App development for Ubuntu is a hot topic and many have blogged and talked about this in the past months. Still I’d like to point out two things which never cease to amaze me:
- Writing the code of the app once and have it work on everything from a phone to a TV.
- It’s easy. We had people join the Ubuntu Core Apps team, who had never written apps using QML or HTML5. These people now delivered some of the apps which will come preinstalled with Ubuntu phones in stores this year. Getting their feet wet and initial drafts of the apps up and running was a matter of days only.
This is just fantastic and something we should share.
Ubuntu App Dev Schools?
At UDS we had a really nice discussion about how to bring more App Development training events to our Ubuntu community. We came up with a number of work items, focusing on
- improving our presentation materials,
- making it easier for newcomers to step in, learn and present,
- reaching out to app developer communities and our LoCo teams at the same time.
With the Ubuntu Global Jam coming up in just 3 weeks and soon followed by the 14.04 release and its release parties, we have to move fast to make this happen. To coordinate this better, David and I decided to have a daily standup meeting on Google Hangout at 9:30 UTC. Let us know (maybe on #ubuntu-locoteams) if you want to join the conversation.
We need help.
Obviously we need teams to organise events, but we need other help as well:
- Planning. Join our planning events mentioned above.
- Hosting. If you are interested in running an event, you should check our docs and see if there’s anything missing in there.
- Collaborating. Talk to your LoCo team and see if you can host an Ubuntu App Dev School for Ubuntu Global Jam or your local 14.04 release party. Give us feedback on how it’s going.
- Slightly unrelated. Help me with a VirtualBox question: I set up a VirtualBox image using Trusty, so we can have an up-to-date image with the newest SDK preinstalled, so we’re prepared if Mac or Windows users turn up to an event. Unfortunately the resolution is just up to 640×480, even with the Guest Additions loaded. Can anyone help me out?
If you are preparing to run the event, please check our Materials section, review what we have and give us feedback. Either leave a comment on this page, or…
On the following days we are going to have some Feedback / Q&A sessions on Ubuntu on Air:
There you will not only have the opportunity to ask questions about organising your event, but also all the technical questions you should have for running your presentations.
Another opportunity to find out more, is the LoCo Teams Update on Air on Saturday at 19 UTC.
Bringing more apps to Ubuntu is lots of fun and will make Ubuntu for phones/tablets/laptops/desktops/TVs/everything else a lot more interesting! 