Ubuntu developer Facebook group:

Since it’s so easy to do, I just went ahead and made it myself.  If you’re an Ubuntu developer, and you’re on Facebook, please go ahead and join.  It should make networking easier than talking to a blank IRC channel or trolling Jorge Castro’s friend list.

Planet Feeds by Language rather than country:

This was an idea I had and brought up with Jorge in a hallway conversation.  In Spanish, for example, there are separate Planet Ubuntu feeds for Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, and Colombia.  Doubtlessly some content that users would like to read is being missed.  Similarly, the guy who translates the Ubuntu news into Spanish doesn’t have a specific “all Spanish feeds” place to post it, so it ends up going into the main (otherwise English) feed.

Things get even dicier with mixed languages.  Interesting English content published to the country feeds is often missing from the main feed.  More worrisome, a multilingual country may have to be split into separate language-based content feeds anyway.

I understand the concept behind country-based planet feeds.  There will likely still be a demand for local content anyway, so perhaps they shouldn’t go away.  But language based feeds are still better – they should even be displayed in a list above the country-specific feeds. We are, after all, a global project.

I love Ubuntu video:

Jono Bacon suggested it would be nice if we had members from the community each submit small bits of content that could be compiled artistically into a kickass promotional video.  One idea was to get a whole bunch of people in front of their webcams saying “I Love Ubuntu”.  As soon as I figure out the best standard way to do this (cheese?), I’ll take the initiative and submit my version.

Bonus Karaoke:

Traditionally, the final night of the Ubuntu Developer Summit includes a party.  This one featured Karaoke combined with barroom accoustics, tinny speakers, a cheap microphone, and cell phone video recordings.  Combined, these should render this presentation by Canonical’s community organizers appropriately awful:

I did three renditions myself.  I’m not a horrible singer when playing Rock Band, mainly due to practice.  Still, you don’t want to watch this video.

aside: The bumper sticker above came from the 2008 US Presidential Elections, where Republicans supporting Governor Palin mocked Senator Obama’s experience as a community organizer.

aside to the aside: There was an even better looking bumper sticker that I would have shown and linked, however the website selling it went to very elaborate lengths using javascript and embedded flash to try and prevent me from copying the image.  In other words, they paid a web developer a thousands of dollars to build a system that makes me give someone else free advertising.

Why blog?

I work on free software for the same reason I give blood. I enjoy helping others, making a positive change, and not feeling bad about drinking 3 cans of soda before stepping outside.

I help with free software even though I can’t be sure if it’s useful – sometimes you make things worse with buggy code, and sometimes your donated blood is biohazardous waste. Or maybe you save a life, have millions of happy users, and end up enabling billions of dollars in new economic productivity.

The world needs more free software and we can’t expect companies to make all of it. Some will free ride and enjoy the benefits without paying for development. Others will help write free software, but mostly to sell stuff like support contracts and servers; meanwhile, no one’s financing the magical piece of software that doesn’t need support and makes extra servers obsolete.

An old girlfriend once told me that I can write. I believed her, since she can read. By blogging I help tell my readers about how they can help make the world a better place (that is, by being more like me). Some of my readers will find this useful. Others will find it inspiring. Most will find it orange and brown. But that’s what Ubuntu is all about.

Why microblog?

Microblogging is like reading the Onion – 95% of the content is in the headline, so we might as well just have those. Gwibber makes it very easy to do – I can update to Twitter, identi.ca, and Facebook simultaneously. Real, actual (internet) people can then follow me on Twitter, or on identi.ca. They could even take my real, actual name and search for me on Facebook so we become real, actual eFriends.

OK that’s a bit of a stretch. I only accept friend requests from internet strangers when they’re women who want to marry me for citizenship. Then I make them post their undying love on my wall so I can make my ex girlfriend jealous.

That’s what microblogging is all about. I let the internet know how cool I am. Or, more likely, I haven’t done anything important at all and instead start doing something productive so I can at least tweet about that. If I can’t feel accountable enough to myself to get Ubuntu work done, I can at least feel like I owe something to a handful of internet strangers.

For that reason, I’m going to come out and commit, right here, to a seemingly modest two posts a week. I’ll partially write a few of them ahead of time, and aim to publish on Tuesdays and Thursdays. No one will notice when I finally go on a two week vacation to the Saint John’s Memorial Trauma Center. It’s work, but it’s work on something I love, and it’s time to get serious about it.