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Ubuntu: Where Did the Love Go?

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zridling:


A question from Slashdot commenter inkscapee says it plainly:
"Used to be Ubuntu was the big Linux hero, the shining knight that would drive Linux onto every desktop and kick bad old Windows to the curb. But now Ubuntu is the Bad Linux. What's going on, is it typical fanboy fickleness, or is Canonical more into serving their own interests than creating a great Linux distro?"

Original article on Datamation

MilesAhead:
I never really understood the buzz about Ubuntu in the first place. To me, Mandrake, now Mandriva, has a much better one CD install if you have broadband.

Seemed to me like the buzz was manufactured before anyone even tried it. A big nothing as far as I'm concerned.

Josh:
I am running ubuntu on my spare laptop now and really see nothing special about it. Mandriva, like MA above points out, is much more complete feeling in my experiences. It is what I choose to dual boot this very laptop with.

timns:
I'd love to stick linux on one of my old machines and give it a whirl... but then I think... "why?"

- I'm at the point where I simply have no good reason to do it, which is quite sad. Got a nice backup server, nice media server, my dev machines have to be Windows... what is left?

40hz:
I think this is just another classic case of a bright non-technical newcomer, who is thinking outside the culture, coming face to face with and older and established "tech & coding" crowd who don't feel a need to automatically go along with everything they're being cajoled into doing.

Shuttleworth no doubt feels unappreciated and not getting the respect he should. And the old guard are likely feeling that somebody who's mostly talk and charisma is trying to coopt or dominate the work they've dedicated hundreds of unpaid man years developing.

Sad thing is, they're both right and wrong in feeling the way they do about each other.

It's a complicated set of issues. Unfortunately, Bruce Byfield can't seem to see much beyond what's directly in front of him when he wrote his article.

And when I see people like inkscapee wondering whether it's "fanboy fickleness" or Canonical being "more into serving their own interests than creating a great Linux distro" I just have to laugh.

Canonical HAS created a great Linux distro. One which did more to successfully popularize Linux than the rest of the combined community was ever able to do. So to make a comment like that is (to be polite) somewhat misinformed.

Maybe he should try writing for the WSJ or the NYT? They're where you go to read tech columnists who show a talent for getting a story almost right. :P

I personally think the biggest problem for some dragons in the Linux community is that Shuttleworth is not out to personally destroy Microsoft, or humble Bill Gates, like they are. (Not that Shuttleworth's such a prize package either.) :-\

Ah well...growing pains, real issues, and geek politics - combined with just a dash of green eyes. That's what makes the NIX world go round.

 :)

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