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The claim that Ubuntu is somehow related to Windows is, of course, ridiculous. What's more ridiculous, though, is how the author assumes it matters which free d

The claim that Ubuntu is somehow related to Windows is, of course, ridiculous. What's more ridiculous, though, is how the author assumes it matters which free desktop he's running. It's, basically, an open invitation for flame war.

mbubb 17y ago
Yes - I agree this felt like flame-bait. I found the absence of any references to Debian odd. I say that because for me the choice among Linux distributions is largely a choice of what kind of package management you want to use. One thing I related to in the article was the reference to the early days of trying Linux: "I think the first version of Linux I ever tried was from some CD's I found in a magazine back in the mid to late 90's, I think it was version 5 of Redhat." I like Ubuntu because I have always been more comfortable with dpkg/apt than rpm/yum. I have come to like yum alot more and find CentOS to be a fine choice for servers. My fondness for Debian is not rational though. It was the first distribution I successfully used. Something just clicked - the install worked, the documentation made sense, apt worked pretty well. I have dabbled with Gentoo and Slackware and can see the attraction of source based installing. Ditto with NetBSD and pkgsrc. But Debian was my "first"...
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
goplexian 17y ago
Well I'm sorry to see you brush off my opinion piece without actually addressing even a single point. Just for clarification though: My point isn't that Ubuntu is related to Windows, my point is that it seems Ubuntu is specifically targeting ex-Windows users as prospective clients, and that this fact could explain some of its recent behavior. And no, I dont think it matters which desktop I'm running, but I do think it matters that the Linux desktop community stay a deverse field, and if the trends we are seeing continue for a few more years that may no longer be the case.
- ax0n 17y ago
  I see your point, but I think if there was more unification, The Linux Movement" would maybe stand a chance at gaining more ground on the desktop market.
  - goplexian 17y ago
    I agree, but the trouble is how to gain unification without becoming a mono-culture. I'm worried what might happen if this continues for another 5 years http://www.google.com/trends?q=Fedora+Desktop,+Ubuntu+Desktop http://www.google.com/trends?q=Fedora+Desktop,+Ubuntu+Deskto...
    - ax0n 17y ago
      I think sysadmins and the server market would keep "Linux" as a whole from becoming a monoculture. But I think "Linux On The Desktop" would probably fare far better as a monoculture. That's my opinion, obviously. I'm generally an Operating system agnostic. I have OS X and Windows 7 dual booting on my MacBook. I'm writing this post from an old workstation running Ubuntu Jaunty (because I'm too lazy to upgrade manually and the in-place upgrade to Karmic has broken 2 of my virtual machines), I have an XP Pro workstation and OpenBSD server next to me, and a Sun Ultra 5 running Solaris on the top shelf. I play with this stuff ALL DAY LONG. Most of the other OSes I listed in this post are "a monoculture" and seem to be doing just fine.
    - intellectronica 17y ago
      Android is, in a way, a Linux distro that is growing strong now and is likely to grow even more now that Google is selling sexy branded phones running it. The same might be true in the future for Chrome OS (an Ubuntu derivative but a very different beast none-the-less). I don't think the evolution of Linux ends with Ubuntu.
- intellectronica 17y ago
  Actually, I'm all for diversity. My points still stand, I think: 1. Ubuntu is not targeting Windows users more than any other desktop operating system does. Ubuntu tries to create a really great desktop in a world in which the overwhelming majority of desktops run windows. If Ubuntu is converting users of existing operating systems (as opposed to gaining users who have never used personal computers before) then most of them are likely to be users of Windows. The same is true for Fedora and any other desktop operating system. 2. It doesn't matter what distro you're running. It's great that you experiment with different distros and I definitely think the GNU/Linux community benefits from this diversity, but it doesn't really matter in large scale. Most computer users don't choose which operating system to use - they get it with their computer.

mbubb 17y ago

Yes - I agree this felt like flame-bait. I found the absence of any references to Debian odd. I say that because for me the choice among Linux distributions is largely a choice of what kind of package management you want to use. One thing I related to in the article was the reference to the early days of trying Linux: "I think the first version of Linux I ever tried was from some CD's I found in a magazine back in the mid to late 90's, I think it was version 5 of Redhat." I like Ubuntu because I have always been more comfortable with dpkg/apt than rpm/yum. I have come to like yum alot more and find CentOS to be a fine choice for servers. My fondness for Debian is not rational though. It was the first distribution I successfully used. Something just clicked - the install worked, the documentation made sense, apt worked pretty well. I have dabbled with Gentoo and Slackware and can see the attraction of source based installing. Ditto with NetBSD and pkgsrc. But Debian was my "first"...

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]

goplexian 17y ago

Well I'm sorry to see you brush off my opinion piece without actually addressing even a single point. Just for clarification though: My point isn't that Ubuntu is related to Windows, my point is that it seems Ubuntu is specifically targeting ex-Windows users as prospective clients, and that this fact could explain some of its recent behavior. And no, I dont think it matters which desktop I'm running, but I do think it matters that the Linux desktop community stay a deverse field, and if the trends we are seeing continue for a few more years that may no longer be the case.

ax0n 17y ago
I see your point, but I think if there was more unification, The Linux Movement" would maybe stand a chance at gaining more ground on the desktop market.
- goplexian 17y ago
  I agree, but the trouble is how to gain unification without becoming a mono-culture. I'm worried what might happen if this continues for another 5 years http://www.google.com/trends?q=Fedora+Desktop,+Ubuntu+Desktop http://www.google.com/trends?q=Fedora+Desktop,+Ubuntu+Deskto...
  - ax0n 17y ago
    I think sysadmins and the server market would keep "Linux" as a whole from becoming a monoculture. But I think "Linux On The Desktop" would probably fare far better as a monoculture. That's my opinion, obviously. I'm generally an Operating system agnostic. I have OS X and Windows 7 dual booting on my MacBook. I'm writing this post from an old workstation running Ubuntu Jaunty (because I'm too lazy to upgrade manually and the in-place upgrade to Karmic has broken 2 of my virtual machines), I have an XP Pro workstation and OpenBSD server next to me, and a Sun Ultra 5 running Solaris on the top shelf. I play with this stuff ALL DAY LONG. Most of the other OSes I listed in this post are "a monoculture" and seem to be doing just fine.
  - intellectronica 17y ago
    Android is, in a way, a Linux distro that is growing strong now and is likely to grow even more now that Google is selling sexy branded phones running it. The same might be true in the future for Chrome OS (an Ubuntu derivative but a very different beast none-the-less). I don't think the evolution of Linux ends with Ubuntu.
intellectronica 17y ago
Actually, I'm all for diversity. My points still stand, I think: 1. Ubuntu is not targeting Windows users more than any other desktop operating system does. Ubuntu tries to create a really great desktop in a world in which the overwhelming majority of desktops run windows. If Ubuntu is converting users of existing operating systems (as opposed to gaining users who have never used personal computers before) then most of them are likely to be users of Windows. The same is true for Fedora and any other desktop operating system. 2. It doesn't matter what distro you're running. It's great that you experiment with different distros and I definitely think the GNU/Linux community benefits from this diversity, but it doesn't really matter in large scale. Most computer users don't choose which operating system to use - they get it with their computer.