Hardy Is Here
Well, its finally here – today we released [Ubuntu 8.04 LTS](https://www.ubuntu.com/), known affectionately as the Hardy Heron. Its out there, go and download it, order a CD, or otherwise taste our latest release. 🙂
When a new release of Ubuntu comes out, I always feel an enormous sense of pride with what our community has achieved, and what it continues to go onto achieve. Building a Linux distribution is a tough job, both technically and socially – it is a job that involves hundreds and hundreds of packages and components, thousands of patches, hundreds of bug fixes, a great many weekly meetings, thousands of emails and thousands of people working around the world and around the clock to achieve the same goal – to deliver a high quality free software Operating System that is reliable and easy to use. Not only has this happened with the desktop release, but the server release is looking incredible too – the server team should feel hugely proud for their achievements with this release; a particularly significant release with it bearing the Long Term Support commitment.
What I am most proud of though is that free software community is changing and evolving, and it is changing and evolving in one very specific way – *diversity*. One thing I have repeatedly stated as a core ambition with the Ubuntu community is to ensure that *everyone can put their brick in the wall and improve Ubuntu* and to solidify this with a diverse community in which a range of types of contribution are possible. Everyone should be able to help in a way that is comfortable and familiar to them, whether developers, artists, musicians, testers, triagers, translators, documentation writers, advocates, event organisers or otherwise – and I am pleased to see that this is happening. Every day I am speaking to people who are making the important connection between an enthusiasm to help Ubuntu and their particular skillset, and our community is becoming increasingly accommodating to these different types of contribution. There is always room for improvement, but things are looking bright – *diversity in collaboration* is the embodiment of free software. 🙂
So, its time to crack open a few cold ones, and toast to a great new Ubuntu release, and to not only toast the present, but to toast to the future – on we go towards Ubuntu 8.10, the Intrepid Ibex, lets get ready to roll our sleeves up and bring free software to even more people. 🙂
debian at the email address known as ubuntu dot com
I just wanted to let those involved in the Debian project know about something. We are always trying to learn more about our relationship with Debian and determine ways of ensuring it is as smooth and as productive as possible. As with every relationship, there are high and low points, and I would like to keep the low points strongly focused on my alleged terrible taste in music (which is of course, a lie), and ensure the things that really matter are smooth running.
To help with this, we have set up a new email forward [[email protected]](mailto:debianATubuntuD-O-Tcom) that comes directly through to me. If you are involved in either Debian or Ubuntu and have something to discuss about our relationship, then *do* get in touch – this can apply to letting me know where things are working well, things I should be aware of and areas that need improvement. 🙂
LugRadio Live and Hardy Time!
I haven’t had much time to blog – work has been insanely busy recently.
LugRadio Live USA 2008 was an utter blast – everyone seemed to have a great time, and it was a lot of fun. Thanks so much to everyone who helped with the organisation and thanks so much to Google, Dice, LinuxQuestions and Linux Pro Magazine for their help. Thanks also to the SCALE guys in particular for their help – they really did help a lot to spread the word. The weekend seemed to run pretty smoothly, Aaron Bockover did a stunning job in the Gong-a-thong, the live show was huge amounts of fun, and there were a bunch of excellent talks and much discussion going on around the venue. It really did feel like the UK atmosphere translplanted in a very large room in the US, and that was always the core goal – to get the atmosphere right, and we were all really pleased with it. 🙂
So…Hardy is released on Thursday! Woo! Its been a pretty hectic release schedule, but the release is feeling really great. It is always hugely satisfying around the time of a release to sit back and look at what needed to happen to make the release reality, not just in terms of development, but documentation, user groups, parties, and of course the excellent work that is done upstream. I never cease to be inspired by what our community achieves.
Oh, and while I am here and speaking of parties, there is a UK release party going on at De Hems in the West End from 7pm on Thursday – the great and good of the UK Linux Ubuntu scene are sure to be there! 🙂
LugRadio Live USA 2008 Evening Social Events
[LugRadio Live USA 2008](https://lugradio.org/live/USA2008/) is **THIS WEEKEND**!
35+ Speakers. 40+ Exhibitors. A man in a thong. Lots of fun. Its gonna be great, and it is only $10 for the whole shebang. You can still [pre-register and win prizes](https://lugradio.org/live/USA2008/register)!
Now, some details about the social events in the evenings…
For those of you getting in on the Friday, we will be having a gathering at the [The Thirsty Bear](https://www.thirstybear.com/) at 8pm. I have spoken to the pub and they say it can be busy in there on a Friday, so you may want to go and eat first and then come to The Thirsty Bear for drinks. The address is:
> ThirstyBear Brewing Company
> 661 Howard St.
> San Francisco, California
> 94105
> Telephone: 415-974-0905
> Fax: 415-974-0955
On the Saturday night we will be having the official Lugradio Live USA 2008 party at [Jillian’s](https://sanfrancisco.jilliansbilliards.com/), and Google, our gracious and generous main sponsor will be providing a healthy bar tab to help the night get off to a cracking start. We will be meeting in there at 8.30pm – this gives plenty of time to go and grab dinner after LugRadio Live USA 2008 has finished on the Saturday, and then get over to Jillian’s for the party. The address is:
> Jillian’s
> 101 4th Street, Ste 1070
> San Francisco, CA 94103
> Telephone: 415-369-6100
We look forward to seeing you all at the social events! 🙂
Rock on, Ed
In the latest in an increasingly long line of amusing metal related videos, I bring you this:
*Can’t see it? [Click here](https://www.youtube.com/v/cfdqV_sqal0).*
(*lots of naughty words, if that offends you, don’t watch it*)
Very amusing. 🙂
Thanks to Klepas for letting me know about this. 🙂
Quickies
OK, here is another round-up of quick things going:
* [Ubuntu Release Parties](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardyReleaseParties)! – we are heading to release, so why not celebrate the release of Ubuntu and party it hard? Check out [this guide](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BuildingCommunity/RunningReleaseParty) to setting one up. *You gotta fight for your right to party!* 🙂
* [FossCamp](https://www.fosscamp.org/) is coming, and it is going too be a blast, so go and check out the website and see if you can come along. Last time it was a blast, and really useful, and this one is in Prague. If you can make it, be sure to update the Attendees page.
* I did an [interview for DownloadSquad](https://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/03/27/download-squad-talks-with-jono-bacon-about-lugradio-live-2008/) about [LugRadio Live USA 2008](https://www.lugradio.org/live/USA2008/) as well as LugRadio Live in general and the show.
* I finished Guitar Hero III on Medium and I am half-way through it on hard. It never stops being fun.
* [5-A-Day Team Support](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/5-A-Day) continues to rock-and-roll – go and get your [LoCo Team](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeams) involved!
* The [March Ubuntu Community Report](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TeamReports/March2008) is out!
* [LugRadio Live USA 2008](https://www.lugradio.org/live/USA2008/) is NEXT WEEKEND! It is still all to play for for the pre-registration prizes too – want to know what is happening at the event? Well, [read this](https://archivedblog.jonobacon.com/?p=1164). 🙂
* I bought a George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Supreme High Esteem Grilling Machine. Love it.
In other news, some of the blocks are falling into place for [this](https://www.severedfifth.com/) – thanks to everyone who is involved. You know who you are. 🙂
Ubuntu Live
I am pleased to see that [Ubuntu Live](https://www.ubuntulive.com/) registration just opened! Last year, Ubuntu Live was a great first incarnation of the conference, and was incredibly productive and useful, and this year it is sure to be even better. This year is more diverse, jammed with a range of topics from community to business to partners to training to support and more, and will hopefully not involve me falling on my backside on a surfboard simulator.
I will be there, and so will a large chunk of the Ubuntu glitterati – be there or be…well just be there. OK? 🙂
Collaboration
As work begins on the [new project](https://www.severedfifth.com/) it struck me just how easy it is to build a collaborative framework these days. It is simple to get people working together on documents, on strategy, developing plans, sharing email, sharing tasks and more. As we try to figure out the future of our desktop, we absolutely need all of this hooking together. I want to make sure that when my hard disk dies, I just need to re-install applications.
Ba-dum Tish!
You know what, learning death metal drumming is a pretty intense process. It requires an insane amount of investment – physical training and workouts, regular practise, creative focus, constantly learning from your fave drummers. Well, recently I felt I hit a new milestone in the process with a recording we (Seraphidian) did the other day in a jam – [Skullduster](https://recreantview.org/songs/seraphidian-skullduster-demo.mp3) – a track from our up-and-coming album. I can’t sustain the insane blast-beating for long, but its slowly getting better.
Any death metal drummers out there with some tips on improving?
Rambling Brit in TV Shocker!
A few months back I did an interview with the [Sun Developer Channel](https://blogs.sun.com/SDNChannel/) and it was released today. The interview covers [Ubuntu](https://www.ubuntu.com/), [MOTU](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/motu), community building, developer communities, extremists, [LugRadio](https://www.lugradio.org/), [LugRadio Live USA 2008](https://www.lugradio.org/live/USA2008/) and more:
*Can’t see it? [Click here](https://blogs.sun.com/SDNChannel/)!*
You know what, I have done interviews before, but in this one I found it pretty nerve wracking. Something about a video camera poked in your direction in nerve wracking enough, let alone a full-on studio, like the one buried away at Sun’s Silicon Valley campus. Thanks to Barton for the interview. 🙂