Cody Somerville

As I’m sure I’ve already mentioned either on my blog or in my video interview on Youtube (which makes me look weird due to some ratio/pixel issue, hehe), the Ubuntu Developer Summit is and has been an excellent opportunity for myself and the Xubuntu project. Wheres the proof in the pudding? Well, I’m here to show you! It has been half a dozen weeks or so since the hugely successful Xubuntu community meeting led by the community manager Jono. At that meeting, it was decided that I would be tasked with developing a strategy document which participants agreed would enable Xubuntu to overcome some of the difficulties the project had begun to encounter from its ever enduring growth. After yesterday’s Xubuntu strategy session at UDS, where I was able to get feedback from other developers and colleagues, I’m happy to present to the community at large the first public draft of the Xubuntu strategy document. I encourage *everyone* to take a read and send your feedback, comments, suggestions, concerns, etc. etc. to my e-mail inbox: cody-somerville@ubuntu.com

So, when is the next big Xubuntu community meeting to finalize and find consensus? I’ll be announcing the date and time on either Monday or Tuesday of this upcoming week. Please keep your eyes posted!

Xubuntu rocks!! Be sure to join us on IRC in #xubuntu and #xubuntu-devel - woot woot!

Jonathon Carter’s recent post about his recent realization that he needs to make some changes in his life got me thinking about all the changes that have occurred in my life recently.  It was only a year ago that I had the hit lowest point that I have ever hit in my life. It felt like I had lost my job, my family, my friends, and my life to a disease. I’m very much a “goal orientated”, tackle it head on type person and it was very frustrating for me to not be able to apply the same methodologies I usually do to solve my problems. At the time, I thought things would never get better and when your hospitalized for months upon months then it can be difficult to help yourself as much as you’d like to be better. It hasn’t been easy but I can now say that I feel like I’m hit the highest point I’ve ever reached in the last few months and things seem to be continuously improving. Are things perfect? No, never but I’m finally really “okay” and I take solace in that. I have an awesome job, I’m going to Prague in a few weeks, I’ve gotten healthier, I’m more mature, I’m meeting all kinds of awesome people (such as Jonathon) and I can see a future for me. These are all things to be excited about.

What have I learned? Life is is good… it is just that batteries aren’t included.

On a Ubuntu note, I’ve unfortunately been unable to finish the Xubuntu strategy document that I had promised for last Monday due to the flooding. However, I really do hope to have that finished soon. I’ve also realized that we forgot to upload the translations for the Xubuntu docs before the release - I plan to do the upload as soon as I’m done writing this blog post.

On an unrelated note, I’ve started listening to music a lot more now that I’m working. I’ve discovered artists such as Newton Faulkner, Peter Cincotti, Two Hours Traffic, Counting Crows, Damien Rice, Anna Nalick, City and Colour, Eisley, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Junior Senior,  Lily Allen, Regina Spektor, Tegan and Sarah, and finally Sara Bareilles. Some of you might say my taste in music sucks (and maybe it does) but if you’re into the above kind of music (ie. I like soft rock, alternative, indie rock, classical rock, jazz, easy listening, pop, blues, techno, house, etc.) please feel free to share some names with me. Heck, I’ll give anything a listen so feel free to throw names at me. I only currently have 151 songs so I’m starting to get annoyed of listening to the same stuff over and over ;]

Over the last year, I’ve seen the number of users in the Xubuntu community and the number of those who contribute regularly increase substantially. It is both exciting and encouraging!

For example, the Xubuntu documentation team has been working on bringing the documentation for Xubuntu up to speed. A year ago we had to ship the dapper documentation with edgy because there simply wasn’t enough man power and Feisty only got branding changes. Today, patches are submitted on a regular basis by a variety of people! A big thanks to Jim Campbell and Freddy Martinez (Both members of the Ubuntu Chicago LoCo Team I believe) for leading up the Xubuntu documentation efforts and to Matthew East and Richard Johnson for helping them get on their feet running.

In the artwork department, I have to give a round of applause to Jmak for his awesome work on the Xubuntu artwork for this release. Our new usplash is really rather snazzy - check it out, along with the other artwork, here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Xubuntu/Artwork/Gutsy/Incoming

Development wise the project is maturing. Here too we’ve seen more people get involved - both by contributing by packaging/bug triage/iso testing and by contributing in development discussion. If the trend continues, I think we’ll see the Xubuntu development process become as mature as our counterpart’s in a few releases. A big thanks to Jani Monoses and Lionel Le Folgoc (who, I might add, has been a machine); A special thanks to Jim Campbell, again, for doing such an awesome job with the Xubuntu ISO testing team; I’m sorry to see Gauvain Pocentek move on to other projects - he’ll be missed. Finally, Kudos to all the budding interest from other developers who I think will become invaluable contributors during the next release.

Aligned with the goal of broadening the horizons of the Xubuntu project and it’s community, we’re going to start maturing and developing our marketing and advocacy efforts. We were hoping to get more work done on this during this release but we’ve still made strides - hefty ones at that. I can remember a time when we didn’t do releases notes or announcements for tribes/releases and our name was missing within the community. I think we’re starting to give Xubuntu the credibility mandated by being an official, supported derivative of Ubuntu. This is good news for those looking to see the Xubuntu market grow.

I, like a number of other people, are excited. I know excitement can be contagious so, come, get involved today.