
Mark Shuttleworth Reddit AMA today - hamax
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge/x/4068980?c=activity
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fingerprinter
I have to give Mark credit. Ubuntu changed Linux for the better. No matter
what you think about Ubuntu now, Linux is far better off for Ubuntu.

My biggest question for Mark would be if he regrets not going his own way
earlier. IMO, Ubuntu stuck with some dead-end upstream projects for far too
long. Ubuntu should have gone the mobile/phone/tablet much sooner. Ubuntu
_SHOULD_ have been what Android is now.

~~~
IgorPartola
No reason it can't be. Android has several big issues:

1\. Lots of it is ugly. I don't mean the core OS, but lots of the apps don't
fit the main theme.

2\. It runs on diverse hardware so performance varies.

3\. OS version segmentation. This is made worse by manufactures putting their
own lipstick on the vanilla OS.

4\. It's not proper FOSS. Yes, you can read the source at some point later,
but chances of someone that's not Google, Motorola, Samsung, or HTC having
their commit actually show up in the upstream are slim to none.

5\. Phones and tablets are of varying quality and come with various levels of
support. The manufacturer may back it, or they may drop support as soon as
they can. Flagship phones become crap phones all the time.

Ubuntu may play their cards right and provide an integrated platform a la
Apple's iOS devices, where software and hardware play nicely together. If they
then insist on high quality apps, they may be able to get a foothold in the
market. The question is, how long can the "crowd" support the right way of
doing things before some exec somewhere says "We need it to have our own
distinct UI"?

~~~
mseebach
Point 4 is orthogonal to the others.

Points 1-3: If you have an proper, FOSS system, you can't keep people from
doing all those things, which they will do if it gets get any kind of
meaningful traction.

Point 5: You can't force manufacturers to provide support at a certain level.
You can probably avoid "TIVO-ization" with licensing, but as soon as you're
venturing out of "supported" territory, there's only so much you can do for
regular users.

~~~
tjdetwiler
Point 4 will apply to Ubuntu as well... they're using the Google/Android style
FOSS where they work on major releases mostly in secret and then do a large
code dump.

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hansjorg
Link to AMA:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1j166z/hi_im_mark_shut...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1j166z/hi_im_mark_shuttleworth_founder_of_ubuntu/)

~~~
prezjordan
Rush Holt's doing one today as well!

[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1j17ir/hi_im_rush_holt...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1j17ir/hi_im_rush_holt_im_a_member_of_congress_a/)

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antidaily
I wonder if Indiegogo takes their normal percentage for projects this large.

~~~
aroch
Why wouldn't they? It'd be an easy way to make ~$2 million

~~~
tjdetwiler
They could have tried to work a deal with indiegogo/kickstarter for a lower
rate for such a high value target.

~~~
qwertzlcoatl
With the weight of the name ubuntu, I wonder why they outsourced their
crowdfunding to an foreign entity. They could easily have razzed up something
on their own.

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k-mcgrady
Is there a site which makes AMA's easier to read? Something that scans the
page and picks out the comments he's replied to so I don't have to?

~~~
kevincrane
I found this site when the Bill Gates AMA was out a while ago. I don't see
Mark Shuttleworth on it yet, but check it out later today and it should help
out.

[http://www.topiama.com/](http://www.topiama.com/)

~~~
k-mcgrady
Excellent, just what I was looking for. Thanks!

~~~
qwertzlcoatl
I think I have what you were really looking for:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/tabled/comments/1j1gbv/table_iama_hi...](http://www.reddit.com/r/tabled/comments/1j1gbv/table_iama_hi_im_mark_shuttleworth_founder_of/)

Check out /r/tabled and /u/tabledresser - a bot that condenses the threads
from /r/IAMA and /r/AskScience into easy to consume tables.

~~~
kevincrane
Whoa, that's awesome! Thanks, I didn't know about that before.

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nonchalance
Is it looking likely that they will hit the target? They already had HN bump
and most Ubuntu fans were made aware of the project already.

~~~
mtgx
If I were them I'd offer a 32 GB version for $600, for people who will
only/mainly use it as a phone, and not a full-time computer. It's still plenty
of space.

That price level seems to have been pretty popular, and at that price level
they may be able to hit the target. I'm not sure why they absolutely need to
sell only a 128 GB version.

Also, they'd be insane not to add 802.11ac Wi-fi.

~~~
hamax
> I'm not sure why they absolutely need to sell only a 128 GB version.

I'm just guessing here but it might be more expensive to make smaller batches
with different models the to just make one.

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kryptiskt
They can give them the same model with only a 32 GB partition on the flash.
And then charge $200 for an upgrade to 128 GB. It's a proven business model.
:-)

~~~
alanctgardner2
Unfortunately it sounds like the $600 price point only covers their BOM right
now. If they put in extra engineering to disable some hardware, that's a net
loss for them per unit (but they'll make it up in volume!). All the people who
would upgrade have already splashed out for the 128GB model.

