14 DAY TRIAL // Ubuntu developers have been talking about convergence for some time now and the first results of their efforts have started to show. It's not yet glamorous, but it's getting there.
Mark Shuttleworth started to talk about convergences more than a year ago and he set the Ubuntu developers on this path. But what is convergence?
In simple terms, Ubuntu developers are trying to achieve a stage in development where they can build a single operating system that is able to run on anything, PC, mobile phone, or tablet. It might have seemed impossible to achieve, but the truth is that they are a lot closer than you might think.
Ubuntu Community Manager Jono Bacon has demonstrated how close we are to true convergence by showing us a short video with the Weather app. What's so special about that? It's almost the same app that is currently running on Ubuntu for phones, but it's actually being demonstrated on an Ubuntu desktop.
“An example of Ubuntu convergence in action. Here you see the Weather Channel powered Ubuntu weather app first the size of a phone, then a tablet, then desktop, and the content all re-aligns to make the very best use of the space. We then shrink the app back down and everything continues to adjust. All from a single code base,” wrote Jono Bacon on Google+.
A single code base is the target for Canonical. The Ubuntu developers are working hard to make this happen, not just for the interface, but also for all the low-level components.
It's not actually all that simple to have an app work the same way on all the platforms. It's not only about resizing, but all the components of that app need to work no matter what the system in the background is.
It is also very interesting to note that Canonical is not the only company that is actively working on desktop convergence. If you take a close look at what Apple and Microsoft are doing, you might notice that the companies have the same aim.
It will be a while until Canonical is able to reach full convergence. It won't be ready by the next Ubuntu release, 14.10, but bits and pieces will start to come together. Already some of the core apps from Ubuntu Touch are working on the desktop and it's only a matter of time until more developers start to make their apps compatible with Canonical's convergence vision.
