Thanks to Peng for pointing this out in the Ubuntu Weblogs which is another *huge* source of interesting Ubuntu bits & pieces!

I took some pictures, but here are direct links to BeG online catalog:

• Hewlett Packard 2133 Mini-Note PC with Windows Vista listed at 699.96 CDN$
• Acer Aspire One with Linpus Linux listed at 349.96 CDN$
• MSI Wind Notebook PC with Windows XP listed at 529.96 CDN$

Update: I am told this guide to install Ubuntu on the Acer Aspire One should be in my post
Update 2: The Aspire One has since gone out of stock and is not even in the catalog anymore!

I find it very interesting they were side by side and had clear tech specs, including operating systems right down to the graphics chipset. I took more detailed pictures, although not very high res as I only had my phone camera at the time. I’ve put them all on Flickr in case anyone is curious. Can’t wait to see any Ubuntu netbook remix machines available in Canadian retail stores!

Today while reading Planet Ubuntu and Canonical joining the Linux Foundation I remembered visiting their booth at LWE and seeing Linux Foundation’s new Linux Developer Network (Beta) which just launched.

From the site:

The Linux Developer Network (LDN) is the online community for Linux application developers and independent software vendors who want to start or continue their journey developing applications for the Linux platform. In other words, if you or your company wants to work with Linux, this is the place to be.

The LDN’s goal is to empower developers to target the Linux platform. A platform is only as strong as the applications that run on top of it, and the LDN wants to make sure those developers have everything the need to successfully and cost-effectively target Linux. One of the ways LDN will help developers accomplish this is to help them build portable Linux applications.

LDN is also about giving developers the tools they need to create the best Linux apps possible, no matter which platform developers want to work with. We’ve designed the LDN to be flexible and go where the community wants it to go. Mobile, embedded, driver development, cloud computing–keep an eye out for what’s next in the world of Linux.

Here on LDN you will find in-depth articles, white papers, and howtos that describe the latest practices of Linux development. Blogs from top kernel and application developers help round out the expertise.

It’s not just talent and advice; LDN also offers tools and documentation to determine just how distribution-portable your current application is, and outlines ways to make it more portable. If LSB certification is your goal, then the LSB Software Development Kit is available for new applications, with guidelines and demos available on how to port existing apps to the LSB.

Join Today!

Linux is about the strength of community, so LDN also provides developers with peer-level support, through forums and mailing lists, as well as tips, tricks, and tools to create and discuss the hottest brainstorm ideas in the community. You can even get your own blog started, hosted by LDN!

In fact, community is such a huge part of what LDN is all about, we’ve started the LDN Rewards Program–a way to earn points, gain visibility, and enhance your professional reputation in the Linux community. Get points for posting in the forums, adding to the brainstorms, writing articles–however you want to contribute. Monthly point leaders will be eligible for LDN-exclusive prizes, and top participants will be eligible for trips to Linux Foundation events!

From the site:

“Judged by a group of respected industry experts managed by LinuxWorld.com, the LinuxWorld Product Excellence Awards recognize product and service innovations by LinuxWorld® and NGDC exhibitors.

Product Excellence Awards are divided into 12 product categories, including a “Best of Show,” that represent major areas of innovation in the Linux and open source community. “

Last but not least, I also want to thank all of my colleagues who were pretty busy at the booth, and of course those taking care of all things Ubuntu in the 22 countries where we have employees - including Zaïd Al Hamami, Kurt von Finck, David Bensimon and Adilson Olveira who fired last-minute comments that helped me put the finishing touches to the Ubuntu Desktop presentation. Cheers to all!

Now off to that FSF Pizza Party!

The next Community Council is on Aug. 5, however I doubt I’ll make it to present my specific complaint as I’ll be at Linux World Expo at that same exact time, in an event I can’t move or cancel. Someone suggested having a poll across members to settle the matter. I hope we don’t have to wait another month, unless another member wants to present the issue that day - let me know. Bottom line is I’d like to have a better Planet, hoping we can agree on what that is. And if we can’t, well, so be it.

Regarding all the technical explanations I saw for not categorizing posts, I’ve posted links and instructions for Wordpress, Drupal and Blogger at the Planet Ubuntu page on the wiki. Something good has to come out of this

I got a few emails from friends that found it disturbing I don’t address each and every remark that followed. I don’t feel much of what’s been said has been helpful, in fact most of the comments have made the point for me by posting public personal, hateful attacks or by focusing on out of topic posts (which in fact I don’t mind much). What else can I add to that kind of response ?

I can’t convince everyone this is not my personal quest for morality and absolute rules accross all-things-Ubuntu. If you’ve seen unacceptable behavior (however you define it) from members and never brought it to our community lead’s attention or to the Community Council, I can’t do much about that either.

As a member I think it’s my duty to bring up issues in a helpful, courteous manner and be part of the solution but if I can’t even do that anymore, then I guess there is in fact “nothing to see, so move along”.

1. Easy and fast to try, install, use and upgrade: Wubi, LiveCD
2. Free and commercial options for desktop virtualization
3. Recovery options (at boot time in Grub, using bulletproof X…)
4. Launchpad integration in apps (translation, bug reporting…)
5. Desktop effects

I am also looking for any videos or screencasts of interesting uses of desktop effects. Who knows, your video may end up showing off Ubuntu at our booth I started putting together a list of video resources on the wiki, feel free to add individual links to any you find interesting right there - or simply post a comment here.

Contact me if you have any questions.

July 2008 postings

• GNOME Developer, Online Services

Job Location: At home with broadband, in an American/European time zone. This job involves international travel three to four times a year, usually for one week.

• QA Engineer, Online Services

Job Location: Home based with broadband. This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for one week.

• Engineering Manager, Linux Desktop Experience Team

Job Location: Millbank Tower, London; UK preferably

• Web Developer, Business Information Systems

Job Location: At home with broadband. This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for periods of one or two weeks.

• Web Developer, Online Services

Job Location: Home based with broadband. This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for one week

• ISV Relationship Manager

Job Location: The role will involve significant travel, most of which will be in the US and Europe. Boston, London or San Francisco are the preferred locations

• Security Engineer

Job Location: Your home, as long as you have broadband. Some international travel will be required.

• Engineering Manager

Job Location: Your home (given appropriate facilities including broadband Internet) in an American or European time zone.

June 2008 postings

• OEM Channel Manager (China)

Job Location: China

• Graphic Designer

Job Location: London, UK

• Launchpad Interface Design and Usability Engineer

Job Location: At home with broadband. This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for periods of one or two weeks.

May 2008 postings

• Ubuntu Mobile QA Engineer

Job Location: Lexington, MA; USA

• Field Application Engineer

Job Location: Taiwan x 5, India x 1 with regular travel engagements.

April 2008 postings

• Translations Software Engineer

Job Location: At home with broadband, in or near European or Asian timezones. The job
involves international travel several times a year, usually for periods of one or two weeks.

• Release Engineer – Mobile Solutions Group

Job Location: Lexington, MA; USA

• Systems Software Engineer – Mobile Solutions Group

Job Location: Lexington, MA; USA

March 2008 postings

• Ubuntu GNOME Maintainer

Job Location: Your home, given appropriate facilities including broadband Internet.

February 2008 postings

• ISV Channel Sales Manager (United States)

Job Location: Your home with broadband. Some international travel will be required.

• Product Manager

Job Location: London, UK

• Sales Engineer (North America)

Job Location: Your home with broadband (25% travel will be required).

• Field Application Engineer (North America)

Job Location: Lexington (MA), Austin (TX) or Houston (TX)

Last year I bought my BionX (including bike) at Quilicot (http://bicyclesquilicot.com) in Montreal QC, thinking this was a reputable place with people that knew their stuff. They even have ads on the radio. I now think it was a big mistake. I wouldn’t do this again.

Even living in Montreal and properly locking my system (removing battery and computer, accessories, etc.), I was robbed last year. I guess you expect to be robbed once in a while even in this somewhat safe city. That is unrelated to my bad experience.

But when replacing my stolen bike my BionX dealer (Quilicot) messed up several times on its delivery, just as with the first bike (thank God I had insurance): missing lights, wrong accessories, missing information, wrong tires and spokes causing many flats and broken spokes, out-of-stock parts and so on. You would think when you describe your intended usage of a bike and you inform your dealer you know next-to-nothing about bikes, they would honestly and properly inform you about options and needed accessories. Well, I have learned more about biking because of their mistakes that I could ever hope from any training I guess. Taking a ride home with a flat tire and BionX bike costs CDN$40 BTW.

I recently moved and my new BionX dealer, ABC Cycles (http://www.abccycles.com/) suggested I use only stainless steel spokes to prevent them from breaking, also confiding BionX’ s originals were cheap to save some money (!). After another $80, my rear wheel motor computer started failing (coincidence ?).

ABC Cycles delivered it without testing it because “I forgot to leave the key for the battery and the computer”. How the hell am I supposed to know what their testing procedures are ? Why would they have testing equipment, being a dealer ?

They wouldn’t believe the problem I had until they physically took a ride. After “checking all connections and reconnecting” I got the bike back and had the very same trouble one day later. They finally diagnosed it to be a problem that required in-warranty replacement of the rear axle/computer.

Guess what, BionX may decide to replace it completely including spokes, so it will come with the same cheap spokes originally shipped, so bye-bye $80. Every time I went through such checks I had to leave the bike for 2-3 days at a time or more (”until our BionX guy comes back from vacation”), while spending money on buses and cabs to get to work - not to mention the added time of commuting.

Well, it’s been almost 3 weeks now that I got back to my original dealer for the replacement and they can do nothing about Bionx being out of stock, apparently this is entirely normal and Quilicot suggested I get my original wheel back to them and ride on my (quite expensive at this point) human-powered bike - which I did.

Guess what, this morning when taking my bike to work once again Quilicot fucked up the rear wheel replacement. My rear wheel was so low on air I barely made it to work!

I hate having the money to try this expensive crap, particularly when I know the technology is ready but customer service to properly deliver it is not.

Depuis cet envoi (mercredi passé), j’ai pu parler à Yannick chez Quilicot. Il m’a promis un prêt, et jeudi après-midi on m’appelait pour m’informer que le vélo était prêt! Excitation. Seulement un accusé réception bien pauvre de la part de BionX et une tentative d’appel d’ABC Sports (merci l’afficheur).

Vendredi vraiment tout s’est accumulé et je n’ai pas pu aller le chercher. Donc samedi matin je me présente à la boutique, plus détendu, un peu gêné de ma lettre de bêtises déclarant l’échec du service à la clientèle pour ce produit (et ses détaillants).

Silence total. Je me sens observé, on ne me parle pas trop. Yannick est là, je m’attends à ce qu’il fasse au moins semblant d’être désolé de tous ces problèmes qu’on aurait pu éviter. Il travaille sur un vélo, c’est à peine s’il m’adresse la parole, il parle à ses employés. Un d’eux me prends enfin en charge (Sébastien), il reprends le vélo, des ajustements commencent. Je croyais qu’il était prêt ?!

Je ne dis rien, j’attends avec ma fille de 2 ans qui a plus d’attention que moi. On ne trouve pas le “work-order”. Quand je le reçois, je ne remarque aucune mention du prêt de BionX neuf, ni des discussions qu’on a eu depuis mercredi, rien. Pas de mention non plus du remontage de la roue ordinaire (j’ai le vélo sans Bionx depuis 1 semaine) ni des pièces qu’on ma remises, rien. Bref, le bordel. Je fais la remarque à Yannick, il se limite à me dire “inquiète-toi pas, moi je vais m’en rappeler”. Ça sonne comme des menaces au secondaire! Ok, I get it, tout le monde a lu mon message, j’imagine, pas besoin d’être gentils.

Je demande à Sébastien de venir avec moi à l’auto car traîner un BionX et sa fille de 2 ans en même temps, pas évident. Rendus dehors il me demande pour la clé de la batterie - oups! Ils ont oublié de me la donner! Ah ben, quelle surprise.

Puis en chemin il me passe le commentaire qui sort comme quand on a envie d’aller aux toilettes et qu’on s’est retenu assez longtemps: “Coudonc, le blog c’était-tu nécessaire ???”. Wow! On a eu une bonne discussion et malgré qu’au départ il était un peu sur la défensive, je crois qu’il était vraiment désolé de tout ce bordel. Il n’en revenait pas quand j’ai mentionné toutes les erreurs et ommissions vraiment de débutant (à mon humble avis) que leur boutique et leur staff renommé avaient faites, même le jour de la livraison de mon BionX en prêt! Par exemple: où est le réflecteur rouge arrière ? Euhhhhh…. chais pas! le néoprène pour retenir le filage BionX ? Hein ? Oups.

On se comprends, je suis un grand fan de BionX. Ça me fait pas juste chier quand mon vélo est en panne mais surtourt quand le staff fait même pas semblant d’être désolé. Au moins Sébastien chez Quilicot a pris la peine de se renseigner vraiment sur ce qui se passait et à la fin il semble que tout se résume à l’énorme succès de BionX depuis 2 ans, surtout.

Prix du gaz qui monte -> Plein de nouveaux cyclistes -> Magasins de bicyclette débordés -> BionX qui se vendent en quantité alarmante (semble-t-il) -> Rupture de stocks -> Staff qui travaille > 60h/semaine -> aungmentation d’histoires d’horreur comme la mienne.

Personellement je trouve cette équation un peu simpliste.

Malgré tous ces problèmes, je continue de penser qu’un suivi téléphonique serré et une communication honête et claire gardent un client satisfait “no matter what” - ou presque.

Bottom line, aujourd’hui je roule sur un BionX prêté par Quilicot (merci Yannick et son équipe), j’ai hâte de voir pour la suite (le remplacement de ma roue, les rayons en stainless, etc.).

Et j’attends toujours des nouvelles de Bionx et d’ABC.

I hardly take offense to anything I see on the Internet anymore, however this is Planet Ubuntu, not “the Internet”. If you’re posting on your blog and you are syndicated here, it means you are an Ubuntu Member and as such you have agreed to read and go along the lines of what our Code of Conduct says. Digitally signing it and actually going to the technical steps required to make your blog part of Planet are voluntary actions taken as an Ubuntu Member, so please remember that when you post.

I don’t expect anyone to change their “WTF” and “STFU” attitude, just leave it outside this project. Setting up a category to carry only Planet Ubuntu posts may help. If this means you have to take a break from Ubuntu for a while, please do. Between “great contributor with “STFU” attitude” and “No contributor”, I’d rather have “No contributor”. Surely we can work out something in the middle

Apparently Ubuntu-co rocked at Campus Party Colombia. If that picture is any indication, I think there’s more to come

Well done to all that were there!