Ubuntu Live Chat Support
As a user friendly Linux Distribution, the Ubuntu developper are working on an easy access to the ubuntu support channels on freenode.
Ubuntu Live Chat Support is basically a new application that will ask you for a username as well as a password to log into irc.freenode.net. In case you do not have a freenode irc account, it will take you through the required steps to create a new account.
Joel Bryan Juliano, which is currently developping live-chat-support is looking for tester on the ubuntu-devel mailing list. People are asked to try out and send feedbacks.
The following is taken from the Ubuntu Wiki page where you can get further details:
Summary:
The UbuntuLiveChatSupport aims to provide an interface to communicate to other ubuntu users with the same language & location, as well as to connect to the official ubuntu channel in Freenode.org. It also aims to get live chat support from ubuntu users right into the desktop menu, via “System > Help > Live Chat Support”.
Rationale:
People who don’t speak english and want local support in their language will face a challenge to gain help in existing documentations, specially when there are just a few documentations for their language. But if they speak to someone that can understand their language, they can talk to an experienced user to provide them with answers. It might as well be positive, because there might be a good chance that they will collaborate on translation of documentations and software for their language, as well as contributing to the Ubuntu work.
Another problem with the current way of getting help in Ubuntu requires the user to read and browse documentations, but what most users really want is getting the right answers to the questions straight. Browsing and reading documentations sometimes require one to research on a particular problem. But to get the right answer from an experience user is the most easiest way.
Default Channels:
Gaim’s buddy-list will include a group called “Default”, and will be based on the user’s language and location. It will contain #ubuntu, #ubuntu-[locale], and #ubuntu-[language name]
People who want to know more can refer to UbuntuLiveChatSupport wiki page.
Cheerio