[Gloucs] The future of Linux - is Ubuntu really it? I hope not!

[Alan Pope]

Hi David,

2009/10/4 Danger <seriously.nowai at googlemail.com>:
> So getting straight to the point, is Ubuntu good for Linux?

How is it bad for Linux?

> Now I'll start
> by saying I actually have one of my VM's running Ubuntu at the moment, and
> it's meh, it's fine.

You sound like someone who is quite experienced with Linux. I'm not
altogether surprised you find Ubuntu 'meh'. I find many existing Linux
users don't like the 6 month release cycle, preferring the way Debian
testing and unstable do it, or perhaps prefer Gentoo or Arch.

> I've had a play with distributions like  Ubuntu and
> MINT etc.. and as friendly as they try and make Linux it seems a little
> pointless as at some point the user will HAVE to come across the command
> line, tools like make,

It's not inevitable that all users have to drop to the command line.
My wife never used the command line on her Ubuntu PC. She had an
experienced tech support person who did that for her. Similarly my
mother in law has never used the registry editor on her Windows
computer, but she also has a tech support person who would use it if
necessary.

> is there any point of hiding them away, and is it
> just be or all the attractive things about Ubuntu just "getting around " the
> free software perspective?
>

Ubuntu doesn't hide the command line at all. If you look at the
documentation you'll find references to the command line all the way
through it:-

http://help.ubuntu.com/
http://help.ubuntu.com/community

> The point, for me at least, about using Linux is mainly the fact that's free
> and every bit of the OS I use I can edit, I can have the source I can modify
> it (even if I occasionally  (=~ s/occasionally/most of the time/) I do it
> baldy.

There are of course many motivations for using Linux, the fact that
its Free software is only one of them.

> When I use these "pop linux" distros I feel there just promoting
> people to avoid and ignore this, "go and get this codec or this Sun version
> of Java" rather than saying hey this is a completely free environment.  Is
> that what we really want?
>

It's their computer, if they want to use some product that requires
the Sun Java plugin, or want to watch videos off their mobile phone,
or encode video from their digital video camera to playback on some
other platform then yes, we need to make it possible (and easy) for
them to configure their systems to do that.

Note that Ubuntu does have a 'fully free' option where no non-Free
software is installed, but it's up to the user what they put on their
computer.

> Although Dell did a very good job defending the return rates on Linux based
> netbooks - I know a fair few people who give Linux ago but after a few days
> it just gets too much for them, and to be honest I accept that.

Bet they'd have a similar problem if they switched to a Mac running
OSX. It's different and people need help making the transition. I
think your perspective that its too hard so lets not do it isn't
something that matches many peoples free software ideals.

> Should we
> [A] keep trying and pushing distros like Ubuntu to the average Joe,

Yes. They can show us where we are going wrong or need to improve
things. Without 'real' users using our software how will we know what
we need. If we only have geeks using our software then we'll end up
with a Linux desktop as it was 8 years ago.

> [B] keep
> developing Linux on our own path, and if it becomes accessible enough for
> everyone then push it to the masses or

Some would say it's already got to that point. There are _millions_ of
Linux users worldwide. Would you deny them the opportunity to use free
software? Seems somewhat arrogant and elitist to me.

> [C] Why the f-word are we even
> bothered what the average Joe wants , we'll keep developing it for what we
> want, and in our direction.
>

See answer to [A].

> I'll end with my perspective, I don't think Linux is "mass market ready", I
> dont think any distro should be pushing software that is non-free, and I
> certainly don't think our agenda should be influenced by wanted more users
> to use Linux.
>

I talk to new users of Ubuntu every week, supporting them through
their issues. I don't think it's up to us to tell them they can't use
Linux. It's their choice.

Cheers,
Al.