Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu) [LWN.net]

The OMG Ubuntu site reports that the well-regarded Ubuntu Developer Summit is being transformed into an online-only event. "In the age of Google+ hangouts and real-time collaboration the notion of flying people around the world to spend a week in each others company seems antiquated and inefficient."

Update: see this announcement from Jono Bacon for more information. "With the fantastic level of interest in the recent phone and tablet announcements, we decided that we couldn’t wait until May to run this new format for UDS, so the first online UDS will be taking place next week from 5th - 6th March 2013 from 4pm UTC - 10pm UTC."

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Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 26, 2013 22:18 UTC (Tue) by geek (guest, #45074) [Link]

certainly conjures up the image of a world-wide congregation (so to speak) of linux geeks getting pie-eyed, beery and teary in their multimedia rooms...

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 26, 2013 23:13 UTC (Tue) by hummassa (subscriber, #307) [Link]

It is a layoff, under disguise. "Yahoo! asks employees to work at the office" does not drop the stock price as much as "Yahoo! lays 500 employees off".

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 11:40 UTC (Wed) by willnewton (subscriber, #68395) [Link]

Lay-offs usually increase the share price as it is seen as the management making a decisive move to cut costs. Whether it is actually good for the company or not is another matter.

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 19:00 UTC (Wed) by hummassa (subscriber, #307) [Link]

just a quick google:

http://calamitycountdown.blogspot.com.br/2011/11/impact-o...

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 26, 2013 22:25 UTC (Tue) by nsheridan (subscriber, #39891) [Link]

I think it's a bad idea to go online-only. Flying people around the world is costly and can be exhausting, but there are a few benefits which are not provided by hangouts:
- hallway conversations which produce ideas. It's hard to manufacture these encounters in an online-only setting.
- social activities. Getting dinner and beer with the people you work with creates better working relationships.

I suspect there's a middle ground. Like having 3 online UDS meetups, and 1 in-person one per year.

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 13:31 UTC (Wed) by nhippi (subscriber, #34640) [Link]

The problem with UDS is that is has grown out of any reasonable venues. Last UDS was at Bella Center, the scandinavias largest conference center. Renting it for a week must have been costly.

I think they will have still smaller focused meatspace meetings in future.

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 0:05 UTC (Wed) by airlied (subscriber, #9104) [Link]

they are just going to fly Jono on hugging tours.

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 0:07 UTC (Wed) by airlied (subscriber, #9104) [Link]

cue some speculation about Canonical running out of money!

Though online sucks if you are in a wierd ass time zone, as bad as flying is at least you don't have to deal with daily responsibilities as much so you can dedicate time to the event.

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 13:33 UTC (Wed) by danieldk (guest, #27876) [Link]

Maybe. It can also be seen as being more inclusive towards people who are not Canonical employees and cannot pony up the money to travel to the developer summit.

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 6:03 UTC (Wed) by pabs (subscriber, #43278) [Link]

I've found that in-person interaction at the Debian conference is hugely motivating and the low-latency communication really helps flesh out ideas and discuss things. I would expect the same would be true for Ubuntu contributors, so this sounds like a big mistake.

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 7:36 UTC (Wed) by rahulsundaram (subscriber, #21946) [Link]

Not necessarily. It depends on the financial situation of Canonical.

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 9:39 UTC (Wed) by krake (subscriber, #55996) [Link]

Why would that depend on Canonical?

If other communities (e.g. Debian, GNOME, KDE) can organize conferences, why wouldn't Ubuntu be able to regardless of Canonical's financial contributions.

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 18:14 UTC (Wed) by rahulsundaram (subscriber, #21946) [Link]

All the other communities you mention are organic and supported by multiple vendors and managed by non-profit foundations. Ubuntu isn't and most of the cost of Ubuntu falls on Canonical.

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 7:39 UTC (Wed) by pabs (subscriber, #43278) [Link]

I'm surprised no-one here mentioned the non-free software aspect of this:

https://skitterman.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/no-uds-for-you/

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 17:19 UTC (Wed) by cjwatson (subscriber, #7322) [Link]

For me this is a trade-off between the badness of non-free software and the badness of damaging the environment by flying all over the place every now and again. What with having got rid of our family car recently too, I'm pretty happy that my carbon footprint will start being something approaching sensible now.

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 16:04 UTC (Wed) by pabs (subscriber, #43278) [Link]

Another perspective about the balance needed between physical and virtual:

http://blog.halon.org.uk/2013/02/lets-get-physical/

Ubuntu Developer Summit To Be Held Online, More Frequently (OMG Ubuntu)

Posted Feb 27, 2013 20:00 UTC (Wed) by brooksmoses (subscriber, #88422) [Link]

Having worked in a distributed team for 5 years (as part of CodeSourcery and now Mentor Graphics) which has a one-week in-person annual meeting every year, I would certainly dispute the idea that such things are "antiquated and inefficient." The critical stuff happens in the interstices around the formal meetings, and you can't exactly go out to a restaurant and chat over dinner on Google+.

On the other hand, such meetings are pretty expensive and require a lot of planning.