Contributor sebastien.worms

Sometimes I've had a hard time finding an answer to my question on forums, or I wanted an answer really fast because for some reason I needed something done very quickly.

I would like to be able to call a professional call center with Ubuntu professionals that would help you solve your problems very fast. I wouldn't care about paying maybe 1$ / 1€ per minute or something like that. Because I just want it for emergencies.
But I don't want to pay the 250 $ plan for unlimited support, that is too much for me, I want a happy medium !

This way I think Canonical could make more money (so have more to develop Ubuntu), and address a demand.

Multiple pointer devices, e.g. one touchpad and one mouse, might require different sensitivity settings.

If mice report their model to the computer (they do, right?), reasonable default settings could be kept in a database and mabye adjusted according to how the user has adjusted the settings of other devices. Any changes the user makes should of course be remembered until next time the same mouse gets plugged in.

With or without a database, a window could pop up the first time a particular model is plugged in, allowing the user to adjust the settings.

(I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right category.)

I'm an user of open source software for years - and I'm also a developer. Currently I'm a student of computer sciences and one of my biggest dreams would be to work on open source software later in my life. I like the spirit which grows out of sharing work with other people.

But there is still one dilemma, which is bad for me as a user of open source software as well as for me as a developer of open source software: there is no easy way to support the development of OSS with money directly. Of course, there are ways: but they are more or less addressed to the server, embedded and office market. Big companies which want to get their hardware sold, are putting a lot of money into the open source development. But as an end user, I have no possibility to do it. Today it is even not possible to buy an end user distribution. They are all free: Ubuntu, OpenSuSE and Fedora can be downloaded from the Net.

Please don't misunderstand me: this is great. But it prevents to subsidize open source software for the end user. This leads to the current problems of Linux on the desktop: On the one hand it is the lack of good applications (where is something like iPhoto or iMovie for Linux?) - but which is even more worse: it is the lack of many subtle features, which makes working so nice on a Mac for example.

Being paid is more than getting enough money to life - it is also a way for getting feedback from people. Paying money shows, that something is valuable for the payer. This kind of financial feedback is not really given on the Linux desktop. I think this is one big reason, why the Linux desktop is still not the thing we really want. It is really good - but it still lacks many obvious things.

I have a suggestion for a business model, which perhaps allows us to improve the Linux desktop by putting money into it:

Just have a look at the AppStore of Apple. There is a lot of software there which costs only 5-10$. It is still enough for the developers, because it is so easy to buy it. Just one click is needed and you, as the user, get what you wanted to have. And because it is so easy, not only one, but one thousand users will buy your software.


[....]

I think, a lot of people like to help with ubuntu development, but they don't know where to start. This includes not only programmers but also designers, music composers or just the normal ubuntu user.

So how about creating a website "howcanihelp.ubuntu.com" where everyone (except for C/C++ programmers ;-) ) can find out how to contribute?

Examples:
PHP Programmer -> help with Brainstorm Development, someproject.ubuntu.com needs a new Website, ...
Music Composer -> (don't know where this should link)
Graphic Artist -> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork
Foreign Language Native Speaker -> Translate Subtitles at screencasts.ubuntu.com,...
Beginner Ubuntu User -> (don't know if we find something for them :-) )
Advanced Ubuntu User -> Help people at IRC #ubuntu, https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WikiToDo, join the Documentation Team...
Marketing Expert -> ...


and so on!

Many post request new or improved features for programs that are available for use with Ubuntu. Ubuntu should organize programmers within the community who are willing to volunteer their time to help projects develop or improve features the Ubuntu community is asking for.

Think of it as our (modified) version of Google Summer of Code. As an example, say the community is asking for a web cam feature in Pidgin Ubuntu can ask for volunteers to help get the feature implemented then move on to the next third party feature request or bug fix.

Basically its Ubuntu saying to the community “hey, Ubuntu would benefit if this third party program had this bug fixed or new feature added. Please help by donating your programming skills or a few bucks”

A community mentoring program would also be great that created more programmers to assist in the future.

In a bid to make new users feel as though they can 'contribute' to Ubuntu, and give them an opportunity to discover brainstorm, I suggest a menu linking to sections of the website.

The menu would be added underneath the 'About Ubuntu' item and link to the options of the 'Get Involved' page on the website like this...

System
>Get Involved
>>Development
>>Design
>>Documentation
>>Brainstorm
>>etc...

The icon for the menu should be the from the 'Get Involved' link on the Ubuntu home page, and the sub items their icons from the get involved page.

This should get more people involved in development, and give none technical users, like me, the chance to contribute on brainstorm, making Ubuntu a bit more personal.

The project isn't focused enough on making people "add their little brick to the project".
We have to make it more easy, more visible, more accessible to get involved.
To the programmer and "non-programmer" (there is a lot to do that is not about programming, and there is certainly a loooot of people in that situation).


I'm sure there are so many people willing to contribute, but they don't know how to (true for almost all non-programmers), or they are afraid of getting involved in a 1000-hours project. Consequently, they don't contribute. Let's use this goodwill and energy more efficietly !


Linux/Ubuntu is really great at promoting its "products" , in a very competitive environment.
But the success of Linux/Ubuntu relies on two main points:
_ 1: having a high adoption rate
_ 2: having a vast community of people contributing


1: it's how we are going to make hardware vendors/software developpers make their product compatible with the OS we like :). It's also a way of sharing something we like. All this make this first point good and usefull (for Ubuntu / Linux / the Open Source world in general)

But Usually the focus is not enough on the 2nd point. But that 2nd point is what makes the project evolve, get better ... everything !


=> Ideas I have (I just want to give ideas, but I don't pretend they are 100% good, nor that these are the only ideas !) :

_ create a dedicated section in Ubuntu Brainstorm (that could be called "people involvment")

_ create a VISIBLE "to do list" of little tasks, that anybody could do (with a mentor attached), just to get them involved, and see how to contribute the project (like Wikipedia is really good at: any new comer can add a little "brick" to the project in 5 minutes)

[....]