Yes, that’s right. I’m off again for another holiday. This time it’s two weeks, rather than one, and it’s abroad. We’re going to a camp site near Paris in the first week and to a camp site at the edge of a lake in Southern Bavaria. We will depart tomorrow, early in the morning.
Since desktops aren’t that easy to take with you in your luggage, I won’t be reachable during those two weeks, apart for the lucky few that happen to know my cellphone number.
While planning this post I suddenly realized that maybe this post doesn’t have that much use. I’m not as much a part of the community anymore like I used to be. Not that I played a very important role or did a lot, but I did more for Ubuntu that I do now. Most of my contributions consist of bug reporting and an occasional suggestion or patch.
However, I would like to do more for Ubuntu. Maybe I should start working on Ubuntu Wanted again. When I’m back I’ll reconsider the project. Current options are: completely abandon the project, continue work on the current code and my favourite: examine the posibility of extending Launchpad to do what Ubuntu Wanted was ought to do.
Some of the changes to Launchpad could be:
- Extend profiles to include personal skills, both given by the user and measured on an Ohloh kind of way
- Extend team applying for moderated teams, e.g. to require certain skills, provide details about the application procedure and more
- Allow teams and people to create tasks and to assign them to projects, like the way branches already work
There is obviously much more that can be done , e.g. I didn’t include the mentoring system for example, but I will have a closer look on the possibilities and problems when I return. Meanwhile, if you have suggestions, please leave a comment. However, please refrain from spamming since I won’t be there to check if Askiment fails to filter everything.
Have a great holiday !
I think Ubuntu Wanted should be and should have always been about jobs surrounding Ubuntu, not about or have to do specifically with the development of Ubuntu, although that could be a part of it.
I don’t think integrating Ubuntu Wanted (completely) is the best solution, although you could use it, github and all those other online repositories for source code reviews and stats.
What I do think would work and is needed is a project that enables jobs to be created and searched that require the use of Ubuntu: server administration, graphic design with inkscape and gimp, proprietary coding for a company like Dreamworks and everything else of the like. This includes actually programming for software that is included in Ubuntu and Ubuntu-specific code. This is where Intel, IBM, Canonical, Nokia, etc. could pick their potential programmers. But I stress, the site should NOT be all about programmers. There are too many websites that are all about programmers. Ubuntu needs a crutch for those who use Ubuntu but may not specifically develop it.
If anything is to be developed off of Launchpad, I think it should be MSDN-like documentation.
This is also where Ubuntu could make call-outs to graphics artists for backgrounds etc. So some jobs may be voluntary, some may be paid and some may even be full-time positions looking to get filled.
Ubuntu’s community would grow exponentially with a well-groomed and well-maintained website like that.
This suggestion has been raised very often earlier. Although it shows there certainly is a demand for such a site, we’ve — or actually: mostly I’ve — always made clear that this is not the purpose of Ubuntu Wanted.
What we wanted is a place that makes it easy for Ubuntu Community members/teams to find people when they need people and for people looking for something to do for Ubuntu to find something to do for Ubuntu.
cool