Going mobile in 2013

Hi folks

You are at the heart of the most important bastion of free software today – giving the world a genuinely free platform for innovation and everyday computing. We can all be very proud of what we have built together.

Today begins a new phase for Ubuntu, and it’s a phase that requires our leadership. We are moving beyond our original goal of delivering existing free software, to creating whole new ecosystems. We have all the tools we need:

  • strong governance and values
  • great infrastructure
  • a commitment to quality and design
  • world class foundations
  • community spirit and corporate professionalism, across all members of the team

I’m writing to invite you all to find a part of this that you can participate in with passion. Between all of us, we have the skills to build the crispest, fastest, most beautiful mobile experience. And there is a blank canvas waiting for your contribution and leadership – not only in the core of the platform, with Unity, but across the whole range of apps and capabilities that this mobile world demands.

Now is the time to roll up our sleeves and *create*. Think of an app or system feature that you think is really important to have, apply what we’ve learned about design thinking and your own imagination to find elegant, new, fresh ways to deliver that capability, and join us in shaping something that can take the world by storm. Start at developer.ubuntu.com and unleash your creativity, rigour and expertise.

Our mission has always been "for human beings". As a mobile platform, we can reach vastly more of the world than ever before. And as the platform which is pioneering convergence, we can provide the next generation with smart phones that are also their gateway to the full world of free software – a PC in their pocket, a cloud development environment that can help new innovators create a new world of apps. That’s profoundly important work. You have all already earned your place at the table in
Ubuntu – we’ve learned to trust each other, respect each other and work well together. That’s a unique foundation for a free, open, mobile platform. This is going to be amazing.

Mark

Originally posted to the ubuntu-devel mailing list on Fri Jan 4 12:56:12 UTC 2013 by Mark Shuttleworth

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One Response to “Going mobile in 2013”

  1. opensas Says:

    Hi Mark

    It’s really exciting the moment we are going thru. But I think there’s something even more important than ubuntu in our smartphones.

    There are several free initiaves aiming at bringing html5 + javascript development to our mobile platforms. Just to name a few tizen, jollaOS, FirefoxOS and Ubuntu itself.

    I think it’s really important to come with something as open and standardized as html itself, which made possible the web evolution.

    I think canonical, among with mozilla and the linux foundation, has a central role to play here.

    I wish html5 apps for ubuntu could work seamlessly in any free mobile platform, without any kind of repackaging (a la phonegap) or anything of the sort, and for that we need a SDK standard, just like we have today with HTML5 and javascript.

    Just my two cents, I would be more than glad to be able to contribute to that purpose…

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