Ubuntu Looks To An SDK, Improved App Development

[frign]

All Python apps from Ubuntu are slow, too slow and laggy. That Ubuntu Software Center is poor in respect to quality of software. On top of that the user loses functionality like knowing what's going on during the installation and what files does the package install. Also, you can't configure the repositories from there, you have to do it from the menu on the top right corner of the screen. That's not usable. Two related configurations are now separated and in completely different places.

It's also impossible or very difficult to find installed packages and configure, reconfigure, uninstall or purge them (remove completely). The sorting options are bad too. Add to that the slowness of the application and you want to throw your laptop away.

They should implement at least an "advanced user" mode where the user could see and do all those things.

If they do an SDK, of course it will be oriented to using Unity's libraries and other Ubuntu libraries like the notification system, etc., but it should accept using other libraries too. Must be conformant to the LSB.

Advanced users are not expected to be satisfied with Ubuntu. Try another distribution like Gentoo or Debian and you will be fine.

[Filiprino]

All Python apps from Ubuntu are slow, too slow and laggy. That Ubuntu Software Center is poor in respect to quality of software. On top of that the user loses functionality like knowing what's going on during the installation and what files does the package install. Also, you can't configure the repositories from there, you have to do it from the menu on the top right corner of the screen. That's not usable. Two related configurations are now separated and in completely different places.

It's also impossible or very difficult to find installed packages and configure, reconfigure, uninstall or purge them (remove completely). The sorting options are bad too. Add to that the slowness of the application and you want to throw your laptop away.

They should implement at least an "advanced user" mode where the user could see and do all those things.

If they do an SDK, of course it will be oriented to using Unity's libraries and other Ubuntu libraries like the notification system, etc., but it should accept using other libraries too. Must be conformant to the LSB.

[RealNC]

Not sure about Arch. Last time I tried it (a few months ago), I was dropped in a text-mode console after installation. I doesn't look like an alternative to Ubuntu to me. An alternative to Gentoo perhaps. But not Ubuntu.

[mike4]

It must be LSB compatible alike google has done with google earth. Anything else is antediluvian and should be trashed immediately.

[frign]

You worry about Python? How about worrying about not being able to run Ubuntu software on non-Ubuntu distros instead? If Ubuntu introduces an SDK, this will in effect mean that it's not a Linux distribution anymore. It will be more like a new operating system, and software targeting it will not run on "normal" Linux distributions, including Debian.

This is _exactly_ what I wanted to point out, too. We do already have the big problem that some Ubuntu Software packages don't work in other distros (due to, let's call them, "Ubuntu-Hacks").
If Canonical really decided to go this way, I would have nothing left for their Operating System. On the other hand, it is enlightening to hear that Arch (even though I don't like it very much) is constantly growing on a free software-basis without too immediate corporate interests fulfilled, which provides a great alternative to Ubuntu.

[RealNC]

You worry about Python? How about worrying about not being able to run Ubuntu software on non-Ubuntu distros instead? If Ubuntu introduces an SDK, this will in effect mean that it's not a Linux distribution anymore. It will be more like a new operating system, and software targeting it will not run on "normal" Linux distributions, including Debian.

[curaga]

I really don't know what you have against python. It is a full-featured and widely used language with excellent library support.

If you have actually used Ubuntu, you will notice how incredibly laggy their Python apps are. Startup time in particular.

Does not give a good image of Python.

[sacridex]

VALA

THEY HAVE TO PUSH VALA!
Sry for the caps. But srsly, Vala is the only sane choice in my opinion.
Its easy to use(as easy as Java, C#), yet it does not run in a runtime environment, it is converted to C+GObject Code and then compiled and is therefore supported on all platforms with GObject libs.

Hopefully there will be a good IDE pushed, Geany would be great!

[GreatEmerald]

Uh huh. That extra second you spend launching the app obviously matters so much.

[mark45]

Yes it is, but being a scripted language it sucks for anything except scripts, not full featured sophisticated stuff.
A script spends extra time & CPU cycles on launching & initializing an interpreter, feeding it the stuff and executing under-optimized compiled code, part of the code will be interpreted anyway (Java doesn't compile anything either) - and all this extra effort happens any time you launch a scripted app. For small scripts it almost doesn't matter, but for big apps like the software center it's obvious - of course not anyone notices it, some people are so stupid they won't notice an elephant in a room.
To a great extent same is true about Java, except that Java uses a lot more memory.