<br><div class="gmail_quote">On 29 May 2012 15:59, <a href="mailto:david@gbenet.com">david@gbenet.com</a> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:david@gbenet.com" target="_blank">david@gbenet.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div id=":jd">Linux was once free and open source - even Ubuntu has changed to being a closed shop. The<br>
Ubuntu you have now is very very much different from the Ubuntu of 5 years ago. If your<br>
mind does not grasp the changes to your distro - what then?</div></blockquote></div><div><br></div><div>As far as I know, Ubuntu is free/opensource (though it does allow you to add non-free components if you like). It's one of the systems I use. </div>
<div><br></div><div>I've not been using Ubuntu derivatives Kubuntu and Lubuntu for five years - before it I used Sidux, and before that Mandrake, and before that very briefly Suse; along the way Vector and Slackware have had brief trials, and I'm sure there have been one or two others. Oh, yes, DSL. And Linpus. </div>
<div><br></div><div>And yes, Linux has changed over those years. It's got far easier to use; more just works; the need to intervene with root permissions has dropped significantly. There have been design decisions I disagree with - I still reckon KDE4 broke more than it fixed, and a lot of it remains broken. But each time I install a Linux version, there's less time wasted tweaking it all to make it work properly with printers, peripherals, on-line services and so on.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Ubuntu's not had root logins by default for a long time - in fact I seem to recall that it never did - it was one of those startup design decisions. Apart from software installation, I think I last used root permissions on my main system sometime around Christmas. I use them more often on my laptop, but I play with that (it's on Lubuntu) and don't mind breaking things, so I've more often got damage to repair. </div>
<div><br></div><div>So in respect of root logins Ubuntu wouldn't be any different now to how it was 5 years ago, if it existed then. In respect of user flexibility, Unity was horrible when it first came out, but then so was KDE4. Apt-get is still available, so I can install whatever I like. Even a build environment, for when what I like isn't packaged. That's still pretty flexible.</div>
<div><br></div><div>So I have to say I really don't know what your beef is. What exactly can't you now do in Linux - given that you can use root - that you couldn't five years ago? And, be honest, what can you do now that you couldn't then?</div>
<div><br></div><div>And why aren't you using Slackware, if purity, historical consistency and need to use Root for pretty well anything useful are your criteria for a good Linux system? Sure, if your system is anything like mine was last time I tried Slack, you may not have sound, vision at high quality or the ability to print anything, but surely that's small price to pay for a Real Linux. And you could leave the rest of us to use one which actually works for us. </div>
<br clear="all">David Aldred<br><br>