I was a huge believer in Ubuntu and Shuttleworth. I always thought that the combination of free software and a unified vision from a benevolent dictator would do to ubuntu what Linus has done to Linux. Unfortunately Shuttleworth is no Torvalds. In the last few years, Ubuntu chase so many different directions not based on real innovation but on going after what other companies have done already. It was the Desktop (after Windows and OSX; remember when Unity was promised to be better than OS X? Well many are still waiting). It was Ubuntu on the netbooks, the revolution that never happened. It was Ubuntu TV, and we know how far that went. It is now Ubuntu for phones. The fact of the matter is, the vision might even be acceptable, but then if that it is, the development method should follow. Unity is a pretty recent creature, they could have designed with mobile in mind since the beginning. Instead, no, we will have lots of breakage, inconsistency, while the current version of Unity will most likely starve for the lack of polish that it has been in the needs for so long. I lost any confidence on the relevance of Ubuntu, simply because, as long as they keep chasing the market leaders, and changing goals, the half-baked product will never make it. To me this is, a failure on Mr. Shuttleworth himself.
