What users in general need and want:

• stability
• reliability
• security
• simplicity

In reality you always need to keep those properties in some sort of balance.

What is a rolling release distribution?

In simple terms this means that your software is constantly updated and upgraded. You usually get all the new features and bug fixes very quickly and your operating system doesn’t have a distinct release number. If you installed FooBar Distro 1.5 today it will be 1.5 only today. In a couple of weeks you will get new browser, new office suite, new email software and so on and so on. Then at some point in time developers of FooBar Distro decide that current snapshot of all the software will be called FooBarDistro 2.0 and you don’t need to upgrade anything, you’re already there. You migrated slowly from 1.5 to 2.0.

The upside is that you are always running up to date software with all the bells and whistles. The downside is well, where do I begin?

• The need to upgrade. You must upgrade if you want security fixes. When I was using Gentoo there was no option to get only security fixes, you had to install new software. If I didn’t update for a longer period of time an upgrade usually broke during the upgrade process.
• Maintainability. If you have a lot of machines to maintain a rolling upgrade that can break becomes a pain. Even if you know how to fix it, it will require more time than a simple security update and bugfix release.
• In-house support. You will live in a dependency hell if your third-party software requires different versions of some essential library. Which immediately brings us to the most important downside of rolling releases.
• Third-party support. Developers and OEMs are having difficulty keeping track with current Ubuntu release cycle. New version every six months is a pain to support and support matrix for a product will look like a crosswords puzzle after a while. If you have libraries literally changing on a daily basis you are doomed and any kind of support becomes questionable.

For some people six months isn’t often enough and they would like to see a rolling release Ubuntu. Those people are a minority and I think that the correct approach is to have an even longer release cycle.

Why a longer cycle?

Because of third-party developers. Hardware or software development is a lengthy process in which you design and develop a product that will cover as much users as possible. You want a large user base. If you need to support a product for various operating systems with various libraries, software and architecture this is all what you will do. Support it and you will have no time to develop new features. Commercial software developers should already be targeting only LTS releases with their products, which is quite hard when majority of users will switch to a new Ubuntu release when it becomes available.

Ubuntu should move to a 12 month release cycle, with this they will give more time to their own developers and to all the contributors and third-party developers. What about new applications? Office suite? Browser? We would keep those in official PPA repositories that could be updated more frequently and independently. Applications that aren’t tied to the system can this way have more regular upgrades.

There are a couple of downsides to this solution. One is that someone will have to maintain those PPA repositories. Which shouldn’t be such a problem, but any additional work takes some time from the actual development. Second problem could arise with the upstream components. A year is a long time, what if upstream releases new version couple of months after the Ubuntu release? With six month release cycle this will amount to only four months of wait for early adopters. With a longer cycle this means ten months of waiting. For some this could be unacceptable.

Benefits of a longer cycle:

• More development time. This is critical, every release of Ubuntu that introduced something new on a bigger scale (PulseAudio, Unity, Gnome3, …) always seemed like it is a rushed-out release and the next release was a bug fix release.
• More testing time. Alpha and Beta cycles are not long enough. Ubuntu is still pretty much dependent in the community out there. Community needs more time to do all the testing. I do not know how exactly Canonical manages their QA but before I decided to be more active with Ubuntu development, I rarely tested Alpha and Beta releases. I usually didn’t have enough time to do it.
• Graphics cards vendors will have more stable environment to develop drivers for. Every Xorg release breaks proprietary graphics drivers and it happens every six months. Now it would happen only once a year.
•  Less demands for backports. Because of less releases there would be less backports, backports that could break and wreak havoc.
• Lastly, again, more time. More time for users to adapt to new release, more time to test it and more time to enjoy it before going through the frustration of yet another upgrade.

Longer release cycle will bring more stability and reliability. Security can also improve because new and untested software is introduced less frequently and for the same reason usability can also be increased. Learning all the quirks of the new software is a pain and users don’t like to adapt too much. Granted, in the long run everyone adapts, but from the UX perspective, changes shouldn’t be made just for the sake of changes and not too often. Even one year period could be seen as too short for big UI changes.

Good user interface concepts lasted for years before they evolved and were changed. Competition is a fine example of that.

Steve Jobs 1955 – 2011

Comments and bug reports are more than welcome.

And because we are geeks and nerds and so on, after the new years, if not sooner, we will be reviewing Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game (Published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2010)

Image via Wikipedia

GNU? Linux? Ubuntu? GNU/Linux? Ubuntu/GNU/Linux? WTF?!?! The endless debate about what is an operating system, what defines it and how it should be named has reached limits of my patience. What are the relations between GNU, Linux and various Linux distributions, Ubuntu in this particular case?  Read on if you wish to know more about the whole problem and the whole debate and why I think that Ubuntu is an operating system, Linux is a kernel and GNU/Linux is something that should probably be credited but it is utterly unimportant to most of the users. I will explain what is GNU, what is Linux and what is Ubuntu and why all the good guys at Free Software Foundation are wrong.

Linux is a kernel. The core, the heart, the engine of an operating system. Kernel takes care of memory management, disk management and process management.  Without the kernel there is no operating system.

GNU is a set of various programs and utilities that make kernel usable to the more common users. Working with files and directories, executing commands, compiling other programs and libraries. Without GNU there is no operating system.

Ubuntu is a so called Linux distribution. A set of programs and utilities that take care of the actual installation, configuration and management of the operating system as a whole. Without Ubuntu there is no operating system.

Ubuntu IS an operating system. GNU is not an operating system, Linux is not an operating system and GNU/Linux is NOT an operating system. Keep in mind that GNU/Linux should be pronounced as GNU-SLASH-LINUX.

Nowadays almost nobody is using only GNU and Linux kernel as their operating system. There are probably a few hardcore enthusiasts who actually build their operating systems from scratch, but there are more people who build their cars from scratch. ;) In order to install your operating system you need an installer and you need all sorts of management tools that are added value of a Linux distribution. That is why an operating system is something more than just a kernel plus a bunch of GNU programs.

Trying to convince everyone that an operating system should not be called Linux, instead it should always be called GNU/Linux is simply ridiculous. GNU should be credited, no doubt about it. Give credits where credits are due, but trying to justify that it needs to be in the name of an operating system is silly. Even if  the reason for that is a noble Free Software advocacy. Truth be told, calling the whole operating system Linux is not correct and not precise enough. It is more meaningful to call it by the distribution name – Ubuntu, Red Hat, Fedora, Mandriva, SuSe. In one particular case you can even call it Debian GNU/Linux if you wish.

That is why your operating system is a flavor of Linux, be it Ubuntu, Gentoo or Fedora. It includes Linux kernel and GNU software and also a lot of other software not directly related to the previous two. Stick to the distribution name and you will do fine, just make sure to take some extra time and give your enthusiastic friends a history lesson about their operating system.

Image via Wikipedia

A little delayed wrap up of E3 is in order. Games, gadgets and entertainment, they were all there. Rigor mortis is gone and everything is starting to decompose, so we will get on with out impressions about the event. Teaming up with Nixie Pixel turned out to be a great success (make sure you also check her E3 Highlights) and the amount of swag collected in just three days was amazing. Headphones, keyboard cleaners, Power balls, Dog tags, T-shirts, sweaters, press kit USB drives and DVD discs, and so on and so on.

Let’s duplicate

Three major things happened at E3. Sony Moved, Microsoft Kinected and Nintendo has gone to 3D. All three players on the console market simply had to come up with something sort of new. First Sony decided to duplicate Nintendo and they created new controller which looks and feels like an advanced version of Nintendo Wii remote. The bonus is that it has a prettier ‘light bulb’ on top of it and can be used as a fake ice-cream. To try out Sony Move you had to make an appointment and Sony was booked for three days. We didn’t get to try it.

Microsoft also decided that they need to do something new. Project Natal was announced a while ago and on the grand opening, which happened two days before E3, they told everyone that it will bi called Kinect. Yay, for kinetic connection or wherever they were going for with the name. To tell you the truth, Kinect is an improved version of Sony’s Eye Toy that was available years ago for PlayStation2. Waiting lines, we decided to call them queues just to sound a little nerdier, were up to two or three hours long. Because our team was limited to three people and only one dedicated to TWM, we decided just to take pictures of people jumping in front of the camera, flailing with their arms and kicking with their legs trying to play Kinect games.  They looked ridiculous, but they seemed to be having fun. Kinect was everywhere on E3. Dancing, exercising, running, jumping, …

So who did Nintendo duplicate? Microsoft? Fortunately, no! Nintendo, again, made something genuinely new. They upgraded their Nintendo DS into Nintendo 3DS. Still in its prototype Nintendo 3DS is a first console that can reproduce 3D images using a special method called autostereoscopy. Since the waiting queues for Nintendo 3DS were even longer than Kinect queues, we decided to skip testing the prototype. People are reporting mixed feelings about the whole thing, so we will have to wait until 2011 when they scheduled the initial release.

Games

All in all, this was an entertainment expo and we were eager to see the games. There were some great titles announced and this time we got to play with few games. We were really looking forward for Fallout: New Vegas. Truth be told, there was a little disappointment since all we got to see (and play) was Fallout 3 with new wasteland and orange-colored user interface, instead of the traditional green. From the interview with Bethesda people we gathered that you will need to get skilled in hand-to-hand combat and smuggling. Guns are forbidden in casinos. Level cap will be at 30. Main story line, side quests and the rest of the things will stay pretty much the same. No footage or pictures since we were not allowed to take any. The highlight of the whole Bethesda visit was bumping into Felicia Day. :)

We were also shown a presentation of Rage, the upcoming game by Id and published by Bethesda. Again, we had to put cameras on stand by. Decent graphics and fairly good game play. But the bitter taste stayed behind when we were leaving the closed presentation: “Another running around the wasteland RP game” …

Kaos Studios and THQ as a publisher made a really good impression with their marketing campaign for Homefront, new first person shooter where United Korea invades USA. Fly a North Korean flag on your car and park for free, good call! We also got to see trailers for the upcoming Warhammer 40.000 Space Marine and the Warhammer 40.000 Dark Millennium Online a lot of promising things published by THQ.

We also couldn’t get past the Magic: The Gathering Tactics. Mainly because it was on the entrance to the West Hall. The Gathering Tactics is a slightly modified version of the popular card game. It will be available for PS3 and PC and published by Sony Online Entertainment. Online play will be supported and there are rumors about ability to buy additional cards, trading and auctions. The more you pay, the better you play?

Tron Evolution: The Video Game by Disney studios is showing a lot of promise if you like mixes between third person shooters married with platform jumping Ratchet & Clank a-likes. We played PS3 version of the game and the first impression was great. If we can get our hands on a new customized Tron themed PS3 controller then the mood setting will be perfect.

Gadgets

There is no entertainment without all the gadgets. Portable steering wheels with seats, fake gun-like controllers, joysticks, flightsticks, giant hamster balls, power-glove like devices, headsets, microphones and at last and definitely least, removable crosshairs stickers for your monitor. You will simply rule in hardcore modes of your favorite first person shooter. Two gadgets left an impression. The ForceTek power-glove like controller with its interesting concept of controlling a jet. People simply could not get to control the aircraft with their arm, but once you get into the feeling it is really easy. The lin … err … queue started to form behind us, so we kindly left before our airplane crashed.

The second gadget was the removable crosshairs sticker for your monitor. The impression was not all that great, it was more of a jaw dropping and banging the head against the wall impression. what can we say? There is market for almost everything as long as it has the ‘gaming‘ label attached to it. What you can buy is a transparent sticker that you stick to the center of your screen and it will aid you with aiming when you are not looking through the iron sight or scope of your gun. We think they promised a decrease in reaction time in percent. Almost as seen on TV. :) Sorry, no picture this time.

Booth Babes

Words are unnecessary here, we will just post few pics in the gallery below. Some thinking is in order, because Nixie was already asking herself if booth babes will help and revive the E3.

Under The Line

E3 was a hyper-packed, content rich and eventful expo. Next time we are visiting, we are going there with a plan. Not just any plan, but a cunning plan. At least three people are required to cover the event fully since so many things are going on at the same time. Three days – eight hours of expo, ten hours of after parties and three hours for commuting and meals, yes we were left with about three hours of sleep per night. Jet lag helped a lot.

All the major players in the electronic entertainment industry are here, E3 expo is the biggest industry-only event and we are covering it. Of course our focus is on strange, bizarre and insignificant. Big guys are getting their love too, but we are trying to focus on the little, borderline-crazy things, people and booth babes.

1. She did everything for “him” or maybe “her”?
2. Satellites should be slim, so they are commercially acceptable for launch.
3. Her Englisch is purrfect.
4. Swaying of the background vocals.
5. Dramatic stop at about 2:15 of the song allowing listener to think about the lyrics.
6. Geeks had 3 reasons to get hooked … left, right and … no no … physics, orbit and satellite.
7. Maybelline sponsored televoting with free promotional gifts?
8. Prepaid phones are available at reasonable price.
9. Men actually voted!
10. Its not about the voice but about spirit and presentation.

Image by Patrick Keogh via Flickr

There was some some construction work on the blog for the past week or so.

We have made theme improvements and web server speed optimizations which will provide quicker loading times and less load on the web server.

Hopefully your reading pleasure was not disrupted, but if it was we sincerely apologize and hope that you continue to support us.

The “Three Wise Men” team would like to announce that this blog has been up and running for about a year now. If we travel back we can discover that the first post was posted on the November 18th 2008. Well over a year now.

Slowly evolving from cooking, games and movies we have embraced this web site and transformed it into a geek blog trying to cover everything that we think is interesting for you. From a merely 10 daily visits we have grown to a steady 400 visits per day. And this is  the biggest present – you our readers have given us through the year. Thank you!

I could go on and on about how rough was this year and what we are going to improve in the next year but instead we would like to wish you all the best in this holiday season. Albert Einstein could not said it better:

“I feel that you are justified in looking into the future with true assurance, because you have a mode of living in which we find the joy of life and the joy of work harmoniously combined. Added to this is the spirit of ambition which pervades your very being, and seems to make the day’s work like a happy child at play.”

Be marry and at peace, love and respect one another and keep coming back for more.

Your “Three Wise Men” team.