Following with our SysLink saga, now we will dive into its internals.

Following with our SysLink saga, now we will dive into its internals.

Want to stop productive bug reporting in its tracks? Want to get the trolling rolling? Toss a flaming “Works for me!” into the mix and stand back.  

I’ve often described the title of this piece as the most devastating insult one techie can inflict on another.  It’s surely one of the more popular. And while in many (maybe most) cases it’s dropped in perfect innocence, this little innocuous phrase tends to land with the force of a nuclear bomb.

Bug triage is a progressive process.  After the initial report, others join in to share their experience and a living, breathing, sometimes-viral organism develops.  Those afflicted with the bug take co-ownership of the report, as do those working to resolve it.  They may see anyone poking in to coo a cavalier “works for me!” as an affront.  A theft of discourse and productivity.  And a blatant example of trolling.

It’s especially an issue in open source communities, where much if not all of the work involved is strictly volunteer.  Pointless infringements on precious time are not taken lightly.  And unless the poster is a sociopath, they surely don’t want to develop a troll’s reputation.

But what if the alleged agent provocateur really is innocent?  There’s actually value in the remark if it’s sincere.  A valid “works for me” becomes a control, an example of an environment or set of conditions where the bug has failed to manifest.  A bug-free control can aid in troubleshooting by enabling investigators to better identify critical environmental differences.  In fact the more “works for me” contributions there are, the quicker the culprit can be identified.  It lurks in the unique shadows of the bug originator’s domain… and can often be something really simple.

Obviously bug triage depends on collaboration and, to some extent, healthy competition.  But successful bug resolution is best accomplished by avoiding ego-driven contributions on either side.  That means no taunting, and no rash assumptions.  Consider your words carefully.  If you have no stake in the bug, just observe from the sidelines if at all.  And if personality conflicts emerge, they’re best taken out of the bug stream and handled between the adversaries.

Keep on (de)bugging!

Filed under: Delivering Quality, Mentioning Maemo, Mentioning MeeGo, Smooth Codings, The Cat Corral, The Write Stuff, Unusability, Views and Reviews, Ways of Rocking Tagged: bug, debugging, forumnokia, LinkedIn, triage

The Nokia YouTube page has just been updated, its all about the N9 now. But Nokia doesn’t believe in simple videos these days, remember the pretty cool interactive N8 unboxing? This time they’re bringing something new to the table, 6 ads in less that 60 seconds, making them perhaps the world’s Quickest ads.

Hit the page to see a set of 6 ads that run for about 9 seconds on average covering the N9′s design, camera, maps, social functionality, browser and its general awesomeness. You may be surprised how the message can be conveyed in such a short amount of time. Infact, it’d be great if all ads were like this, we’d save a lot time!

The idea behind the ads seems to be to show how the N9 can become an integral part of your life, yet be innocuous, letting you focus on what you’re doing rather than making the phone the center of your attention.

Its a fun watch!

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Current upstream situation

Front Page

July update from Maemo Community Council

RM Bauer, a member of the current Maemo Community Council has posted thoughts on the the N9 launch on the Council blog:

"There are numerous directions in which the community may move. For example, the Swipe UI/UX layer of the N9 is closed source and so there will be interest in developing an open source community alternative. Alternatively, the community can simply continue on with support for previous versions of Maemo. The staying power of maemo.org in the two year interim between the N900 and the N9 has been recognized even by Nokia. There are approximately 1 million downloads per week. A minimal level of support will continue to be provided by Nokia for at least a year. In keeping with its history of open governance, the community itself must decide the best direction forward."

The most interesting pieces of news are that Matti Airas is the new Maemo community liaison from Nokia and that another year of support is going to be provided. Given Nokia's budgetary process has previously been based on six month cycles, this is an improvement.

Read more (maemo.org)
Read more (talk.maemo.org)

In this edition (Download)...

1. Front Page
   • July update from Maemo Community Council
2. Applications
   • Getting Harmattan home screens in landscape
   • Pre-release of "Trap, Shake, Kill 'em" for Harmattan
   • Pre-release of "Plonk"/"Mong" for Harmattan
   • Novacut video editor preview on N900
3. Development
   • How to replace tklock (touchscreen/key lock) SystemUI plugin on Maemo 5
   • Qt Quick Components now also available for Symbian
   • Cloning Maemo 5's vibration plugin - help wanted
   • ...and 3 more
4. Community
   • Sections on MeeGo forums for discussing N9, N950 and Harmattan?
   • Prize fund donations for Community Coding Competition pass $1,000
   • MeeGo Community Office meeting: Wednesday, 12th July

A Quick Look at Extras in Bugzilla
2011-07-04 through 2011-07-10

Normally the Internet Tablet School refrains from any kind of editorial position, we're usually just trying to help people get the most from their internet tablets. However, the following article is an exception.

Disclaimer: these are my own, personal thoughts, not necessarily matching those of my employer, neighbor, goldfish or innocent bystanders.

On July 1, 2011, Maemo stands at an interesting crossroads.  In June, Nokia formally announced the N9 Harmattan mobile phone mentioned in Council's previous posting.  Although the stage for the announcement of the device was somewhat awkward, being amongst other marginally related news at the Nokia Connections event in Singapore, the device itself was well presented and showed off the design attributes of the N9 admirably.  A wealth of product information was promptly available online.  Reaction from the general press was positive as well and led to an upswing of anticipation for the phone, which is expected to be released in the next few months.