[Nottingham] For info Fedora 17 out today

[Matthew Tompsett]

> All major distros at one time had root login as a default. Opensuse still has it as does
> Linux Mint. So why suddenly have these distros thought "Oh blimey let's get rid of root so
> that end users can not dig into their systems!"

Not having a root login does not prevent a user from digging into
their system. As has already been said, any task that needs root to
perform can be done using sudo with no limitations, which is available
by default on Ubuntu. Not having a root login certainly doesn't stop
me tinkering with my system.

> Ubuntu? Sharp and snappy open as it was in the past -  now - a heavily branded Linux and a
> closed shop. Try and install the real version of Seahorse. All your open source has been
> re-written for Ubuntu - at this goes for Fedora Opensuse and all the other major distros.
> Whereas in the past you installed real open source software - not a version that they who
> ever they are - think you will have.

Isn't the point of open source software is that it's free to modify
and redistribute? Ubuntu, Fedora and other distros want to provide a
unified experience on their system, and tweaking the source is a way
to do that (provided the modified source code is also made available,
which it is). If you want all your software to be identical to
upstream there are other distros more suited to you.

> So for me Fedora-17 is just like Fedora-16 - with much fewer user options - much less
> choice in installable software - and all software re-written to fit in with Fedora. It
> will get to the point when only approved software can run on Fedora. Like Microsoft their
> software only runs on a Microsoft O/S without any backward compatibility. Fedora-17 is no
> different as are other Linux distros Ubuntu Opensuse.

This is absolute rubbish. All major allow the installation of third
party packages and repositories, and they all have development
environments available which allow you to compile and install software
from source. I see no signs that Linux distros will go the approved
apps only route... As for less choice in installable software, I'll
point you to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions#Package_management_and_installation
which shows the number of packages available in different
distributions; Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE are pretty high on the
list, and I'll think you'll find the number increases with every
release.

> But when you get to being over 60 have used Linux for 15 years or more - then you will
> have a little history. You will be aware of the changes. Perhaps in 30 years time people
> will be buying Linux with an end-user licence like Microsoft's. Who knows.

Personally in the 5 years that I've been using Linux the experience
has improved tremendously and my freedoms have not decreased.

Cheers,

Matt