Over the past week a vibrant discussion has centered on the question of whether or not Ubuntu should move to a rolling development cycle rather than a six month development cycle. This is a question of how Ubuntu should be developed. This is a question for developers to pose and answer. It is a question that I have the complete and full faith of the Ubuntu development community to answer wisely.

How often should Ubuntu release a product? The answer to that question is near and dear to my heart. The two questions are not mutually exclusive. Obviously development and release go hand in glove. However, the question of how often Ubuntu should release a product also answers the question of how Ubuntu is perceived and used commercially. I believe this to be of vital importance and central to the big picture Ubuntu strategy.

The Convergence Story and Six Month Releases

Today’s timing makes the discussion difficult. Releasing 13.04 and following twelve months later with 14.04 and, with a lot of hard work, a converged phone, tablet and desktop experience sounds perfectly reasonable. Sounds like a good idea actually.

It’s 14.04 to 16.04 where the prospects change. Will mobile phone and tablet manufactures use only 14.04 for two years and with only security updates? Is that competitively feasible? Is that what Ubuntu wants?

Does the rolling development release tempt manufactures to pull snapshots for products? That would put them ahead though probably not on sound footing nor representing Ubuntu well. I can certainly see it happening. We already have someone taking pre-orders for a non-existent Ubuntu tablet. And it seems mobile phone manufactures are always fighting for an edge.

Six months is a nice cadence for OEM’s of any type. Whether phone, tablet or desktop, as an OEM we know we are always within six months of a production release. Our hardware production cadence is, by Ubuntu standards, unpredictably driven by Intel. Predictable, new software that we can pull from is extremely valuable. As Ubuntu drives in new directions, I suspect Canonical will learn that tablet and phone manufactures will appreciate rather than scold the regular six month pace. Maybe that’s why the traditional desktop is being challenged.

We like to move fast. System76 doesn’t support a release every six month because it’s easy. On the contrary, we’re doing all of this precisely because it’s hard. Because we have a chance to make a real difference in the world. We take pride in ensuring our customers have an exceptionally solid product with latest and greatest open source software every six months.

The Flag Is Planted

System76 planted its flag alongside Ubuntu over seven years ago and we are by no means wavering. My concern and my care is toward Ubuntu as a whole and not System76 individually. We’ll take any decision and produce great Ubuntu products out of it. Ubuntu’s success is ours and I hope those in the Ubuntu world feel that our success is theirs as well. Together we’re either going to the moon or the bottom of the sea. I’m pretty damn sure we’re going to the moon.

The Ubuntu LTS and rolling release conversation is going in the wrong direction. LTS should die. I have a very hard time choking down the idea that System76 may be forced to ship our customers twenty month old features. Twenty months is a lifetime in today’s age of agile development. I hear death by a thousand cuts.

Sure, System76 can offer LTS and the rolling release. But we sell products. We sell Ubuntu. Now, I have an option for Ubuntu LTS and Ubuntu Rolling Release. When I’m selling Ubuntu, which one do I sell? Which features do I highlight? How do I demonstrate that Ubuntu is better than Windows and OS X and you should therefore choose Ubuntu and, subsequently, System76. We can only clearly sell the LTS release. The lowest common denominator. It quickly becomes old. Look at Ubuntu 11.04. That was twenty three months ago and we’d be shipping it today. That must sound absurd to others.

Two years is a lifetime in technology. LTS is the old idea. LTS is used by very large OEM’s because they’re told to use it. Change the message. Two year old software is old. Period. Very large OEM’s have slow moving processes which are difficult to maneuver. Slow release cycles fit their rate of execution. Users should not suffer from their lack of agility.

So run the rolling release! So re-install Ubuntu because you can’t have the latest and greatest from an OEM? Nonsense.

Enterprises use LTS because they’re told they should. Since Unity in 12.04 – not 12.04 itself but Unity – enterprises now have a solid, common user interface moving forward. End user support is so similar that it doesn’t matter if they’re running 12.04 or 12.10. We know this. We support tens of thousands of Ubuntu users. Furthermore, the iPhone, Android and Ubuntu have fueled the bring your own device trend in enterprises. It’s the management and security tools that matter. Not the device or the OS release. This is where Landscape can shine and why LTS doesn’t matter.

It’s not a six month release cycle that’s old hat. It’s the LTS idea. The question should be, does LTS make sense? How do we deliver the newest features faster and with exceptional quality?

And yes, please don’t worry too much about the guy that doesn’t want his computer to change for two years. He’s fictional if you really think about it.

Microsoft is moving to an Office subscription model. They are trying to change the conversation. They’re talking about quarterly releases. Subscription means no holding back features. Could Windows move to a subscription basis? Features are released as they’re ready not held back for the big upgrade pay-day. That’s why features are held for a major release. How else are proprietary vendors to coax upgrades? If Windows moves to a subscription basis, we’re now working to shift out of a two year release cycle.

Today’s Ubuntu LTS and rolling release proposal leaves users with the choice of development release or old software which is unacceptable in today’s technology economy.

Five Years Building Ubuntu PC’s

System76 turned five earlier this week, which makes for a great opportunity to take a look at where we’ve been and where we’re going. I’ve had the great pleasure of co-founding and leading this company. I work with an exceptional team that is dedicated to customers and to building the next-generation computer manufacturer. We’ve worked together through exciting and challenging times. System76 has grown from a tiny basement office, barely making it sometimes, to strong revenue and an ever-growing capability to deliver unique, high quality Ubuntu PC’s.

Partners, Niche and Planet Earth

System76 is a large small company. That is to say, we ship a plenitude of computers but our shipments pale in comparison to the PC market as a whole. That simply means opportunity! Banks, partners and others often ask, “What is your target market?” A friend at Intel once said, “You have an interesting niche.” (Yes, these statements irk me slightly. I consider target markets to be a narrow way of thinking.) System76 has no interest in a niche. When asked about our target market, I like to take queue from Ubuntu. Our target market are “Humans”. Our niche is the personal computer. Our work everyday is to challenge the companies of the 80’s who are selling the majority of today’s computers. Essentially, we’re aiming for planet Earth.

I’m certain we’re not alone. In their own excited reporting style, OMG!Ubuntu! demonstrates the great strength of Open Source Software. If you have a great idea, create it! The power is in the hands of the developer. Throughout Open Source communities, ideas are debated, refined, developed and adopted. All of this energy is directed toward creating a phenomenal operating system. A better OS option, not just a different OS option. This isn’t simply toiling to remain second fiddle. I’m encouraged by the talent and passion of Open Source and Ubuntu developers as well as that of the impressive community that has grown up around the effort. The Linux desktop is racing forward and System76 is proud to play a part.

Tablets, ARM and Fingerprint Readers

Lying on my desk is a 10.1” touchscreen reference tablet. It’s slightly heavier than I’d like due to the Atom CPU, 2 GB of memory, and a 2.5” 250 GB hard drive. Nice performance though. I don’t know if this design will ever be a product. I’ve heard people that I trust (who are Ubuntu aficionados) say that Apple’s iPad changed their life. That the UI is silky. That it’s…. damn if I have to say it… magical. There’s a lot of work ahead of us to create a tablet that evokes the same reaction. We can’t settle for less. This is an emerging market and, as with any emerging market, players will start to position themselves. Let’s not chase anyone to the bottom but rather innovate at the top.

The ARM architecture is driving up performance while maintaining a low power envelope. The combination enables ultra-sleek, fan-less products. There are challenges. Technically, ARM devices require custom kernels for each device. System76 isn’t in the business of developing and maintaining kernels. The Ubuntu and Linaro projects are working to solve the issue by generating a common ARM kernel. Beyond the technical aspects, we have strong and proven relationships with x86 manufacturers who enable System76 to operate efficiently. The ARM ecosystem will be a new beast to tackle. Nevertheless, I’m intrigued by what I’ve seen and we’re brining in reference boards to experiment with.

Fingerprint readers and biometrics have lagged behind in Linux. In 2008, we started working with the Fprint project to create open source drivers for System76 (and many other MFG’s) laptops. While the driver was completed, integration with GNOME needed love. It’s finally getting there! Thanks to additional driver help from Upek, our FP manufacturer, and the brilliant work of Wolfgang Ullrich, of the Fingerprint GUI project, we’re aiming for complete biometrics support in Ubuntu 11.04.

Proprietary, Open Source and Switchable Graphics

Graphics performance is central to the future of computing. HTML 5, 1080p video, and advanced desktop compositing are only as impressive as the hardware (and software stack) that drive them. So far in 2010, 44% of System76 products shipped with either nVidia or ATI graphics. Our customers regularly express a desire for discrete graphics. I don’t expect that to change.

GPU’s are a contentious area of System76 product line development. We don’t like shipping proprietary code. During the Ubuntu 10.10 cycle, System76 tested the Nouveau open source nVidia driver on 15.6” mainstream laptops. We were impressed by Nouveau’s performance advancement since Ubuntu 10.04. Unfortunately, the lack of power management resulted in a loud laptop with short battery life. Open source graphics drivers are getting close though, at least for the mainstream market.

Both nVidia and ATI have developed technologies that automatically switch between integrated and discrete graphics based on GPU demand. The technology results in improved battery life and on-demand graphics performance. Neither company are supporting Linux hybrid switching in their proprietary drivers. nVidia is aggressively pushing Optimus, their hybrid graphics technology, from the very low end to extremely high end laptops. AMD’s new Fusion family of products integrate the GPU and CPU on a single-die processor that they call an APU. I expect future APU based products to include discrete GPU’s and ATI Switchable Graphics. Hybrid graphics switching is the next wave of laptop technology. For the time being, System76 will manufacturer laptops without hybrid graphics while exploring options to bring the technology to Ubuntu through either proprietary or open source drivers… and lots of help from partners :-).

Going International

Our most common request, which we’ve long wanted to fulfill, is shipping internationally. Starting at the end of this month, System76 will begin shipping products to the United Kingdom. We will ship US keyboards and power cords as we don’t stock UK variants yet. We’ll include plug adapters for the power cord.

By starting in one country, with a common language, we can quickly learn and refine our processes to ensure we’re providing a stellar experience. We’re excited to finally start spreading our international wings! Follow us @ http://facebook.com/system76 or http://twitter.com/system76 for the official announcement.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu just turned six. System76 just turned five. What a ride! I loaded up an ‘old’ Ubuntu 9.10 disk the other day. 9.10 was released just over a year ago. It looked dated. Ubuntu advances at an astonishing pace. It’s impressive, but where Ubuntu is headed is even better.

I love the personal cloud. Ubuntu One syncs contacts, notes, music, documents… almost everything. I used to carry a laptop from home to the office and back home each day. Now I walk out of the house with a wallet and a phone. The new Ubuntu One Mobile is brilliant. Stream your entire music library to your phone. Sync contacts and, soon, send and sync photos from your phone. I expect we’ll be streaming movies from Ubuntu One to our mobiles soon. The future is streaming and syncing from online repos. The only question is if it’s your personal cloud… or someone else’s (e.g. Netflix and Pandora.)

I criticized Unity in Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition. While I understand and generally agree with Linus Torvalds mantra of release early and release often, I still think it should have incubated until 11.04. With another six months, I’m confident Unity in 11.04 will mark a new age in desktop UI’s. Switching and launching apps in GNOME 2.0 is the one horribly outdated area of the Linux desktop. GNOME 3.0 will address the issues in their unique way. Ubuntu is addressing them in theirs.

I used to dream about creating my own OS (back when I dreamt about doing everything). I wanted futuristic touch UI’s and dramatic desktop browsing. It didn’t matter what it was… it just had to be more exciting than Windows. If I were building my own OS… it would have to be radical. That’s, in part, why I fully support driving for a totally unique experience with Unity. We must take risk to breech markets dominated by monopolies.

At System76 we take a holistic approach to creating products. Our PC’s aren’t simply pieces of hardware with software loaded on them. They’re an entire customer experience. A customer should be surfing the web within minutes of receiving their computer. Every System76 computer, from the Starling Netbook to the ultra high-end Serval Professional, should be responsive and snappy. Common task and applications should be easy to access and use. Finally, if you need help, you have System76, Canonical, and the exceptional Ubuntu community available to you.

System76 services a very broad range of customers. Our customers include fellow computer geeks, businesses, schools, government, and many people that have never used Ubuntu. We love attracting newcomers. They’ve learned that Ubuntu is a better option and, with their System76 PC, they’re experiencing that better option. The Open Source universe expanded just a bit.

This brings me to Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10 and Unity. Unity is a new netbook user interface incubated and released by Canonical in May 2010. The interface is designed to maximize vertical pixel availability on small screens while considering the needs of future touch technologies and user experiences. I started using the software via ppa in Ubuntu 10.04. As was to be expected, the edges were rough. Unity has improved considerably over the last few months and is now the default user interface for Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10.

Unfortunately, many of Unity’s rough edges remain apparent. The interface is slow and in many ways confusing to use. Applications launch slowly, the Starling Netbook’s fan runs high for a while then dips, and Mutter crashes. Searching for the word “Update” displays Gwibber Social Client, Update Manager, as well as Adept, Akregator, and sometimes Amarok. Sometimes installed applications are visible. Sometimes only available applications. It’s difficult to tell what’s going to happen when an icon is clicked. Will an application launch? Will Ubuntu Software Center prompt to install software? Will a separate category open?

Given our holistic approach to building products and the broad range of customers we serve, System76 will give Unity another release cycle to reach it’s maximum potential. We have every confidence in the ability of Ubuntu developers to create the world’s finest software. Unity needs a bit more time. Until then, the System76 Starling Netbook will remain on Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.04 LTS.

KDE devs have been under fire since the release of KDE 4.0 - it’s bad enough that they’ve worked with Groklaw to expose misconceptions. It has been years since I’ve used KDE and all the chatter prompted me to take another look… after five days I’m hooked.

A entirely revamped desktop demonstrates the creativity that an empty canvas encourages. The Desktop, Oxygen Icons, Plasmoids, and Panel combine to present a beautiful desktop that’s fun and functional. Favorites in the Kickoff Menu make navigating through menus largely unnecessary. Folder View and Plasma shift your desktop from a dumping place to a functional, always accessible, launchpad. With the 4.1 release on the horizon, the entire environment appears poised to leap ahead.

It’s exciting to see a Open Source project of KDE’s size risk significant changes. I only hope moral stays high. Keep up the great work… KDE 4 will Rock!

Wal-Mart announced that they have discontinued Linux desktop computer sales on retail store shelves. The AP feed reads “Computers that run the Linux operating system instead of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows didn’t attract enough attention from Wal-Mart customers, and the chain has stopped selling them in stores, a spokeswoman said Monday.” And follows with “‘This really wasn’t what our customers were looking for,’ said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien.”.

The AP feed misinterprets the problem presented by the Everex Linux Desktop. Rather than “enough attention” - the desktops sold out - the problems lies in the product itself. It’s a very low end PC and a terrible representative of the extraordinary advancement Open Source and Linux has achieved. Of course it isn’t what your customers are looking for. If it looks like a Desktop your customers will expect a Desktop experience. A watered down OS loaded on cheap hardware distorts the uninformed consumers perception of Linux. That is precisely why Wal-Mart will continue selling the computer online. Better informed customers know they’re buying a cheap and limited desktop computer.

Instead of putting our best foot forward, Open Source and Linux continuously attempts to compete by saying “this is cheaper”. Not a single Open Source engineer is developing software to limit an end users possibilities. They’re developing software to enable the end user. Open Source is neither cheap nor free. It is more efficient, smarter, better technology. Lets sell it that way.

The first 56 days of the 2008 have been tremendous. Here’s what has happened at System76.

Ubuntu 64 Pre-Installed and Supported

Almost since inception System76 has shipped laptops and desktops that support 64 bit operating systems. We continuously tested 64 bit Ubuntu until finally, with the 7.10 release, we felt confident that the operating system was ready for our main stream (and enthusiast) customers. Now our customers can take advantage of increased performance and ever increasing amounts of affordable memory — 4 GB of laptop memory is only $160 from System76.

Adobe Flash Pre-Installed

Along with 64 bit Ubuntu, System76 licensed and started shipping Adobe Flash pre-installed. This was a tough one for me. I support and prefer open source alternatives whenever possible and if there is a choice I’d rather leave it to our customer to decide. In this case a temporary Ubuntu bug caused confusion when customers tried to install Adobe Flash and with the critical nature of sites like YouTube we decided to act.

Server Storage

Most online server configuration tools include an unnecessary number of options - particularly when it comes to hard drives and storage. When I think of a server I think of space not hard drives. We adjusted our configurations accordingly. Instead of choosing each hard drive, the RAID controller, and the RAID level we created options based on your desired storage capacity and the type of redundancy you require.

New System76 Desktops Released

In January we released a Koala Mini platform refresh and three new desktops. The Ratel Value and Wild Dog feature 80 Plus certified power supplies. The 80 plus program is a forum of energy companies, industry manufacturers, and consumers aiming to bring greater energy efficient to desktops and servers.

2007 flew by. System76 continued to grow rapidly. The company hired, open offices, participated in two Ubuntu Developer Summits, Ubuntu Live, kept toe to toe with two new Ubuntu releases, expanded our work promoting open source software, and released a new website and 10 new products. A fun year in business.

We’re going to start 2008 with a bang.  A month full of announcements and advancements.  Stay tuned…

I recently read of bait and switch accusations against Best Buy. Whether or not Best Buy is guilty, these practices are too often used for bringing in customers and padding the bottom line. I doubt these are the strategies that create great companies - unfortunately it seems the tactic becomes too appealing as companies mature and growth slows. Are large retailers resorting to used car dealership tactics? We all like low prices - I think we have a greater appreciation for honesty.

Disclaimer: Accounts may vary. Many discussions during the rather lengthy run up to System76 were accompanied by our silent partner… Beer.

It was 2003 and I had re-started one of my old companies after a long vacation. My good friend and Co-Founder of System76, Erik Fetzer, was helping in numerous areas and mentioned that he had registered system76.com to sell Linux computers. I thought it was a good idea and we left it at that.

Two years later we were both wrapping up large projects and again System76 surfaced. This time seriously. It was fairly simple. GNU/Linux and the open source community deserved a high quality OEM and we thought we could do it. We thought it would fun to create something cool that was at the forefront of technology. So it began and it became very interesting, very fast.

What Distro to Choose

The most important and challenging early question was that of our distro. As clear as it may seem today, in mid 2005 the process was a evolution of thought. First we were going to sell PC’s with a myriad of popular distros and even dual boot Windows. What were we thinking? Clearly our quest to bring GNU/Linux to the masses required more focus. How would someone unfamiliar with GNU/Linux choose a distribution? Why should they have to? We needed to choose the best distribution for our customers. The search began.

What didn’t matter in this process is as interesting as what did. We didn’t care if the distro had the largest presence or name recognition. Red Hat and Suse were considered. Both are popular and contain a significant commercial back end. At this point one of those two would have been the logical choice. Nonetheless, both Erik and I had some strange mental block towards them. Red Hat and Suse were quickly dismissed. We played with more distro’s and I came to love Yoper. It was cool, fast, elegant - but Yoper lacked the all so important commercial aspect.

And then there was this Ubuntu distro with racy wallpaper. It was enough for us to give it a spin. I loaded it up and couldn’t su to root. What? Hoary didn’t even feature that brilliant wallpaper. Screw it, threw it in the trash. A month or so later we took a closer look. Loaded Hoary on laptops and desktops. We ran through the Unofficial Ubuntu Starter Guide numerous times and quickly came around to the Debian/Ubuntu way. I was also particularly fond of Canonical’s business model. Completely free software backed by commercial support as necessary. As a consultant walking the line of free GNU/Linux and support licensed GNU/Linux, I loved this concept. Ubuntu was the one and our first computers shipped with Ubuntu 5.10 ‘Breezy Badger’.

Behind the System76 Name

I’m often asked of the meaning behind the System76 name. The ‘76′ is a reference to the American Revolution of 1776. We hope that through System76 we can act as great representatives of the open source revolution. Representatives of our Independence from proprietary software.

The System76 Logo

When starting a project it is important to try to determine the challenges that you may face. With GNU/Linux a preconceived notion of complexity was our hurdle. We aimed to overcome this challenge with a clear website, a FAQ to debunk myths, and the ‘76′ of our logo in a television. What could be easier to use than your television?