The number one question on everyone’s mind is, “When is Luna going to be released?” The answer is of course, “When it’s ready.” But how do we know when that is? You’re about to find out.
As you may or may not know, elementary doesn’t have a timed released cycle. Other popular operating systems like Ubuntu have decided to make a release at a certain time every year. But for elementary, we’ve decided that we will choose a set of goals to achieve during the cycle, and we release when all of those goals are met and the related bugs are squashed. We track our goals in the form of Blueprints (see: How to See What’s Up Our Sleeves) and assign bugs to milestones.
The first thing to keep in mind is that Luna is in active development; as soon as you finish reading this article, it’ll probably be out of date. To keep the most up to date with our ever-shrinking To-Do List, you should visit launchpad here. Having said that, let’s get specific.
Luna is built on an Ubuntu core. Doing this allows us to inherit a lot of the under-the-hood work that Canonical and the Ubuntu community put in. However, this can also mean that we sometimes inherit their branding on accident.
Our developer framework has a couple of small issues to iron out, including better use of system resources and better translation support.
Before you get to the Pantheon desktop, you have to go through the boot and login process. For Luna we needed a nice Plymouth boot screen and LightDM login. We have a design for our boot screen, but it still needs to be coded. However, only a couple of minor cosmetic fixes are required for our Login screen.
The elementary GTK theme has changed a lot since Jupiter, undergoing a complete redesign to take advantage of the powerful new GTK3. We still have some visual tweaks to make, but it's coming along nicely. We plan to have one more major release before Luna.
Our icon theme has also undergone a major overhaul. Some small issues remain around providing icons in the optimal sizes and colors.
Our default set of wallpapers has been decided (stay tuned for an upcoming post).
WingPanel has been pretty stable for a while now, though a couple of bugs related to multi-monitor and handy shortcuts still remain.
Slingshot, our app launcher, has a couple of touch related and keyboard driven issues to sort out.
Our favorite dock Plank is being developed by the folks behind Docky with some special tweaks made for elementary. We need the drag-and-drop work thoroughly tested, and we need to sort out a few other outstanding bugs.
In Contractor, the nifty service that enables apps to seamlessly pass data back and forth, we need to track down any crashers and iron them out. After squashing the remaining bugs we’ll be all set.
Switchboard is our settings app in Luna and an important part of the OS. Our aim for the release of Luna is to make Switchboard rock-solid both visually and functionally.
In addition to the app itself, we have some work yet for the Plugs that are in Switchboard. With all of the major and extensive changes in Luna, we decided it would be best to focus on getting the Switchboard protocol, developer documentation, and core app as solid as possible before we go bananas writing our own plugs for the desktop. Lucas built a compatibility layer between Switchboard and the existing GNOME settings modules, so that they will work nicely within Switchboard itself.
We did write a few plugs ourselves this cycle, for Pantheon, such as Plank and the wallpaper service. These plugs could use some more polishing for Luna.
Files, the file manager app for elementary, is coming along incredibly well. Since announcing it just three weeks ago, it’s had over a hundred bug reports and a handful of blueprints filed, making for some exciting and fast-paced development. The remaining issues are mostly small UI tweaks.
Pantheon’s terminal app has been stable development-wise for a while now. The only outstanding bugs are related to shortcuts.
Scratch—the text editor that works—has become quite stable, especially with its recent official release. It only has a few outstanding bugs for the Luna test cycle. Another release is likely to happen soon, in which case we’ll be completely good to go.
Maya is another one of the brand new apps that will make its debut in Luna. It could use some more thorough testing, but as it stands, it only needs better translation support before it’s ready to go.
Noise is a big step for this release. In Jupiter, we didn’t feel any of the existing music players really lived up to the standards of elementary. With Noise, we’re solving that problem at the source. Its developers are still plugging away, and as such it has over a dozen open bugs to be squashed before its next release.
Though Midori’s development cycle is technically independent from elementary OS (like many web browsers, they release every couple months), there are a few things we’d like to see, like a stable GTK3 release.
After all of these issues have been wrapped up and the Luna Beta1 milestone is all clear, we can release our very first public beta of Luna. This means a much wider stage for testing while we march towards our release. If the beta testing goes well and we’ve solved all major issues, we can move to release candidates and then finally the actual release of Luna and the beginning of the Luna +1 cycle.
Since we’re an open-source project, the source code of every app in Luna is available for you to download, change, and redistribute. We’re very open to any help from developers willing to squash any of the bugs blocking beta release.
If you speak more than one language, we could use your help providing localization. We’ve begun to set up teams of translators and it’s never too late to join a translation team.
This post was collaboratively written and edited by Daniel Foré, Cassidy James, and other members of the elementary community.
> For playing Valve games I'd wait till Luna+1.
Why's that?
almost not
I like pantheon shell very much... currently using it on top of ubuntu 12.04. Almost everything works fine except; when I have opened multiple windows of a single app, like chromium, it gets hard to switch between these two apps. this really bugs me.
Just pleeease don't make it a slow operating system like Ubuntu 12.04. I dont know how they could screw it all up, it's slow as hell even with LXDE..
If everything goes as planned, it will be even lighter and snappier than Jupiter was.
Moreover, I've already integrated intelligent resource allocation, so that the OS knows which tasks are urgent and which are not and allocates available resources (such as CPU time, disk I/O, etc) intelligently. So software updates won't disrupt your workflow anymore and music player won't stutter even when the systems is under heavy load.
First, to make clear I'm not a troll: elementary looks great! Some folks criticize it for looking to close to OSX, but let it be or not. However, I wouldn't bet I'd be ever using it, for the one simple reason I'm not expecting any releases anytime soon. And even when it comes out, behind the polished surface it'll by either be outdated or lacking quality or both.
Why I think so?
You guys are simply too ambitious and that tad to perfectionist. On your quest for the perfectly integrated and polished user experience you refuse to commit into any serious release plan. Without commitment to get things done at some point in time, you just won't get done at any point in time. It's in the very nature of software that it's never 'finished' and never bug-free, so software projects just don't work with "It's done when it's done". That's not a cool, that's a recipe for a death march. You're just going to end up being Duke Nukem Forever of Linux distros, seriously hyped in the beginning and hopelessly outdated when you're finally come up with a release.
To make matters worse, without constraints you're getting into a serious feature feeble, building apps for almost everything and anything. I see the point about the new panel and shell, as there's really a lack of good panels and shells these days. I see that there are no good modern mail clients for the Linux desktop. Even a new file browser would make some sense to some, even though I'm largely OK with what's out there already. But why for Christ's sake we need a new browser, a new terminal, another bloody text editor? You're already planning for elementary Office too? What makes you think you can get even close to the maturity and stability of projects that have been developed, tested, used and improved over countless hours of development, years of community testing and endless lists of bug fixes?
As a reasonably experienced developer myself, let me recommend you two things:
1. Set a deadline! Deadlines are not an uncool invention of evil business people and incompetent project managers, they're an essential part of getting things done. Treat it as an iteration in an ongoing development process, not as the end of all days. Define what means "Done" to you, then estimate how long it takes you to get there, commit to that as a team and then get it done.
2. Focus! When you start defining done for the next release, look around what you really need to have, and what could be replaced by an existing application or toolkit until you get the replacement together in the next release. Then focus the resources on what is left. I'd bet my grandmas false teeth that Gnome-Terminal would be perfectly fine, as would Gedit (With some preinstalled plugins). Even for what remains, find out what is "Good Enough". No software is ever perfect, and you're not the ones the break this law. You will never get this tracker empty, and there will be new, even critical bugs after the release, this is what you're using PPA's for. Once you have a clear picture what your focus is on, refer to point 1.
With this being said, I really hope I'm wrong and there will be a release of Luna one day in the not too far future, as I'm really looking forward towards it.
Cheers,
J.
Hi There,
I see you've commented without reading the post! If you had, you would have seen that we have a very clear Todo before we release Beta. In case you missed it, that link is here: https://launchpad.net/elementary/+milestone/luna-beta1
You're absolutely right that we are too ambitious and too perfectionist. That is what makes us different ;) But, as the saying goes "Good artists ship" and we will. But not at typical FOSS speeds, at professional-quality OS speeds. We released Jupiter not yet a year and a half ago. So I hardly think it's hardly about time to cry vaporware. In fact, WebUpd8 just did a small overview of a (fairly) recent daily build: http://www.webupd8.org/2012/07/elementary-os-luna-video-15072012.html
You have direct access to our own internal Todo list here (again): https://launchpad.net/elementary/+milestone/luna-beta1
You can clearly see that we're making progress on our Todo list every day by looking at the source code here: https://code.launchpad.net/elementary
If you look carefully, you'll also notice that not every bug in an app's tracker is targeted to the Luna milestone. In fact on quite a few bug reports we've said "Wait a second, this isn't essential for beta, let's wait until next cycle." So this is by no means a moving target. This is a serious release target. We have defined what means "Done" for Luna. In fact, the whole point of this post is to re-iterate to the community exactly what "Ready" means in the context of Luna. It's all right here spelled out pretty clearly.
We've passed a feature freeze. There isn't new stuff going into luna right now. We're all downhill at this point.
Keep in mind that this is the second release. We already shipped a release where we simply changed around some defaults. It was well-received, but it wasn't anything like Luna is. This release we tackled some apps we thought were reasonable and necessary, but we're still not done. Next release we will tackle more apps and services. You'll notice we still ship a few apps that weren't built specifically for elementary. You'll also notice that we've pushed back certain services until next cycle (like notifications). There *IS* focus.
We fully understand that the FOSS world is used to insanely fast release cycles where things come out of the oven half-baked. We're not going to do that. Luna won't be perfect. It'll still have it's bugs. We understand that it's impossible to have a completely bug-free release. But we're not going to rush the process just because according to our competitors it's "about that time".
It will be released when it's ready. And you should already know when that is ;)
It is just better to have everything polished and deliver truly amazing User Experience, than to have half done system. Developing something to be perfect costs a lot of time, but battling with half working products and buggy system costs even more. In that sense, "When it's done" policy is quite logical here.
I totaly agree with what is said by joerx. I think that you are doing wrong job thing with this When its ready policy. I can understand that you dont want to do like Canonical and to rush releasing OS every six months thus risking to release unpolished software but this When its ready is no different than that, since you are creating such a hype in the comunity and you are not offering people even approximate date of release, no kind of roadmap. In the end you might end having opposite effects with users, just like with little kids: When they see toy that they cant get straight away, they want it so badly but when they get the toy, they play with it few days and then continue to play with old toys.
As joerx said you must realize that there is no bug free software, no perfect software and instead of trying to make and release such software, try to concentrate to build your userbase and to cooperate with users and make software better.
I write this as common user, I used Jupiter for a 9 months almost, I am watching progress of Luna regulary but I am starting to became less and less patient since I am coming here for a last six months to check for a news and I couldnt even find a word about release date.
I agree with what what you say. The current situation makes me feel like I am in a strip club. There is a whole lot of pretty sites, but I'm not taking any home. Though, even strip clubs have time limits.
This is precisely the point I tried to make earlier. That too much is being attempted when only specific areas need work. Web browser, notepad, terminal and even file manager are not really required. Gnome has made leaps with nautilus recently and now it is sort of complete if you ask me. Not as bloated as it was earlier. Geany/gEdit to a tremendous job even without any plugins. Efforts should be put where gnome/ubuntu lack. And that means the visual part of it, the elegance and the cohesiveness of the system. Providing download managers, e-mail client, drag and drop between applications. With Maya and Geary we could solve the ever lasting need for an integrated calendar and mail client. But still humongous amount of work is required for them to even compete with existing solutions. Geary for instance doesn't even support multiple accounts or pop protocol for that matter. The project is re-inventing the wheels and just going round and round. RAther if the efforts are put into creating an integrated system with elementary elegance it will achieve great heights. Take example of Ubuntu. One of the reason for their success has been their 6 months release cycle. Trying hard to achieve that and changing what needs to be changed. Whatever criticism that Ubuntu has attracted over the months has been when they tried to change too much too soon. There are lessons to be learnt here and if they are taken into consideration, this may turn out to be linux's answer for many unanswered questions till date.
I totally agree with you there joerx,and I REALLY hope that the elementary team are not going head to head with apple or try to release a bug free Linux distro,and if they do then they probably should check the latest reviews on iMovie on the mac app store as its getting 1/5 stars coz apple actually pushed an update that made the application crashes on almost all computers,the point is,like you said there is no software bug-free,and I hope for the elementary team put a release date and let the masses start using their OS.
I understand your frustration and I sympathize with you. It is hard to have to wait this long for what promises to be an excellent product. However, you are not giving the developers enough credit for the work they are doing.
elementary OS is not attempting to compete directly with Apple. elementary OS is just an operating system that successfully competes with all other operating systems, just like Windows, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, OS X, etc.
The elementary OS team is not so naive as to think that they could write perfect software without bugs. For you to say as much is ignorant.
That said, your hope is not in vain. elementary Luna will have a release date and the masses will finally be able to use the OS. Just be patient.
LocalHero:"The elementary OS team is not so naive as to think that they could write perfect software without bugs. For you to say as much is ignorant." oh careful!,I didn't say anything about writing the software am talking about releasing the software,as I have noticed me and some other people that the elementary team is trying to squeeze alot of features and crushing alot of bugs in one release which will take alot of time,I'm not impatient about the release of elementary OS,please take your time and I am quite happy with what I got right now,but I'm just hoping that the team has an intact plan of what features should be in this release and what not,and not get lured by other features that will create more bugs and therefor will extend the release date further more,I hope you get the point.
My apologies, I misunderstood your statement. As was mentioned in the post, there is indeed a milestone set for the beta release:
https://launchpad.net/elementary/+milestone/luna-beta2
Hopefully, when that is released, the early adopters won't find a whole lot of bugs. To my knowledge, there has been a feature freeze (back in February), so there is no need to worry about introducing more bugs.
Ah np at all,thanks for clarifying that out good to know that beta2 is there already,and keep up the good work,wish you best of luck.
I totally agree with you. With no clear time for milestone, road map. Project will never come to final. Your team has a great release jupiter base ubuntu 10, And after that set for ubuntu 11 but it never come. Now luna is based on ubuntu 12, look greate but not clear road map, just hope it won't be the same version base on ubuntu 11.
Is there still going to be a BitTorrent client??
Transmission is not installed by default anymore. We have a better plan for handling downloads, but it's yet to be implemented: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/elementaryos/+spec/downloader-service
Just found out about elementary a few days ago and been using it since. Can't wait for next release!
Been back and forth between windows and distros for years, everytime eventually going back to windows. elementary seems like something I could stick with, unlike other distros, I'm not tempted to customize it to something different.
When will be elementary OS Luna? I am unpatient to try it, I LOVE your work :)
I agree. People are waiting for answers.
when is "when its ready" ? after the 29 BP (blueprint) implemented and the 648 bug are fixed ?,....btw there hasn't been an update on the journal for over 3 weeks+ now,can you please let the awaiting people informed,and finally an off topic abit question:what will luna be using for installing/updating packages ? same USC and update manager ? :P
Every journal post is a day spent on writing the post and not code. And we prefer writing code instead.
Yes, Luna will use the same software center and update manager. We're eager to swap them for something better, but this will have to wait.
when is "when its ready" ? after the 29 BP (blueprint) implemented and the 648 bug are fixed ?,....btw there hasn't been an update on the journal for over 3 weeks+ now,can you please let the awaiting people informed,and finally an off topic abit question:what will luna be using for installing/updating packages ? same USC and update manager ?
I agree. People are waiting for answers.
Oh God finally a glimpse of hope. I was about to give up and download Mint.
Keep up the good work guys, i'm using Windows for a while now. And going back to Linux again when Luna is out, because i believe it's gonna be different :)
I used the luna daily build. And I got to say I am impressed by the visual components and elegance. But there were few disappointing factors.
Too much playing around has been done going through with Apple mentality. Like no desktop icons, I mean why even show a desktop then?? Wasting vital space on the desktop is not the elementary philosophy i guess. So why this inconsistency? You might argue that desktop is not that important. Fine, but why is the space wasted? Do something innovative/out of the box with the space. But keeping it blank does not somehow make sense.
Plus if you ask me I am not able to understand why develop Noise? Why not invest that man force in creating something else. Something that is more innovative. See people are not completely happy with rhythmbox/banshee but there are other players that exists. Like BeatBox. I think noise somewhere is based on BeatBox by the look of it though, but again vital efforts and manpower is somehow being invested in something that might not be that significance.
Files also needs to be improved if it can think of replacing nautilus. See initially people will obviously love it cz its not bloated. But nautilus can perform a variety of actions that Files still can't. Plus nautilus integration with the system is perfection. Files can't even draw desktop right now.
Also I believe going by Apple's mentality, and the interface Luna is shapping up with.. Something should be done to support multi touchpad gestures. Add more eye soothing animations. Like I love maximize animation. Same should be there in geary mail opening. Or conversation view. Perhaps calendar events opening.
Anyways, my point is that this is a great project but I could help but think that effort is being put where it at least of now doesn't need to. So a somehow revamped project managements plans can do wonder with this beautiful project.
You seem to be judging project plans based on a random development snapshot. Let me clarify a few things.
Well, we don't show a desktop or reference the desktop metaphor anywhere. http://elementaryos.org/discover just says "a big, open area for your running apps' windows", and that's pretty much what it is.
There's no way to place files or any other random stuff on "desktop", most importantly because there's already a better place for every type of content that ends up on it.
Placing stuff on desktop is also not a good idea because it requires manually controlling it all the time, and if the user doesn't do that it tends to grow out of control.
Finally, it's just not a good idea to clutter something that server as a backdrop for windows with UI elements; they only distract you and do nothing useful, so showing them there makes no sense.
It used to be different from BeatBox in technical aspects mostly. The technical differences that created Noise as a separate project are no longer relevant and right now the projects are merging. The Noise you can see in the daily builds is a pre-merge snapshot; it's not what you'll see in the final release.
Files does fully replace Nautilus for me. What exactly you're having a problem with?
"Placing stuff on desktop is also not a good idea because it requires manually controlling it all the time, and if the user doesn't do that it tends to grow out of control."
By that logic, I guess you should disable home folder too? Or the download. Why not disable saving files on hard disk altogether? It requires manual controlling, causes fragmentation, slows the computer and most of the time tends to grow out of control. Really chaotic if you ask me.
I mean no disregard by saying what I said above. My point is that the rationale behind your decision to remove desktop icons seems not up to the mark. There are many things that make desktop vital part of a user's life. Shortcuts/icons files. So much is there to explore. If you think that it can cause chaos, then I will say what I said earlier, that find find something innovative to do with that space; don't just disable it.
I did not leave the earlier comment by seeing random screenshots, but installed the OS on my laptop and used it. So it was more of a feedback than a random comment.
The application button has no shortcut, having to use mouse every time is even more painful. Browsing through the pages in slingshot again requires mouse and is too painful to use just the keyboard.
See my point is that complete one thing altogether and make it perfect. The way apple did it. Here you guys are playing against the tide and doing too much. When all linux users require is elegance (which i already admire about your project) and simplicity with ease of use. The project digresses too much from normal usage.
If you think desktop is not good, do what gnome does. give an option to turn of the icons. But don't take that control away from the user. YOu might say, nautilus can be hacked to draw it, but then installing it takes the entire philosophy away.
This project needs to leap in one direction first, not small small steps in every direction.
Just one thing: a SCREENshot is not the same as a SNAPshot. What you installed was a snapshot.
In my opinion you are overreacting it a bit. :) You are right about that the desktop is an important place in the average user's life (everybody seen Windows desktops...). But what I saw is a mess, a chaos, an ugly, impenetrable appereance. Nothing more. I used to do the same thing on my Windows, but after a little time, I realized it: If I always start programs from the bottom panel (win7), or the start menu, why the hell use my desktop as a recycle bin? I won't minimize all my opened windows to see the desktop and launch from there, I use a more comfortable way to launch my programs, which aren't requires to minimize my active window.
In linux-based OS's (or in OSX), I love the bottom dock, hardly ever go to the menu, because all my often used programs are in the dock. So I don't need the desktop.
What should I place to it? Programs? There is a DOCK man, what is always appears when I move my cursor to the bottom of my screen, I don't have to minimize my programs. Files and/or images? I'm a webdesigner (and web developer but this isn't matter btw), but I never felt uncomfortable to open a file manager, and click on the folder. I just don't understand, why should anybody place something in the desktop if they have a dock, or something which can work as a dock works?
The file manager is another story. In the file manager, if there is a big mess, you can always search for a content, and you probably find what you want for first. In the desktop, you can't search.
In the file manager there are categories (Docs, Downloads, Images, etc.), which are help the navigating. In the tesktop, there aren't.
These two points are far enough to convince me. :)
But I agree with you in that, this should be optional...
I saw file is not default File application on luna. For example, from Jdownloder, if choose item has been download and open folder from jd, nautilus open instead of File
eclipse IDE seen to be look bad (about UI) on elementary. Menu eclipse has a lot of space for that reason, workspace is smaller.
Will the Calender support Google calander? So i can sync it with that?
now, we want it now
Oh yeah we too. Everybody does :P
You can watch the item burndown live at https://launchpad.net/elementaryos/+milestone/luna-beta1
Participation in the release sprint is always welcome!
If you don't mind me making a few comments: I think the fullscreen is a little too much. Yes, it's plenty nice on my Mac but my Mac does have easy multitouch gestures to swipe around. I think it should be replaced with a modified (what I call) zoom button. Instead of switching between a default size and a user size, it could possibly switch between a user defined value and a constantly updating value (like how System Preferences on the Mac expands and contracts automagically depending on content size).
The lack of a minimize button is good in theory (I like it), click the appropriate dock icon. Although, the dock is centered, thus the target is constantly changing locations. The names of applications needs to take on direction or another.
Maybe you could also look into removing the titlebar once you get enough people familiar with the operating system. I can tell the Midori is Midori by taking one glance at it. And so on and so forth with other applications.
Either a name that says what it does (my vote), or personal/indirect names (Dexter, Postler). Either way, great job. I love that you guys are actually taking the time to build apps specific to elementary. It makes for a nicely controlled environment while still open-source with lots of options. I'm excited to see where you guys take everything next!
We don't use that button for fullscreen (not in any apps for Luna anyway, though some concept apps like Audience do), it simply maximizes the window for now.
And the fullscreen button in Mac is not a good thing to copy anyway, see http://www.tuaw.com/2011/07/20/lions-full-screen-apps-some-hits-a-lot-of...
Ditching the titlebar is probably a great thing to do, however, we're still figuring out how to do that properly.
Yes, I do agree. It's a nice feature, but leads to inconsistency. Sorry, that was my mistake.
Well, I'm not a programmer or coder (I'm starting computer science this fall) but do you mind if I tried to do some mockups and non-titlebar designs? It's a great OS and I'd like to try to help as much as I can.
"Mind" you making mockups? Seriously?! Any mockups or ideas or feedback are always appreciated. Even if they don't go into production, there are almost always important lessons to be learned from experiments. So please, by all means, do propose mockups!
By the way, we've attempted a design that kept the titlebar but kept it out of your way with the original Wingpanel design, but that doesn't work with the current button layout: http://chawsum.deviantart.com/art/The-Mighty-Wingpanel-190136699
Sweet. I've got one that I plan on posting soon. It's mocked up from a screenshot on my Mac (sorry guys!) but present the same general idea. I figure once an idea gets rolling, the small details can be ironed out later. Also, have you ever thought about a global menubar? It's probably one of my favourite features in any operating systems that supports it.
Global menubar?
Ewww... "Kill menubar with fire" is more like it!
elementary GTK 3.2 has come , thanks
I just loved this! I've been waiting for this update since the first time I've installed elementary. Can't wait for the release! Keep up with the awesome work!
Not bad :)
Translate to Russian: http://habrahabr.ru/post/146432/
greate
I like it! I can't wait for this release. I just have one objection—the tabs. As Robin said before me, they look straight out of Windows 95.
Fantastic, guys, you are awesome... :D
But there is a thing that I wanted to question you about... well, not too long ago, but since few weeks backwards, this question in my mind...
So: Will Luna have any multitouch support? It would be awesome, it has a really lot positive advantages, I'm sure you understand what do I think. :) Its more and more popular, and really comfortable... but, of course, Luna will awesome without this feature, I'm just wondering... :D
Another question: one of your post's comment (I can't really remember which post was it) played with the idea of blurred wallpaper, when an app in focus. It would be soooo fantastic, it would help the focus of the eyes, help to concentrate to the app, even if its not maximized (or not in fullscreen mode). But since then, i can't really hear about that feature (if I remember right, one of your developers said that he already done with the code... then, I don't understand, what about this cool feature?)...
...or just I walking with closed eyes? :D
Anyway: keep up fantastic work! ;)
Cassidy has been working on multitouch support, I'll check what he's got so far. But I won't be surprised if we hold back multitouch till Luna+1.
The dev playing with wallpaper blur is me, here's the vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqEgGS11bio&feature=plcp
The proof-of-concept code is also linked there, it works... most of the time anyway. We'll tackle such things next cycle.