Ubuntu User: I have a problem…

At UDS-O I led a session on improving the community involvement with Bugs. The original intent had been to ensure that Ubuntu users understood the bug life cycle, but as the discussion progressed it became clear that the wrong assumption had been made. We had forgotten that there would be group of users who would not have any interest in putting in a bug report or following it through the life cycle. The wrong starting point was also being discussed at the beginning. Users do not have ‘bugs’; they have problems. A problem may end up being a bug, but it could be many other things as well.

In the end the goal was still the same. Increase Ubuntu users understanding of the support ecosystem to ensure that they had valid expectations and improve the quality of the bug reports being put in to launchpad.

The first step in the process was to create a high-level diagram of the process. For some this diagram will be too non-technical, but the aim was specifically to reduce technical details. Other documents will be created that can provide a deeper dive in to bugs and QA. I would like to gather some feedback on the diagram as it stand now. Thanks for Brian Murray for helping edit the diagram with me.

ubuntu-problem diagram

ubuntu-problem by charles profitt and brian murray is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

CISCO: “unmitigated gall”

I was pointed to an article about CISCO that made my blood boil. I could not believe a company would do this, but I guess CISCO is just another corporate bully.

…Adekeye was being perp-walked through the swanky hotel lobby, paraded past its well-heeled and powerful patrons and into a waiting paddy wagon. With that, the former Cisco executive, a British citizen with a blemish-free record and a sterling resume, dropped down an Alice-in-Wonderland rabbit hole that would tie up a year of his life.

The more I see what goes on behind the curtain the more disgusted I become. Seeing a previously respected company, like Cisco, use two governments as its strongmen to intimidate a person is reprehensible.

Ubuntu: My first code contribution

In 2007 I started the process of migrating my computer use and programming to Linux, Ubuntu and FOSS tools. My original intent was to contribute some code to the community after I learned the ropes of a new language (Python). In the early days of adopting Ubuntu I looked for a local group that could help ease my transition, but due to relative inactivity did not connect with the loco team until October of 2008. I decided if I wanted to see some local activity I would have to “build it” myself. Starting in November of 2008 I did just that and embarked on a three journey of building the community.

This past UDS I wanted to finally realize my original goal and was looking for a project that needed help and was willing to help a neophyte get started. I found just such a project in the loco portal. The key developers in the project are an amazing group who are very dedicated and willing to assist others. Yesterday I got a ping from Chris Johnston (cjohnston) with a bite-sized bug I could assist with. To be honest this was really not ‘code’, but it did involve using Bazaar to download the code, make the change, and push the change back up to have it proposed. The bug I was tasked with was – 892436. An amazingly small, but excellent bite-sized issue to help me learn Bazaar and the teams process.

Thank you Chris Johnston for helping me realize a goal I set back in 2007! If you are looking for a project in need of developers I would check out the loco-portal project; they are a fantastic group that will help you get started.

I am because of all of you!

Today as I watched a multitude of people give appreciation to others I slowly put together my list of people who have helped me grow in the community and as a person. In particular I noticed the posts from Mark Shuttleworth and Daniel Holbach who echoed my thoughts about what makes the Ubuntu community unique and amazing.

In a galaxy of many stars, it’s perhaps impolite to single out one in particular.  ~ Mark Shuttleworth

I echo those thoughts; it is not my intent to forget to say thank you to or to not appreciate everyone who has helped me on my journey. I want to thank everyone who has been or is in the Ubuntu Community, but there are some people that I truly want to thank for having an impact on me.

In no particular order the folks who I would like to thank are:

• Brian (aka hal14450) — a NY loco member who assisted in helping get the team going
• bodhi.zazen — the person who noticed me on the forums and then invited me to get more involved in the global Ubuntu Community
• compiledkernel — a person who I gamed with years and years ago that showed me Linux could be awesome
• Elizabeth (aka pleia2) — a person who I always have great faith in being able to give me advice when I hit bumps in the path
• johnc4510  — a person who encouraged me as I worked towards getting New York up and running by contributing many ideas
• slick666  — the person who helped get Syracuse active as the second city in New York to hold events
• Jorge — who encouraged me and saw a greater potential in me than I saw in myself

These people, coupled with the rest of the Ubuntu Community, are the reason I use Ubuntu. The technical details of the project are amazing, but it is the people who truly make the difference. This community is a beacon of what can be done by a group of highly motivated and dedicated people. My thanks goes out to everyone who reads this post; you are the difference! Thanks!

Chuck Flash

Chucking!

Chuck in Parliament

Chuck approves of parliament

UDS-P: Community Bug Involvement

I drafted a blueprint at UDS-P this year to address the issue of poor bug reports and Ubuntu users being upset about ‘nothing being done’ about their bug reports. When I first drafted the blueprint I knew that many people in the Ubuntu Community did not understand that bug lifecycle and that the documentation was very complex.

Carlos De Avillez made a solid point during the discussion that changed my original perception and brought a solution in to focus.

Users are not trying to file a bug report; they are trying to solve a problem

That is an impactful statement! I had been focused on trying to teach people how to put in proper bug reports and to understand that SRCs do not happen that often. The focus now became on how to ensure that people just looking to get ‘stuff done’ using Ubuntu could find help without having to engage in filing bug reports that ended in frustration.

The first step in this will be to improve the pathway to resources that help resolve problems and only lead a person to filing a bug report as a last step. Also, making people aware that filing a bug report may not result in a fix until the next release of Ubuntu. Part of this will be to create a graphic flow chart of the process. On of the best flow charts I have seen is one from Fedora (seen below). I hope to make a chart that is similar, but that includes avenues for getting the problem solved prior to filing a bug.

I plan on starting to work on this diagram this weekend and will look for feedback from the community to ensure it is complete and easy to understand.

NYSCATE: Session Canceled

Yesterday I received notice from NYSCATE that the hands-on lab I was giving on November 19th had been canceled due to low enrollment.

This message is regarding your “Introduction to Open Source Applications” session.  Up to this point, we were holding on to your session in hopes that enrollment would trip to our cutoff of 3 participants, however, we will need to cancel the session due to low enrollment.

Yes, you read that correctly. There were not three educators interested in learning about Open Source Applications this year. With the same description last year I ended up with eight educators in my class. I am disappointed and now must think about how to raise interest for the session next year. When I look at the courses that survived they are either iDevice oriented or focused on an ‘outcome’. I obviously will not have the fortune of teaching about things that match the popularity of an Apple advertised computing device so I think next year I must find a desired outcome and align it with FOSS applications and tools.

The conference is very supportive of Open Source tools such as Moodle so I know there is no issue there. I need to find and tell a story relevant to education that involves Ubuntu and Open Source Applications. Sadly that will have to wait until next year.

UDS: LoCo Team Guidelines

I was in a session yesterday that discussed the need to allow for more truly local teams to develop and did some research. I am encouraged by the discussion on potentially removing artificial boundaries from the formation of loco teams. I did some research last night and found the following facts:

Europe
3,930,000 sq mi
population 731,000,000
181/sq mi

United States
3,794,101 sq mi
population 312,549,000
87.4/sq mi

It is interesting that the US is slightly larger than Europe, but holds under half the population. In some cases states are larger than entire countries in Europe.

Texas — 2nd largest state
268,581 sq mi
population 25,145,561
96.3/sq mi

UK
94,060 sq mi
population 58,789,194
pop density 661.9/sq mi

While Texas almost three times larger than the United Kingdom it has less than half the population. Contrast that with a more dense state

New York State
54,556 sq mi
population 19,378,102
408.7/sq mi

London – population
7,825,200
12,892/sq mi
metro: 13,945,000

New York – population
8,175,133
27,532/sq mi
metro: 18,897,109

Still a lower population than Texas, but it is more condensed and more similar to the UK in density. I strongly support the idea, but am concerned that we do so in a way that effectively addresses the issues of both geographic distance and population density. Its a tough task the LoCo Council and Community Council have and I am positive that the elected Ubuntu Leaders will make the best decision possible.