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back to article Ubuntu devs to get 15-min code review, full SDK love – Canonical

Changes in Ubuntu will speed up the process of building apps and getting them approved for Software Center - but they could leave you more tied into the Linux distro’s software development kit (SDK). Canonical has said it is changing the way packages – another name for the apps that make the basic operating system interesting …

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  1. andreas koch
    Unhappy

    Pity

    I liked Ubuntu. Even with the Unity GUI.

    But this and the move to Mir will alienate so many users and developers that I believe it'll go down. Canonical has neither the business base of Microsoft, nor the fanbase of Apple to force a walled garden approach.

    I think Ubuntu 14.10* will be the last one.

    * Not a typo. 13.10 will introduce the changes, 14.04 will make some of them work, and 14.10 will be a last attempt to get a few users back with a half-this-half-that-152º-not-quite-around-turn that will break everything.

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    1. keithpeter Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Windows

      Re: Pity

      "13.10 will introduce the changes, 14.04 will make some of them work, and 14.10 will be a last attempt to get a few users back with a half-this-half-that-152º-not-quite-around-turn that will break everything."

      14.04 being the next LTS with a support period of 5 years... you know, the solid reliable one for corporate use.

      ...could be 'interesting'. I quite like Unity as well, but my old Xeon box with the nvidia graphics card does not like Mir according to the bleeding edge alpha installed from ppa version I tried a bit ago.

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      1. andreas koch
        Reply Icon
        Unhappy

        @ keithpeter - Re: Pity

        > . . .

        14.04 being the next LTS with a support period of 5 years... you know, the solid reliable one for corporate use.

        . . . <

        Planned to be stable, certainly. But will it be after two really big changes in a inherently diffuse user environment? I'm afraid, I have my doubts.

        Still nice to know that another user liked Unity.

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  2. Roo
    WTF?

    "With a click package the software simply depends on the Ubuntu SDK"

    ... and the next evolution will be static linking and dedup on the / partition ...

    The Ubuntu folks appear to have gone batshit crazy over the last couple of years, they seem to have taken their product development strategy from Steve Ballmer himself. Linking to an distro specific SDK doesn't sound like a great plan for portability, presumably Ubuntu are trying to convert their users into hostages. This will be interesting to watch. :)

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And downhill it goes

    Perhaps they think they are now big enough to warrant behaving like something so different it warrants separate code to be written for it.

    Personally, I don't see it happening.

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  4. Silviu C.

    Wtf? Who wrote this?

    "For better or worse, though, it sounds like you’ll have to use the Ubuntu SDK instead of cross-platform widget toolkits such as GTK or QT – hard luck for those of you who love your GIMP."

    The Ubuntu SDK uses Qt Designer and QML. Sure they build their own stuff, like UI elements but they are all built upon the mentioned tech and open-source. But hey, don't take my word for it, just google for "Ubuntu SDK"

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    1. Not That Andrew
      Reply Icon

      Re: Wtf? Who wrote this?

      And if your application is a classic QT or KDE one that doesn't use QML? Or a GTK+ one? What then?

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I see that the conversion to...

    ...just another branch of Microsoft in almost complete. Operation Extend is live.

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I hate 'apps'.

    Stop using the term 'apps'. I am sick of this ridiculous phrase to describe full blown desktop software.

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  7. FredBloggsY

    "Apps" - WTF?

    "I hate 'apps'.

    Stop using the term 'apps'. I am sick of this ridiculous phrase to describe full blown desktop software."

    Agreed! Upvoted.

    "Apps" is Applespeak, babyspeak, for "Applications". (*)

    Just because Apple doesn't have enough grammatical nouse in its whole organisation to know when to use an adverb ("differently") and when to use an adjective ("different") doesn't mean the whole English language (/not/ "American English", Microsoft and other ignorati apologists) should be bastardised.

    (*) I would have no objections to calling "Apple", "App". Even "Appy" (rhymes with nappy (diaper in some parts of the world)). If they want to squirt baby-talk it would seem appropriate to use it on them, perhaps?

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  8. FredBloggsY

    "Apps" - WTF?

    "I hate 'apps'.

    Stop using the term 'apps'. I am sick of this ridiculous phrase to describe full blown desktop software."

    Agreed! Upvoted.

    "Apps" is Applespeak, babyspeak, for "Applications". (*)

    Just because Apple doesn't have enough grammatical nouse in its whole organisation to know when to use an adverb ("differently") and when to use an adjective ("different") doesn't mean the whole English language (English, /not/ "American English", Microsoft and other ignorati apologists) should be bastardised.

    If the pinnacle of Apple's advertising is to shout its ignorance worlwide, so be it. I have no objections whatsoever. It's the Apple Corporation that looks stupid.

    (*) I would have no objections to calling "Apple", "App". Even "Appy" (rhymes with nappy (diaper in some parts of the world); or "Appy-Clappy"). If they want to squirt baby-talk it would seem reasonable to use it on them.

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    1. andreas koch
      Reply Icon
      Happy

      @ FredBloggsY - Re: "Apps" - WTF?

      It's dangerous to be upset alone. Here, read this:

      http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2012/07/17/andreas_koch_Who_coined_the_term_App/

      Or, alternatively, have a Snickers.

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      1. admiraljkb
        Reply Icon
        Pint

        Re: @ FredBloggsY - "Apps" - WTF?

        :) Yes, "App" predates iPhone by at least 10 years, although I remember it being about 15 when app suites like MSOffice came began to make a big appearance. I think most of us had been shortening it in emails and such since the Compuserve days of yore before the internet was commercialized. You remember when you had to ride a dinosaur 10 miles through the snow, uphill, both ways to login (ah the life of a dialup modem at a blistering 2400bps). :) Who is really going to write out "application" in an email to other engineer types when you can see the cursor lag across the screen and you are being charged by the minute?

        And with that, I now feel old...

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  9. jdieter

    and Ubunut is now Windows

    Shame. I run Ubuntu exclusively. But no more. Mint, Debian, so hard to choose ... Hmmmmm

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    1. Roo
      Reply Icon
      Pint

      Re: and Ubunut is now Windows

      " Mint, Debian, so hard to choose"

      On my 'desk side' box I am hedging my bets with Linux Mint Debian Edition. :)

      I quite like the idea of no step-change updates, it'll be interesting to see how that pans out.

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  10. korikisulda

    I've never used the software centre before, only used terminal and apt-get... for packages that all exist in debian. I'm not sure why I'm still using Ubuntu to be quite honest...

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  11. Teiwaz

    Too early to tell...

    Think I'll wait and see how this plays out by 14.10.

    I read something (somewhere) a while ago that this move only covers the 'apps' content, (mostly useless gimics, but will probably also cover the interfaces to the new Unity and phone/tablet.

    I rather like the Unity desktop, Just installed 13.10 alpha, and it seems quicker than 13.04. Next to no errors at all so far, had a quick look at the Unity8 demo and tried my hand at the Ubuntu SDK, pretty quick and seemingly easy to bash out a simple calculator.

    I look forward to seeing the Unity 8 working on the desktop (and by Desktop I mean my 10' netbook screen). The Tablet/phone interface may be very pretty and all, but hardly suitable for real work or any device without a touch screen.

    I do believe in Canonicals convergence vision, and I am excited by the idea of being able to one day have a smartphone that can work as a desktop when docked and allows me control of my device more than any android or iphone.

    But if things don't work out, I'll just login to Xmonad, Openbox or Goomwwm, and continue, or install another distro, i.e. Arch, Gentoo, Debian aptosid, and continue.

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  12. Nonja Business
    Facepalm

    Have Canonical started living by the how to alienate friends as fat as possible?

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