As mentioned above, I got a job doing what my degree was in – in this case, Software Engineering. The project I’m currently working on is using C# / .NET 4 with SQL Server, so a complete Microsoft technology stack. I don’t mind this, I know I’m a big advocate of Ubuntu, but that doesn’t mean I’d refuse to work for a company that uses MS tools…especially when that’s where a lot of the jobs were . I think one of the things that helped me get this job was the fact that I wrote my final year project in C# – I designed and wrote a helpdesk system which had a PHP web page to submit tickets, and then a C# desktop client for support teams to use behind the scenes, all of which was working from a MySQL database. Looking back at it now, in all its WinForms and code-behind glory, it certainly wasn’t the best bit of software ever

I’ve learned a lot in the year I’ve been out of university, particularly about C# and WPF/Silverlight (XAML and data binding being the main thing, when compared to WinForms). I decided recently that I’d try and rewrite the desktop client in WPF following an MVVM pattern, and see how different the application is from my final year project. There’s 2 key differences here – the first is that at university, I had a deadline, other coursework, and a report to write on top of this; I now have no deadline, I could take 3 years doing it if I really wanted to. The 2nd difference is that for university, I was motivated to do it, because I wanted to do well; now I don’t have as much motivation because I spend all day coding at work, so I don’t always want to do it in my free time. I guess the reason I’m writing this blog post is so that I may have to publicly acknowledge that I gave up if that happens…

One plus of rewriting it now is that I have an excuse to try out C# 5 and .NET 4.5 – as a self proclaimed geek/nerd (take your pick of word), trying out some new technology is always something I want to do, finding an excuse to actually use it for more than 5 minutes is a bit more difficult.

Earlier I approved 11 applications for Ubuntu Membership applied for based on forum contributions. The process is still new to both the forum and the Forum Council, but we are always looking to improve it, so if anybody has any recommendations they’ll gladly be taken on board. We’re also looking to have almost a rolling approval process in the near future if possible, and dependent on how many people feel they can, and want to apply via the forum route.

So once again, congrats to the new Ubuntu Members, hopefully we’ll have more applicants soon

All of this got me wondering…when you post code help via StackOverflow, or how-to’s on a blog, is it done with the intention of actually distributing that code to others for use how they see fit, be it in a commercial application or a personal project the reader might be working on. I think it’s a very grey area when you delve into it, after all, I wouldn’t mind other people using my code in any shape or form, in fact I’d find it quite the compliment! Sure it’d be quite nice if they sent an email or left a comment to say “hey, this was just what I was looking for and I’ve used it for XYZ” – it’s nice to know that you’ve been able to help someone solve something.

On the other hand, if I was being picky about this, especially as my line of work currently sees me developing in C# (and not via Mono either), I could throw licensing into the mix and say that people are free to use my code as long as they have my permission and reference that they’ve used it somewhere. This in turn would present a company with issues as to whether they could actually use it or not, because that kind of license would almost certainly be some sort of Open-Source license, meaning that they almost certainly wouldn’t use it, because it would then mean they’d have to contend with satisfying the requirements of an Open-Source license.

I think there’s several issues here that I haven’t even touched upon, but it made me stop and think about it, so maybe it will provide you with some food for thought too.

Previously, the FC was chosen from the staff team by the current FC, and then put forward to the CC to vote on whether or not to approve said members. Recently, the forums and the forum council have been undergoing various changes to allow forum members to be approved as Ubuntu Members by the FC, and ultimately, have the FC elected from these Ubuntu Forums Members. This process still has some kinks to iron out, and is the primary task that this FC will be tackling throughout the term, in order to get a solid process in place before this term is up.

I would therefore like to welcome s-fox, Artificial Intelligence and Iowan to the FC. I’m sure they’ll do a fantastic job and look forward to the obligatory cake that each new FC member has to buy for the others

Well today is that day for me, having to write a report on Knowledge Based Systems, which I have less than no motivation for doing. Until about 2 hours ago, I also had no papers to reference in the report. The university module this is for just doesn’t make me want to do any work, I’ve not liked it from the outset. Thankfully – excluding the exam – this is the last bit of work I’ll have to do for it before I can go back to working on my project!

Here’s to hoping I find some motivation (and something to write about) soon!

Since my last post, I have kept up-to-date with the latest development news on 11.04 via both the forums and Planet Ubuntu. I’ve been doing this, not just because I genuinely think Unity is a good idea, and I think that for me at least it will be a big step forward in productivity/usability, but also because I’m interested in seeing what the next version of Ubuntu will be like. I have some sort of irresistible pull to start installing and trying out Ubuntu+1 about 2 (or sometimes, 3) months before the release.  It’s been this way since Intrepid

The install process was fine, and once again – as mentioned previously – it crashed far too frequently upon login. Then I managed to install the nvidia drivers, which helped…a little. After I’d ran update-manager, and installed all the latest updates, things seemed to settle down a little, and the crashes were less often, but still present. This did, however, allow me an opportunity to try things out properly, and for the last 5 days or so, I’ve effectively been running Natty as my main OS (having 2 hard drives is handy…).

I love it, I didn’t think unity would be in a very functional state, reading about it the last few months…but having seen some of the improvements, and finally getting to test it properly on my desktop, I do love it. Admittedly, there’s still quite a few things to be fixed, and compiz likes to randomly crash, but it’s shaping up nicely, and just in time, too!

Unfortunately, however, I tried to boot into Natty yesterday evening, and it just wouldn’t boot. It would get to the splash screen, and just stop. I can’t figure out what caused it to do this (obviously an update of some kind, but which remains a puzzle), nor can I figure out how to resolve this without going for a fresh install.

With that in mind I think I’ll wait until Beta 1, scheduled for March 31st, before trying again. Though knowing me as I do, it’s quite likely I’ll be drawn into it again before then. One thing’s for sure though, and that’s that Natty will definitely be getting installed on my Desktop as soon as I get the chance post-release.

Crashing. Lots of it, mainly compiz it seems. Yes, I know we’re only on Alpha 2 and yes, I expect alpha releases (of anything) to contain bugs. But still, I don’t even have to have done anything for compiz to crash! Admittedly, it could be my video driver (I have an Nvidia 9800GT) that’s the cause, I just don’t know.

This is the first time I’ve tried Natty, and I like the the idea of Unity, I really do. From what I gather through reading various blogs on Planet Ubuntu I understand it’s come a long way since UDS-N, I just hope it can make it further than it is now in time for the April release. I know April 28th is a good 2 months away, but from experience, those 2 months will go far quicker than people often want them to.

Update: A comment from Jorge tells me why I experienced what I did: “Nvidia is broken on A2+, just waiting for the final Xorg 1.10 and nvidia drivers to land. (I’ve been keeping my Xorg bits held back this whole time)”. I’ll have to keep an eye out for when these land in Natty, and try it again then. Hopefully I’ll have better look then! Thanks for the info Jorge

Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to blogging on Planet Ubuntu again shortly, provided I changed my feed correctly! (If I have, you’re probably reading this on the planet now)

This should allow me (if I decide to) to blog about other things that interest me, while not spamming the planet in any way. Hopefully, this will motivate me into blogging about more things of interest to me, and get me back into using my blog. Whether it does or not remains to be seen, but I now have that option available to me.