are critical.
[17:48] <wendar> On Wine/OpenGL, a lot depends on what those projects decide to do with Wayland.
[17:48] <wendar> So, I can't predict, but I hope it solves some of the problems there.
[17:48] <wendar> next
[17:48] <jcastro> cheller> 	QUESTION: What is Ubuntu's plan/strategy for HPC in the coming years?
[17:49] <wendar> great question :)
[17:49] <wendar> I'll take a bit of a historical step back there first.
[17:50] <wendar> It's intersting to watch how technology has grown over the decades, our phones today have as much power as a "supercomputer" several decades ago.
[17:51] <wendar> So, in some sense HPC is a false categorization.
[17:52] <wendar> And there's also some question whether monolithic "super computers" are the future of high-performance.
[17:52] <wendar> Or, if we're approaching the limits (in terms of the laws of physics) on monolithic hardware, and so the future of high performance is actually cloud architectures.
[17:53] <wendar> Our focus in Ubuntu is on two fronts:
[17:53] <wendar> - Improving performance of the bare metal install
[17:54] <wendar> That benefits all installs of ubuntu (whether monolithic or cloud)
[17:54] <wendar> - Actively developing Ubuntu as both host and guest for cloud architectures
[17:55] <wendar> With special focus on the ease of use in cloud architectures, which really *should be* as easy to administer as monolithic architectures (but currently are rather a pain to work with)
[17:55] <wendar> next
[17:55] <jcastro> kim0> QUESTION: Why do you think mobile OSs like iOS and Android are picking up developers and apps perhaps faster than most desktop OSs. What's Ubuntu's strategy to keep up
[17:57] <wendar> That's something I've been thinking a lot about lately.
[17:57] <wendar> There are several working theories on what attracts developers to a platform.
[17:58] <wendar> One is to provide easy-to-use tools. That developers avoid pain, and so will flock to the easy path.
[17:59] <wendar> That's partly true, and it's something we have immediate and long term plans to work on.
[17:59] <wendar> Take a look at Quickly for a good example.
[18:00] <wendar> We have some more changes coming for that in Natty that will make it much easier to get your Quickly applications distributed in the Software  Center.
[18:00] <wendar> In the longer term, Ubuntu (and a whole bunch of other Linux-based environments) is looking at the toolchain in a deeper way.
[18:01] <wendar> Not just for a patch here and there, but to really see the developer experience as a whole and remove the pain points.
[18:01] <wendar> That's something I'm particularly interested in, having spent the past 10 years working toward an "easy" developer experience in Parrot.
[18:02] <wendar> But, the "ease of development" is only part of the story.
[18:02] <wendar> I don't know if you've used iOS or Android developer tools, but they're still a long way from "easy"
[18:03] <wendar> An easy, well integrated, social developer experience is more along the lines of scratch.mit.edu
[18:03] <wendar> So, there's another layer to look at, and that is "what motivates developers to target a platform even despite the pain"
[18:04] <wendar> I could talk for an hour on that alone, but I'll summarize
[18:05] <wendar> - Developers want people to use their software, so they'll go for a sympathetic audience
[18:05] <wendar> Ubuntu has a large number of users, so it's growing to the point that it's  appealing for new app development
[18:07] <wendar> - Developers want to feel connected with their users, so the new Ratings and Reviews feature in Natty is an important step forward
[18:07] <wendar> (that feedback in iOS and Android is a big part of their success)
[18:07] <wendar> - Developers want instant gratification
[18:08] <wendar> It's a huge damper on motivation if you write a quick app in a weekend, and then have to wait 2 weeks (or worse, 6 months) before anyone sees it
[18:09] <wendar> so, there's a good bit of work going on now to improve the developer experience with submissions, so they get apps up in days
[18:09] <wendar> and with some good sandboxing for safety, we can get those days of review down to minutes
[18:09] <wendar> I better say 'next'
[18:09] <jcastro> om26er> 	QUESTION: which team are you part of?
[18:10] <wendar> I'm on the Ubuntu Engineering team
[18:11] <wendar> I'm a peer of Jason Warner (Desktop Manager), Robbie Williamson (Server Manager), Kate Stewart (Release Manager)
[18:11] <wendar> And report to Rick Spencer (Ubuntu Engineering Director)
[18:11] <wendar> next
[18:12] <jcastro> mhall119> 	QUESTION: Since you brought it up, where do we need to be 2, 5, 10 and 20 years from now?
[18:13] <wendar> Linux has traditionally played a little of a "catch up" role.
[18:13] <wendar> Like, we're trying to implement features that other operating systems have already implemented.
[18:14] <wendar> That seems a little odd, when you think about it.
[18:14] <wendar> Free software is actually a very agile space.
[18:15] <wendar> It has a very high pace of evolution.
[18:15] <wendar> That is, having more than one way to do things is actually an advantage in pushing forward the state technology.
[18:15] <wendar> We can rapidly try out 5 different ways to solve a problem, and then pick the best one and move on to the next generation.
[18:16] <wendar> But, we aren't using that unique evolutionary advantage as well as we could.
[18:16] <wendar> Linux shouldn't be following other OS's, we should be leading.
[18:17] <wendar> That means deciding where we want technology to be 20 years from now, and actively making that reality happen.
[18:17] <wendar> the 2, 5, and 10 years are all steps toward the future of technology
[18:18]  * wendar debating whether to go into specifics
[18:18] <wendar> better move on for time
[18:18] <jcastro>  <subroot> 	QUESTION: why the ubuntu team dont make something "unique", not importing things from Windows and Mac OSx??
[18:19] <wendar> (feel free to chat with me on freenode at any time, btw)
[18:19] <wendar> Yes, exactly!
[18:19] <wendar> So, I see Unity as a good example of this phenomenon.
[18:20] <wendar> It's a bit of a change of pace in the desktop environment.
[18:20] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
[18:20] <wendar> Not just "what should Linux be like", but "what should the computing experience be like".
[18:21] <wendar> It's something unique to Ubuntu, and an evolutionary step forward.
[18:21] <wendar> Not the highest evolved state (we've got decades ahead), but a great next step.
[18:21] <wendar> next
[18:21] <jcastro> om26er> 	QUESTION: for what I have seen there have been nothing done to boot performance work after 10.04 although the release notes of 10.10 claimed boot performance but I followed many blueprints closely and there was no work done on that side, are there any future plans on the boots speed.
[18:22] <wendar> There's a standard statistical curve around performance improvements.
[18:22] <wendar> The first set of improvements yield big gains for small effort.
[18:23] <wendar> As you go on, you get smaller and smaller gains for greater effort.
[18:23] <wendar> We assessed boot speed at the begining of the Natty cycle, and determined that although more gains were possible, they were relatively low impact.
[18:24] <wendar> That is, the greatest slow downs now aren't the boot, but starting up services after the boot.
[18:24] <wendar> I.e. what we need is more general performance fixes across the board.
[18:25] <wendar> next
[18:25] <jcastro>  <kim0> 	QUESTION: What's your view on where cloud computing is taking the world. Now that IaaS is almost nailed, is Platform as a Service what everyone actually wants
[18:25] <jcastro> (one more after this)
[18:25] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
[18:25] <wendar> briefly
[18:26] <wendar> I'm pretty well convinced that future technology is going to be centered on distributed processing rather than monolithic processing.
[18:27] <wendar> But, we haven't hit the even horizon yet.
[18:27] <wendar> event horizon
[18:27] <wendar> And cloud technology needs to be much easier to use before it can become truly universal.
[18:27] <wendar> next
[18:27] <jcastro> mhall119> 	QUESTION: How about getting developers of things like "Angry Birds" making their apps available on Ubuntu?
[18:27] <jcastro> last one *chirp*
[18:28] <wendar> I would love to have Angry Birds ported to Ubuntu.
[18:28] <wendar> I'm one of the board members on the new Application Review Board.
[18:29] <wendar> where we work on the "fast" process for lightweight apps like that to get into the Software Center
[18:29] <wendar> If you know an app developer who's interested in making a lightweight app, put them in touch with us.
[18:29] <wendar> end
[18:29] <jcastro> (Like making Places for Unity!)
[18:30] <jcastro> ok thanks everyone for participating but we are out of time
[18:30] <jcastro> thanks allison! *clap* *clap*
[18:30] <wendar> thanks all for the great questions
[18:30] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2011/02/18/%23ubuntu-classroom.html
[18:30] <jcastro> hey alright, smoke if you got em