I upgraded my system to Ubuntu 12.04 on the day it was released (26 April 2012), and so far it’s all been plain sailing.

At one time, upgrading linux distributions could be a bit of a hit or miss affair, but in the world of Ubuntu this appears to be a thing of the past.

My first impression of the new version was speed – it feels distinctly faster than the previous version.

A controversial aspect over recent years has been the Unity desktop user interface.

Whilst I have no objections to this interface, which is ideal for new Ubuntu users and can be applied to wide range of devices, to a more expericed user like myself it does get in the way.

As you can see from the screenshot of my desktop above, I use Gnome Panel (or Gnome Classic as it’s known in Ubuntu), which has been given some design polish in this release.

My verdict on Ubuntu 12.04: excellant!

The confirmation of the successor to WordCamp Portsmouth UK 2011 follows WordCamp Central processing and venue booking.

This year’s WordCamp venue was proposed by Taryn Wallis and Martin Young, who, along with the Core Group, will be involved in organising this year’s event.

The event website is at the early stages of development by Jonny Albutt and Jonathan Harris – whilst this work is being undertaken go to the planning wiki for
more details.

The Core Group are now seeking sponsors for the event, if you’re interested contact me.

Those who have already expressed an interest in sponsorship will be
contacted shortly.

Microsponsorship by individuals, as last year for Portsmouth, will be
available when tickets go on sale at a date to be announced in due
course.

To keep up to date with developments subscribe to the WPUK mailing list.

What is WPUK? WordCamp UK has recently been renamed to WPUK in recognition of the wider range of activities undertaken by the group.

Dries Buytaert, project lead for Drupal, and Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress, interviewed together (for the first time) at SchipulCon 2011 in Houston, Texas.

The event is planned to be held on the weekend of 14-15 July 2012.

This will be the fifth in the series of UK-based gatherings of WordPress publishers, designers and developers, which is held at a different location for each event.

The first conference took place in 2008 at Birmingham, followed by Cardiff the following year, then Manchester in 2010, and finally Portsmouth earlier this year.

The decision on the winning bid will be taken by the WordCamp UK mailing list.

Those interested in proposing a venue should follow the procedure on the planning wiki – the deadline for bid submissions is Saturday 26 November 2011.

WordCamp Portsmouth UK 2011 took place on the weekend of 16-17 July.

There’s plenty of reports of the proceedings on the WordCamp UK wiki.

As the co-ordinator of WordCamp UK I’d like to thank everyone involved – including:

• Everyone who led sessions.
• Rich Boakes who put forward this year’s winning venue bid and provided invaluable help in the organisation of the event.
• The University of Portsmouth for the venue.
• All our sponsors and microsponsors.
• Mike Little for the efficient processing of all the financial issues.
• Jonny Allbut for building the Portsmouth 2011 event site.
• Jonathan Harris for the event graphics and t-shirt design.
• The WordCamp UK Core Group.
• And last (but not least!) thanks to everyone who attended.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive about the event, and plenty of improvements were suggested for 2012.

The Core Group has taken on board many of these suggestions, and hopes to be issuing the 2012 venue requirements in the next few weeks, against which bids for specific event locations will be invited.

The decision on the venue for next year will taken by the WordCamp UK mailing list.

So if you want to influence where in the UK the follow-up to the Portsmouth WordCamp takes place, subscribe to the mailing list now!

WordCamp Portsmouth UK 2011 tickets are now available.

Early Bird tickets are £35 until midday 3 June 2011 – thereafter they’ll be £45.

Microsponsorship, at £75, can also be purchased using the same ticketing system.

The gathering will be the follow-up to WordCamp UK 2010.

The decision was taken by the WordCamp UK mailing list following the venue bidding process.

The winning bid, proposed by Rich Boakes, is for the event to be held at University of Portsmouth on the weekend of 16-17 July 2011.

The runner-up bid was by John Read for Buckinghamshire New University.

The mailing list took a survey on the bids, and only one vote seperated the result – an indication of the excellance of both proposals.

I’m happy to be once again coordinating the organisation of the event – you can find out more at the WordCamp UK wiki.

This follows a bidding process, during which submissions have been made which aim to meet or exceed the 2011 venue requirements.

The two bids are:

• High Wycombe – John Read has proposed accommodating the event at the Buckinghamshire New University.
• Portsmouth – Rich Boakes has bid to hold the event at the University of Portsmouth.

The WordCamp UK mailing list (registration required) will be considering the bids and selecting a winner by 17 January 2011.

More details are on the WordCamp UK wiki.

Please note the final name of the event, the follow-up to WordCamp UK 2010, will be subject to change.

More ideas for the venue have been posted to the WordCamp UK mailing list, and in view of this, a new deadline is now in place.

See the current locations being investigated – further bids will be considered if they meet or exceed the 2011 venue requirements.

The event is planned to be held on the weekend of 16-17 July 2011 as the follow-up to WordCamp UK 2010.

Please note the final name of the event may be subject to change.

A bid was received from Jon Eland for Leeds by the original deadline, however, two futher bids for Scarborough and Windsor need further time in order to prepare their proposals.

This will allow the WordCamp UK mailing list to consider a potential choice of venues in deciding the winning bid.

It’s not proposed to consider any further bids for the event, which is planned to be held on the weekend of 16-17 July 2011 as the follow-up to WordCamp UK 2010.

Please note the final name of the event may be subject to change.