June 22, 2012

Phew, time flies and we’re already at the end of the first week of the Ubuntu App Showdown! There’s been lots of stuff going on, and it’s been really nice to see all the excitement and traffic around developing apps for Ubuntu. Here is a quick summary of what’s happened this week.

App Developer Workshops

In order to help new developers get started, we ran 2 days of workshops with live video streaming, where everyone could learn and ask their questions. From the feedback we got, the live workshops were a hit, and everyone really enjoyed them. If you missed them, fear not, for you’ve got two more chances to participate on week 2 and week 3

And best of all, the workshops were recorded, so you can watch them on your own time.

Just make sure to check the schedule often as we are adding new workshops for the upcoming weeks.

Lots of apps!

Many folks have already put on their developer hat on and started hacking on their ideas. Best of all, they’ve been blogging and updating the Ubuntu App Showdown reddit with their progress, and they’ve been getting more visibility for their work. Here’s a pick of the apps we know are cooking right now:

  • Let It Flow: a game similar to PipeMania/PipeDreams, with fully scalable vector graphics. Check it out!
  • Feedivore: a Pandora-like RSS reader. Check it out!
  • ShowMyFaves: a standalone bookmarks manager to show all of them in a different way. Check it out!
  • PYEnglish: an app to practice your English where you must compose correct sentences. Check it out!
  • Discvur: a simple Imgur viewer, pronounced ‘Discover’. Check it out!
  • Notetasks Manager: a note-taking app but with some extra features and of cool interactions. Check it out!
  • Downloads Manager: an app to improve the downloads workflow and makes it easier. Check it out!
  • Calendar generator (no name yet): a customizable calendar generator. Check it out!
  • Virtuam: a really easy to use QEMU virtual machine assistant. Check it out!
  • Toddler Erase: a simple game of erasing boxes to uncover the image. Check it out!
  • Houston: a dashboard to control my machines up in the proverbial cloud. Check it out!
  • Reddit App: a desktop Reddit app to view the submissions for a particular subreddit. Check it out!
  • Simple Game Counter: a simple game score counter supporting up to 6 teams/players. Check it out!
  • Manga Reader: an app to read your favourite manga without even opening a browser. Check it out!
  • LiberEdit: an epub development application. Check it out!
  • GWOffice: a desktop client for Google Drive and Docs. Check it out!
  • Quickly GTK: a visual manager for Quickly projects. Check it out!

If your app is not on the list and you’d like us to highlight it, add it to the Ubuntu App Showdown reddit or let us know in the comments!

Askubuntu

Askubuntu has also been boiling with activity this week: 70 new application-development questions this week, with lots of good answers too, which confirm it as a very useful resource for Ubuntu app developer support and knowledge exchange.

So if you’ve got a question, just ask!

Still 2 weeks to go for the final submission deadline, looking forward to seeing all your cool apps!

Follow Ubuntu App Development on:

 

Social Media Icons by Paul Robert Lloyd

David Planella

  • Crazycoder1999
  • Crazycoder1999
  • Lucas Betschart

    I submitted my app on reddit this morning, but it still doesn’t show up :(  

  • http://www.robinj.be/ Robin Jacobs

    Aw, I’m missing mine in the list.

  • clem11388

    I’m currently working on a game with a realistic twist specifically to enter. But I haven’t seen how to submit an app to be in the Showdown. :-(

    • http://www.facebook.com/jasper.vandenbosch Jasper Van Den Bosch

      There is no explicit submission procedure, simply put your code on launchpad, share any progress on http://www.reddit.com/r/ubuntuappshowdown/ and make sure that you register the app with My Apps at the end of the three weeks. Happy hacking!

      • http://yevgenko.me wik

        Any idea why some apps submissions/ideas doesn’t appear on the http://www.reddit.com/r/ubuntuappshowdown/ ? I’m wondering how many ideas we missing there, because 3 of 4 I submitted didn’t pass through…

  • Kasoki

    I’m missing mine as well ( http://redd.it/vj6c5 )

  • FourSquare

    You guys really think this is gonna make a difference? Linux on the desktop is DEAD. When Jobs admitted OS X had lost the race to Windows, what chance do You guys have? Concentrate on the server side, where Linux really shines through. Maybe Ubuntu can beat Red Hat there.

    • DudefromCountrySide

      I don’t know where you from, but here, Linux (especially Ubuntu) is gaining foothold. Enterprises are trying to reduce the licensing costs and hence product like Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is appealing to them. Plus, the Ubuntu Marketplace is becoming like Android’s Google Play, where application shall sprouts exponentially, thus bringing new life to Linux desktops. Of course, if you are looking other distro, they are nowhere this close on Desktop.

      • FourSquare

         I’m not comparing Ubuntu to other distros. I’m saying Linux on the desktop never arrived, and never will. Ubuntu should concentrate more on the server side, where Linux already has a massive share, and try and wrest some of it from Red Hat. Just my two cents.

  • Lucio Messina

     Hi.
    I uploaded my application for the showdown, but I had some problem with launchpad ppa. I hope I was in time!!

    The app name is “The Hole game”, and this is a link to my ppa:

    https://launchpad.net/~lucio-messina-w/+archive/ppa

    Can you please add it in this page?
    Thank you