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As someone who uses Ubuntu on both desktop and server here are my concerns about Ubuntu and Canonical at this stage. I think Ubuntu is awesome and has done huge

As someone who uses Ubuntu on both desktop and server here are my concerns about Ubuntu and Canonical at this stage. I think Ubuntu is awesome and has done huge things for Linux, particularly on the desktop. A) Canonical's R&D investment is shifting from desktop components to server components. On the one hand I'm sure the server version will get even better which is great. But it's hard to imagine how this could translate to a win for Ubuntu desktop users. B) Bug #1 (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1) was closed a while back with a rationale that I thought was redefining the truth a little bit. Canonical's new direction probably makes it even less likely that bug #1 will ever be reopened. Again hard to see how this translates to a win for Ubuntu desktop. C) I know that at some point Ubuntu is moving to Wayland as well. I am concerned that this change will break things that are important to me -- for instance I use xmonad and it doesn't work under Wayland. I get 100% that Canonical needs to make money, and it seems no one's ever figured out how to do that with desktop Linux unfortunately. I just can't help but feel we are losing the biggest champion for the Linux desktop here and am concerned about its future. If things get bad enough (for instance if they move to Wayland and there's still no xmonad port) I would probably switch to Bunsen Labs or some other form of Debian but I would miss losing the confidence Ubuntu gave me that things would just work. Even if I do have to sign off and leave Ubuntu I will do it with a huge /salute in their direction for having created the OS that was good enough to enable me to make the switch to a free desktop. I hope Canonical succeeds with their new focus. But I have a feeling an opportunity is going to open up for someone else to become the #1 desktop distro.

bryanlarsen 9y ago
I believe that the reason that Ubuntu is winning the server market is because it won the desktop market. Ubuntu is on most production servers because devs are more familiar with Ubuntu than alternatives since they use Ubuntu on their desktop. That's certainly the reason why I use Ubuntu or Debian on all the production servers I've spun up. I'm sure Ubuntu is well aware of this issue, and of course they're also dog-fooding Ubuntu Desktop, so while progress may slow, I highly doubt it will stop. In fact it might just speed up, since for the last few years they've been focusing their efforts on Unity 8. Now even though they'll be spending less resources on the desktop, the resources they do spend won't be disappearing into an unreleased project like Mir & Unity 8.
- digi_owl 9y ago
  Indeed. Look at Microsoft. While the home desktop is not their primary focus, they still defend their position there as it is a pitch point when selling their products to corporations. This with the argument that as potential employees are already familiar with Microsoft products from home use, they do not require as much up front training.
- Shorel 9y ago
  At work I have to use CentOS. And CentOS 6 at that. The amount of old packages is painful. Ubuntu servers can be upgraded in place, CentOS means reinstall every time. Also, there's a PPA for everything in Ubuntu. Therefore for my laptop and for all personal projects, I use Ubuntu. CentOS only brings me painful memories.
  - Anthony-G 9y ago
    You're lucky. Until very recently, I had to work on CentOS 5 which was very frustrating. To make it more bearable, I compiled from source and installed modern versions of non-server software for personal use, e.g., Vim, GNU screen, Bash, etc. At home, I'm happy running Lubuntu on my laptop.
peatmoss 9y ago
For giggles, I put Fedora on a Macbook Pro. Wayland + Gnome works surprisingly well, and I can see the appeal for some users. But I'm right there with you on XMonad. I'm not wed to XMonad or any of the extensions, really (for example mostly vanilla dwm, which XMonad was based on, works fine). But I am wed to the keyboard shortcuts and basic functionality of XMonad + dmenu. I'd probably be very happy if there were an XMonad style tiling option in Wayland Gnome. But, I can't help but feel a little weird about some of the free *nixen moving away from X11. I don't see Wayland running on OpenBSD any time soon, for example. I worry that this will be yet another thing that leaves the old world of diverse, but standards-adhering Unixes behind. I'm genuinely not even sure whether that's a bad thing, though my gut reaction is that a Linux monoculture isn't what I'd want.

bryanlarsen 9y ago

I believe that the reason that Ubuntu is winning the server market is because it won the desktop market. Ubuntu is on most production servers because devs are more familiar with Ubuntu than alternatives since they use Ubuntu on their desktop. That's certainly the reason why I use Ubuntu or Debian on all the production servers I've spun up. I'm sure Ubuntu is well aware of this issue, and of course they're also dog-fooding Ubuntu Desktop, so while progress may slow, I highly doubt it will stop. In fact it might just speed up, since for the last few years they've been focusing their efforts on Unity 8. Now even though they'll be spending less resources on the desktop, the resources they do spend won't be disappearing into an unreleased project like Mir & Unity 8.

digi_owl 9y ago
Indeed. Look at Microsoft. While the home desktop is not their primary focus, they still defend their position there as it is a pitch point when selling their products to corporations. This with the argument that as potential employees are already familiar with Microsoft products from home use, they do not require as much up front training.
Shorel 9y ago
At work I have to use CentOS. And CentOS 6 at that. The amount of old packages is painful. Ubuntu servers can be upgraded in place, CentOS means reinstall every time. Also, there's a PPA for everything in Ubuntu. Therefore for my laptop and for all personal projects, I use Ubuntu. CentOS only brings me painful memories.
- Anthony-G 9y ago
  You're lucky. Until very recently, I had to work on CentOS 5 which was very frustrating. To make it more bearable, I compiled from source and installed modern versions of non-server software for personal use, e.g., Vim, GNU screen, Bash, etc. At home, I'm happy running Lubuntu on my laptop.

peatmoss 9y ago

For giggles, I put Fedora on a Macbook Pro. Wayland + Gnome works surprisingly well, and I can see the appeal for some users. But I'm right there with you on XMonad. I'm not wed to XMonad or any of the extensions, really (for example mostly vanilla dwm, which XMonad was based on, works fine). But I am wed to the keyboard shortcuts and basic functionality of XMonad + dmenu. I'd probably be very happy if there were an XMonad style tiling option in Wayland Gnome. But, I can't help but feel a little weird about some of the free *nixen moving away from X11. I don't see Wayland running on OpenBSD any time soon, for example. I worry that this will be yet another thing that leaves the old world of diverse, but standards-adhering Unixes behind. I'm genuinely not even sure whether that's a bad thing, though my gut reaction is that a Linux monoculture isn't what I'd want.