Fabian Rodriguez

A new position for a support analyst based off London has just been opened at Canonical. It’s not listed on the website yet so I thought I’d give some lead to the Ubuntu Planet readers:

• Support Technical Analyst- Corporate Services

I am sorry this is painfully obvious but if you don’t speak excellent English don’t even think about it.

Let me know if you want to apply to any of those, it’s always best when someone has been referred.

And before anyone asks, yes, there is a referral bonus for such referrals - I guess that covers the million questions we get when we help someone apply.

Also don’t miss all the recent job postings:

• Service Delivery Manager - posted: December 2008

Posting Date: December 2008
Job Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Job Summary: Working with key OEM and ODM customers in Taiwan, you will be responsible for the release into manufacturing of Ubuntu and Ubuntu based customized software. You will have experience in the PC industry of launching products for major brands and will be familiar with the engineering life cycles at a …

more details

 

• Integration Engineer - posted: December 2008

Posting Date: December 2008
Job Location: Millbank, London
Job Summary: The BIS team is responsible for building and supporting the internal IT systems that Canonical uses. This role on the BIS team involves deployment, support and administration of a variety of 3rd party systems, integration of those systems with other Canonical systems and migration of legacy systems.

more details

 

• Ubuntu Senior Certification Engineer - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Your home (given appropriate facilities including broadband Internet) in an American or European time zone.
Job Summary: Hold responsibility for the delivery of manual and automated testing for certification and hardware enablement. Quality Assurance Team Manager

more details

 

• Web Developer BIS - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Home based. Some international travel may be required
Job Summary: The BIS team is responsible for building and supporting the internal IT systems that Canonical uses. This role on the BIS team is to develop web applications and components to integrate Canonical websites and applications with other key internal and external systems.

more details

 

• Product Manager, Online Services - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Home based with broadband, in an American/European time zone. This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for one week.
Job Summary: Is your head in the clouds? We have a unique opportunity for a dynamic, technically astute product manager who can demonstrate an understanding of the way web-based services change the desktop experience. We’re looking for someone thinking about the cloud, but with feet firmly planted on a product schedule. The …

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• Ubuntu Mobile Developer - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Your home, as long as you have broadband. North American & European time zones preferred. Some international travel will be required.
Job Summary: Our goal is to make the best open source Linux Distribution, your job is to assist in solving issues around creating it. You need to be a jack-of-all-trades, able to quickly determine what the actual issue is and how to solve it, whatever “it” might be. Work on a broad …

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• Ubuntu Mobile/MID QA Tester - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Your home (given appropriate facilities including broadband Internet) in an American or European time zone.
Job Summary: Execute testing cases and tools for the Ubuntu mobile platform.

more details

 

• Systems Software Engineer - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Lexington, MA; USA preferred but applicants welcome for home workers
Job Summary: Integration of new hardware devices and technologies on mobile internet devices and subnotebooks. This engineer will have a broad scope of responsibilities to customize Ubuntu to work on mobile internet devices, netbooks and other unique hardware designs

more details

 

• Project Administrator - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Home based with broadband, in an American or European time zone. This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for one week.
Job Summary: The Project Administrator role is a key role in our software development teams. As a part of the technical team, the Project Administrator defines and monitors process and progress metrics. Strong communication and a steadfast commitment to not dropping the ball are required skills for this role, as the successful …

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• Web Designer - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Millbank, London; UK
Job Summary: The Web Designer will be responsible for the experience our prospective customers and our developer community have via our Canonical, Ubuntu and other web portals. These portals are critical to the success of our business and our products and our Web Designer will be expected to own this experience from …

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• Lead Concept Designer - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Millbank, London; UK
Job Summary: This is a key role in the Design and Customer Experience team and across the business. Our Lead Concept Designer will be responsible for creating unique, innovative and simply amazing concepts, from customer facing products and the finite detail within, to internal facing projects to ensure the business ‘gets’, buys …

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• Ubuntu GNOME Desktop Engineer - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Your home, as long as you have broadband. Some international travel will be required.
Job Summary: To maintain the GNOME packages that form the basis of the Ubuntu desktop experience.

more details

 

• Partner Marketing Manager - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: London, UK
Job Summary: Provide marketing expertise to support and develop business with our growing list of high-profile business partners, particularly major PC suppliers and OEM/ODMs.

more details

 

• Telco Channel Manager - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Europe or USA
Job Summary: Channel Manager will be responsible for building commercial relationships with top level Telcos and related industry partners

more details

 

• Ubuntu Program Manager - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Preferable London, UK however other candidates home based in American or European time zones may also be considered.
Job Summary: The PM will be managing the implementation project life cycle: requirement gathering, implementation and testing within time, quality and cost standards. Also managing project risk, as well as planning and delivering complex software integration projects; reporting of project progress and status internally, to customers and stakeholders; managing escalations, changing controls …

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• QA Engineer - posted: November 2008

Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Job Summary: Perform automated and manual testing of custom versions of Ubuntu Desktop. Support local Field Engineering staff with SQA process development/implementation.

more details

 

• Gnome Developer - posted: October 2008

Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: At home with broadband, in an American/European time zone.
Job Summary: As a member of the Desktop Experience Team, this role will be to design and develop new innovative elements of the Gnome platform. The candidate must have strong coding and debugging skills in C, coupled with in-depth knowledge of X11, OpenGL and GTK+ programming. This role will work closely with …

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• KDE Developer - posted: October 2008

Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: At home with broadband, in an American/European time zone
Job Summary: We’re hiring talented engineers to develop a new, innovative desktop experience, in Ubuntu Linux. You will design and implement key elements of the KDE platform, in coordination with your peers in the community . As a member of the Desktop Experience Team, this role will be to design and develop …

more details

 

• Open GL Developer - posted: October 2008

Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: At home with broadband, in an American/European time zone
Job Summary: As a member of the Desktop Experience Team, the Software Engineer’s role will be to design and develop new innovative elements of the Ubuntu Desktop. The candidate must have strong coding and debugging skills in C/C++, coupled with in-depth knowledge of OpenGL and experience with Linux graphical toolkits. This role …

more details

 

• OEM Channel Manager (Europe) - posted: October 2008

Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: Europe

Job Summary: Based in Europe the OEM Channel Manager will be responsible for building relationships with top level OEM/ODM and local MNC accounts in focus region. As part of the Business Development Department, the OEM programme counts 6 Channel Managers who seek to create a network of partners across the globe with …

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• Launchpad Bugs Application Engineer - posted: October 2008

Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: Home-based but prefer time zones from Europe to east coast USA
Job Summary: We are looking for a software engineer that is passionate about bug tracking in open source projects. The position requires experience in both web and server-side programming. The ideal candidate has strong experience with other bug tracking systems and a desire to tackle the problem of bug management across a …

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• Field Engineer (China) - posted: October 2008

Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: China - with regular travel engagements
Job Summary: The application Field Engineer will support deploying Ubuntu and assist in sales opportunities. The continuous improvement and refinement of engineering and technical sales processes is a key aspect in this position. This involves building working relationships within Canonical to enhance the efficiency of collaboration between different teams.

more details

 

• Field Engineer (Taiwan) - posted: October 2008

Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: Home based position in Taiwan, with regular travel engagements
Job Summary: Field Engineer

more details

 

• Ubuntu Mobile/MID QA Engineer - posted: October 2008

Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: Your home (given appropriate facilities including broadband Internet) in an American or European time zone
Job Summary: Develop automated testing tools for the Ubuntu mobile platform.

more details

 

• Kernel Field Engineer - posted: September 2008

Posting Date: September 2008
Job Location: Taiwan
Job Summary: The Kernel Field Engineer will support the kernel team with hardware enablement in Ubuntu. This is achieved by working with our partners, system builders, ODMs (Original Device Manufacturers) and development teams within Canonical to assess and implement device drivers and other hardware bring up as necessary. This is a highly …

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• System Administrator in Taiwan - posted: August 2008

Posting Date: August 2008
Job Location: Taiwan
Job Summary: Part of the systems administration team for Canonical Ltd, with specific responsibility for all on-site systems administration related tasks in Canonical’s Taiwan office.

more details

 

• Ubuntu Translations Coordinator - posted: August 2008

Posting Date: August 2008
Job Location: Your home, as long as you have broadband. Some international travel will be required.
Job Summary: The role of the Ubuntu Translations Coordinator is to oversee, represent, guide and optimise the processes and workflow of the Ubuntu translations community as well as coordinating the LoCo Teams project. Applicants should have experience of working in a translations community and with computing user groups, be knowledgeable of the …

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• Salesforce Integration Engineer, BIS Team - posted: July 2008

Posting Date: July 2008
Job Location: At home with broadband. This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for periods of one or two weeks
Job Summary: The BIS team is responsible for building and supporting the internal IT systems that Canonical uses. This role on the BIS team involves design and implementation of custom Salesforce integrations and add-ons.

more details

 

Don’ t miss them! There are going to be simultaneous parties this Thursday Oct. 30 at 6PM in Montreal and Quebec City. See:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QuebecTeam/IntrepidParty

The Direct2Dell blog is a great way to find out about new Ubuntu development and products at Dell from a reliable source one can actually quote publically
From my seat on the support side of things, I used to worry about such exposure - how can you give tech support to so many new Ubuntu users ? Granted, this is only but a small fraction of Dell’s business, but it is growing fast in many ways (and countries, as seen below). Many vendors understand the need to build their own support infrastructure and knowledge, not much new in that area. But being able to do so in your local language, in different markets, taking advantage of all the freedom LInux and in general Ubuntu offers is a huge new bonus. You get to decide if/when you need professional services (from Canonical or else) and you set the speed for that.

This ranges from pre-installing and supporting Ubuntu on certified servers to selling and supporting a boxed edition that includes 60 days support for $19.99 at Best Buy.

In Dell’s case, having part of their Linux wiki dedicated to Ubuntu and even forums and mailing lists means such initiatives have all the chances to success as Ubuntu’s strong community can complement all efforts from Dell and give traction to them. I also see how Ubuntu’s philosophy slowly infiltrates such offerings
From the blog post (emphasis mine):

Today we’re rolling out two new laptops and desktops that are designed to meet the specific needs of small businesses, government and educational facilities operating on a limited budget in the worlds top emerging markets. Take a look at either Steve Felice’s post or Kara Krautter’s post on the Small Business blog for a bit more context on that front.

Note: Click on any of the images in these post to see larger versions of them. You can also see these photos and more by viewing this photo set at the main Dell Flickr page.

One thing of interest to a lot of our readers is that we will offer Ubuntu Linux as an option on all four of these machines worldwide. Regular readers of Direct2Dell know that we already support Ubuntu on select systems several countries.

These new Vostro systems will be introduced in more than 20 countries over the coming months—including Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. They will be available primarily through authorized channel partners worldwide and also directly from Dell. Pricing for the products will vary by configuration, region and country. Additional Vostro products designed for emerging markets and high-growth economies will be introduced in the coming months.

I just wanted to extended a huge “thank you!” to all of the Ubuntu community Today Ubuntu won the “Best Desktop Solution” Product Excellence Award at LinuxWorld Conference and Expo 2008 in San Francisco, California for a second consecutive year.

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!

I’ll be at Linux World Expo 2008 next week in San Francisco with Canonical, and as such I am putting the final touches to several demos including one about what is different / new / “better” in Ubuntu 8.04 (specifically) on the desktop. I am talking about technical features, so I thought I’d ask around in case we missed the usual suspects. Here are some that made it into my short list for now, but I’d love to hear other ideas:

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.

Canonical is hiring and the positions list is growing by the day. If you’d like to join a place where IRC is a requirement, colleagues are in almost every timezone, and hacking your home electronics is rather common, check the list and also how to apply.

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)

I can’t help but notice some posts in Planet Ubuntu are clearly out of line with our Code of Conduct.

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

This is an invitation to all who will be in or around Montreal, QC, Canada next April 24th. Full party info and details at:
http://www.ubuntu-qc.org/ubuntu-804-invitation

We’ll be partying real hard at St-Sulpice bar and I hear other parties are organizing in Quebec province.

I’d also like to challenge other party organizers, do you think you can have the biggest party out there ? Last time we had close to 200 people in Montreal, this time we are a bit better organized. One specific thing that has helped us a lot is inviting people IN ADVANCE and PERSONALLY We welcome all to copy and improve our french and english invitation.

We are also using a Facebook event for RSVPs, local mailing lists and contacting media. We’ve lined up a few sponsors too for swag (and more). Any further ideas ?

PARTY ON!

Well, it seems Brother printer drivers will make it into Hardy (Ubuntu 8.04, coming up next month), under GPL and Brother Software Open License Agreement - all driven by the community and with some help from Canonical.

Although I’d rather have 100% free Brother printer drivers, it’s still nice Brother has made their license clear about what can be done with their drivers, effectively opening the door to packaging by anyone:

This Agreement provides terms and conditions for license grant from Brother Industries, Ltd (”Broher”). Brother, who owns all copyrights to the software that is distributed with this Agreement (”Software”) to recipients thereof (”User”), for use of the Software. User shall have the right to use the Software only in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement. Any use by User of the Software shall be deemed as its agreement hereto.
Note:

Please click on “I Accept” while holding down “Shift” or right click on “I Accept” and select “Save Target As,,,” from the menu.

Brother retains any and all copyrights to the Software. In no case this Agreement shall be construed to assign or otherwise transfer from Brother to User any copyrights or other intellectual property rights to whole or any part of the Software.

Brother grants User a non-exclusive license: to reproduce and/or distribute (via Internet or in any other manner) the Software. Further, Brother grants User a non-exclusive license to modify, alter, translate or otherwise prepare derivative works of the Software and to reproduce and distribute (via Internet or in any other manner) such modification, alteration, translation or other derivative works for any purpose.

Even nicer is actually seeing the first mention of these drivers a bit over two years ago and the path and work leading to its final packaging and testing just hours ago by many community people and even Canonical through the bug report on Launchpad and a corresponding wiki page.

I hope this raises the importance of supporting Linux properly for Brother and, who knows, perhaps they will be more visible for scanner and PC to Fax support in Ubuntu (and generally, Linux) in the near future. I would bet increasing Ubuntu + Brother customers would already justify this.

I do own an MFC model at home and it makes me think of the same comparisons I hear about the ” readiness of the Linux Desktop “. Compare this to all Hewlett-Packard does to support its printers under Linux, there still is a lot to do before both can be compared on equal grounds. Or is it ?

It’s as if these news were specially written for me. I am originally from Colombia and have been living in Montreal, Canada for the past ~20 years.

Dell announced on their blog that their systems will now be available in Canada and Latin America (including Colombia initially!).

Check the original announcement on their english blog, as well as the spanish annoucement for Latin America. It’s nice to see they have a blog for hispanic customers.

In Canada, visit http://dell.ca/open . Phone orders only in Latin America for now.

What a week!!!