Monday, September 22, 2008

Jaunty Jackalope

The next Ubuntu. Read a post the Mark Shuttleworth.


As we approach the launch of Ubuntu 8.10, it's time to create space for
future plans, and so I'm writing to introduce you to The Jaunty
Jackalope.
Jaunty, the code name for what will most likely become Ubuntu
9.04, will be the focus of our efforts from November through to April next year.
We will be gathering forces in Mountain View on 8th - 12th December to survey
the upstream landscape and finalize Jaunty plans, enjoying the excellent
hospitality of Google and Silicon Valley's abundance of talent and innovation.
The Ubuntu Developer Summit is the social and strategic highlight of each
release cycle and it would be a great pleasure to welcome you there. Jono Bacon
has written up a guide (
http://www.jonobacon.org/?p=1278)
to sponsorship for those who would have a substantial amount to offer at the
Summit.


The Warrior Rabbit is our talisman as we move into a year where we
can reasonably expect Ubuntu to ship on several million devices, to consumers
who can reasonably expect the software experience to be comparable to those of
the traditional big OSV's - Microsoft and Apple. The bar is set very high, and
we have been given the opportunity to leap over it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime
chance to shine, and we want to make sure that the very best thinking across the
whole open source ecosystem is reflected in Ubuntu, because many people will
judge free software as a whole by what we do.


There are some specific goals that we need to meet in Jaunty. One
of them is boot time. We want Ubuntu to boot as fast as possible - both in the
standard case, and especially when it is being tailored to a specific device.
The Jackalope is known for being so fast that it's extremely hard to catch, and
breeds only when lightning flashes. Let's see if we can make booting or resuming
Ubuntu blindingly quick.


Another goal is the the blurring of web services and desktop
applications. "Is it a deer? Is it a bunny? Or is it a weblication - a desktop
application that seamlessly integrates the web!" This hare has legs - and horns
- and we'll be exploring it in much more detail for Jaunty. We have already laid
some foundations for weblications in the online services discussions that took
place in Prague, but since we fully expect those services to ship in 9.04 the
discussion will be that much more intense in Mountain View.


Those bizarre-but-fearsome antlers might well remind one of the
intricate pattern of collaboration between developers in a distributed version
control system. So it's fitting that Jaunty will see us move all of Ubuntu into
Bazaar. For the first time, any developer will be able to branch any Ubuntu
package with a single bzr command, publish their changes, and perhaps even
publish builds of that package in their own Package Archive. We will also make
the developer community structure of Ubuntu much richer - in addition to MOTU
and core-dev, we are introducing ways for developers to participate in specific
applications, either at the package-upload level or at the version-control
level. Whatever your level and specialisation of interest, we'll make sure that
you can participate accordingly.


December's UDS is likely to be packed full of interesting people
and ideas. I very much look forward to seeing everyone there. "There he goes!
That way!"

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