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!

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.