[Bradford] Ubuntu

[Nick Rhodes]

Setting unity as their default desktop environment in 11.04, I had been
using it already on a netbook, so was less of a shock to me. IMHO should of
waited until 12.04 before making it default as it had too many
glitches/quirks. Tricky situation where they needed to get Unity used a lot
to iron out bugs though.

I am not decided on smart scopes, there are a few I would find useful on
occasion, based on what I have read so far.
The Amazon search results would of been fine IMHO if there was no privacy
implications.

1. Its a good alround Distro IMHO, I use it personally on Desktop and media
machines, use it at work for servers (along with Redhat and Debian) I have
a mild preference to it over Debian because I prefer the release cycles
(Desktop and Server). Under the hood their patching policy/quality is not
as good as Debian by a long way (for example they patched Shotwell to use
their own version of online accounts, so it can non longer be used outside
Unity for publishing images online). But generally its least hassle to
install/configure and run day to day for myself.
Ubuntu support is patchy, if its a core app they can be good at patching,
something more obscure and its generally just left to wait for an upstream
fix to hopefully trickle down on the next release. Debian in contrast seems
to promote maintainers activity working with upstream directly, which I see
little evidence of from Ubuntu. There are hits and misses with Ubuntu IMHO
but no doubt it its a good option for Windows refugee's and non techys on
the desktop.

2. Apart from still not having a good reason for it existence could cause
friction amongst developers, I don't think it will cause fragmentation,
just like systemd/upstart has not, they are somewhat (lots of non trivial
init script type changes needed) interchangable components. I honestly
can't see how they can make a stable well tested X replacement, especially
based on their current track record of developing software, Unity was far
from perfect, then  they kept making changes under the hood), if Xorg or
Wayland is not an easily installable fall back it could well drive me away
from Ubuntu.

3. Can anything ? IMHO the only chance is to find a good niche. What
compelling features will it have ? What compelling features will it have
missing ? (for me a big one is google maps/navigation).

4. I think Ubuntu has some good ideas, ability for the phone to provide a
desktop to a connected display, Unity IMHO be less jarring between
mouse/keyboard and touch operation than Windows 8 for example.
Do they have the resources to keep up their standards with the desktop ?
I am worried that the Unity desktop will get watered down with touch apps
and could be some thing else that drives me away from Ubuntu.


Cheers, Nick



On 28 July 2013 09:09, Mohammed Djavanroodi <mo.roodi at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I'm new here and this is my first submission so please be gentle!
>
> Now a little background. I work as a web developer and while at work I
> have to use Windows, at home I solely use Ubuntu and have done for a while,
> although I've only recently started using it exclusively. I've been playing
> around with Linux on and off for the past 10 or so years but I'm by no
> means l33t!
>
> What I really wanted to do was guage people's feelings towards Ubuntu and
> Canonical.
>
> In the community there seems to be a lot of mixed feelings towards the
> approach and decisions that Canonical are making, from setting unity as
> their default desktop environment in 11.04 to plans to use mir as their
> display server in 13.10 onwards to their smart scopes and Amazon search
> results.
>
> And then there's Ubuntu Touch and Ubuntu Edge as well. Basically it would
> seems Mark Shuttleworth has had a plan all along and now we're starting to
> see the plan which is convergence.
>
> My own personal opinions are mixed. I like Unity now, but that's not
> always been the case. The Amazon search results was just a complete
> mistake, and I think IF done right the whole convergence thing looks like
> it shows promise, although as a traditional laptop users I hope they don't
> make any compromises!
>
> So here are my questions for discussion:
>
> 1. What are people's thoughts on Ubuntu?
>
> 2. Do you think using Mir will cause fragmentation in Linux?
>
> 3. Can Ubuntu touch gain any traction in a market dominated by Android and
> iOS?
>
> 4. Can Ubuntu succeed in convergence where others have compromised too
> much?
>
> I appreciate that this is quite a wide range of different discussions. I
> also want to open the floor to more general discussions about Ubuntu as
> well. Some in the Linux community have said that Mark Shuttleworth wants to
> be the next Steve Jobs... Is that ridiculous?
>
> Also Ubuntu is the distro that Steam recommends, with Ubuntu changing to
> Mir which distro will steam suggest for it's Linux gamers?
>
> Apologies this submission is a bit of a brain splurge!
>
> Thanks,
> Mo
>
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>
>
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