Canonical hiring a Desktop Gaming Product Manager for Ubuntu Linux

If Canonical genuinely wants to make Ubuntu the go-to distro for gaming on Linux, and in turn contribute to gaming on Linux as a whole, then I welcome them with open arms.

However, it's not going to change the fact that Ubuntu is just not suited for gaming just from the way it's designed. Gaming, particularly on Linux, benefits immensely from having the latest kernel and the latest drivers. Neither of which can be done in Ubuntu without workarounds and PPAs, which I don't think should be relied on. My rule of thumb for several months now and going forward, and this is just MY OPINION, is that if something isn't in the official repos or available as a Flatpak (typically from Flathub), then I'm not going to bother. I'm at a point in my "Linux career" now where I don't want to have to put in a lot of time and effort just to accomplish a particular task.

Valve moved to an Arch-based system for the same reason I did; rolling release, you always have the latest stuff you need, the Arch repositories have tons of software (IMO), and you don't need to worry about point release upgrades.

Also, I don't like that Canonical continues to push Snaps, or that they use GNOME, but that's neither here nor there.


Last edited by CyborgZeta on 3 January 2022 at 1:30 pm UTC

Best comment in the same vein as above over on phoronix https://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/phoronix/latest-phoronix-articles/1299699-canonical-hiring-for-an-ubuntu-linux-desktop-gaming-product-manager#post1299705

However, it's not going to change the fact that Ubuntu is just not suited for gaming just from the way it's designed. Gaming, particularly on Linux, benefits immensely from having the latest kernel and the latest drivers. .

i wonder what leassons valve have learned about developing for linux.
maybe it was an good idea to focus at stability at the begining, focusing on packages that were heavily tested, so they can be sure that any bug they encouter was their fault not fault of some thirdy party code/library, then after building an strong foundation they can "port it" to the latest versions of those libraries, fix any issue that occur and keep their new code compatible with the latest versions of the libraries?

or maybe relying on old but heavily tested packages was an mistake since the begining?

It'd be worth taking a few moments to digest the Twitter timelines of prominent, recently ex-Canonical employees before considering this position.

I love Ubuntu, but Shuttleworth has to go.

My rule of thumb for several months now and going forward, and this is just MY OPINION, is that if something isn't in the official repos or available as a Flatpak (typically from Flathub), then I'm not going to bother.

And Flatpaks are basically unsupported on Ubuntu (outdated Flatpak/xdg portals, no support in their GNOME Software fork etc.).


Last edited by AsciiWolf on 3 January 2022 at 8:14 pm UTC

I think the discussions should be done in
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/gamebuntu/25544
and
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/gaming-on-ubuntu-desktop/25439/
to reach the ubuntu staff and community in the best possible way: their own forum.

Hardly anything to add.
Work with hardware manufacturers to convince them to create open source drivers for their devices and upstream these before the hardware hits the shelfes.

Best comment in the same vein as above over on phoronix https://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/phoronix/latest-phoronix-articles/1299699-canonical-hiring-for-an-ubuntu-linux-desktop-gaming-product-manager#post1299705

If they shipped the recent wine-staging versions and took back the decision for the 32bit libraries, i think we will be in a good position.
Stability and backporting really really important fixes is also valuable for people that just want to play their games and not worry about updating and so on daily.

Ubuntu isn't a rolling distro and shouldn't become one.

However, it's not going to change the fact that Ubuntu is just not suited for gaming just from the way it's designed. Gaming, particularly on Linux, benefits immensely from having the latest kernel and the latest drivers. Neither of which can be done in Ubuntu without workarounds and PPAs, which I don't think should be relied on.

I dunno. Seems to me there has to be a middle road between "no current software available" and "use the Aur which potentially pulls in bleeding edge bloody everything all the time with no guidance so you've got near infinite chances to break stuff".
I mean, just how many packages are we talking about keeping up to the latest? If you've got a full time staffer for gaming-related stuff, it should be workable for them to maintain a small meta-package of latest gaming stuff, which could be in the official repo or even visible in the update tool. One thing to install, one thing to revert if it causes problems. Then you could have what you needed for gaming without opening up a can of Aur.

It'd be worth taking a few moments to digest the Twitter timelines of prominent, recently ex-Canonical employees before considering this position.

I love Ubuntu, but Shuttleworth has to go.

Shuttleworth has to go? Could you give some obvious evidence how that would help? He has been a solid leader thus far, but as always, no one is right in their decisions all the time. Ubuntu (and Canonical) also have become a more larger ship to sail and steer.

However, it's not going to change the fact that Ubuntu is just not suited for gaming just from the way it's designed. Gaming, particularly on Linux, benefits immensely from having the latest kernel and the latest drivers. Neither of which can be done in Ubuntu without workarounds and PPAs, which I don't think should be relied on.

I dunno. Seems to me there has to be a middle road between "no current software available" and "use the Aur which potentially pulls in bleeding edge bloody everything all the time with no guidance so you've got near infinite chances to break stuff".
I mean, just how many packages are we talking about keeping up to the latest? If you've got a full time staffer for gaming-related stuff, it should be workable for them to maintain a small meta-package of latest gaming stuff, which could be in the official repo or even visible in the update tool. One thing to install, one thing to revert if it causes problems. Then you could have what you needed for gaming without opening up a can of Aur.

The middle road is to just use a regular Arch-based system. I've been using EndeavourOS for almost a month, and have not needed to touch the AUR once. In fact, I actively avoid the AUR precisely because I'm aware it can mess with Arch's stability.

The key things needed for gaming, in my opinion, are the latest Mesa and the latest kernel. Arch gives you both from the official repos: no backporting, no PPA, and no AUR for that matter.


Last edited by CyborgZeta on 4 January 2022 at 9:43 am UTC

Shuttleworth has to go? Could you give some obvious evidence how that would help? He has been a solid leader thus far, but as always, no one is right in their decisions all the time. Ubuntu (and Canonical) also have become a more larger ship to sail and steer.

First, look at the attrition rate of Desktop Leads over the past few years and take a moment to research how many other briefs they'd been assigned by upper management at the same time as the main job. Then look at the exodus of prominent engineers such as jdstrand, zyga etc. That should be setting off some alarms about the culture of the place.

Secondly, have a browse at the stories on Glassdoor. That's always going to be a bit biased, as disgruntled ex employees will have laundry to air. Nevertheless, it is a piece of the jigsaw.

Finally, have a look at the social media timelines of people like Joe McManus (ex security lead and ex host of the Ubuntu Security Podcast) - https://mobile.twitter.com/joemcmanus/status/1471143527077740545 , and Alan Pope, who was one of the most recognisable community leads and host of the Ubuntu Podcast (in response to Liam) - https://mobile.twitter.com/thenaughtysquid/status/1477741128468283396 .

Canonical, as a place to work, is not getting a good reputation right now. As someone who loves their product, it is difficult to watch this. Mark has been CEO for a long time, on and off, and it is hard to see how he could turn this around. If it was a public company, I don't think he'd still be there. He can be proud about what he has achieved but hanging around for too long damages him and his project.

This application uses the phrase "our competition". This is not strictly wrong, there's always some competing for market share. But it also points to a misguided attitude about Linux/open source. No matter what your distro/tech is, we're all pulling the same cart. It's an ecosystem to which all must contribute and nurture.