[Wolves] Ubuntu Derivatives

[Alan Pope]

On Tue, Aug 15, 2006 at 12:08:35PM +0100, Simon Morris wrote:
> On Tue, 2006-08-15 at 11:57 +0100, Alan Pope wrote:
> > > The plethora you gave proves my point. All can be achieved from the one 
> > > release what you have demonstarted is the breadth of package choice which is 
> > > irrelevant in respect of 'why'.
> > > 
> > 
> > Becuase under KDE, KDE apps integrate well, under GNOME, GNOME apps
> > integrate well. So if you install kubuntu-desktop you get KDE, KDE Libs and
> > all the apps that integrate well into KDE.
> 
> I think Peters point was (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that Debian
> and SUSE manage to package both KDE and Gnome (and n other desktop
> environments/window managers) into a single distribution. Why do we have
> Ubuntu for Gnome and Kubuntu for KDE.
> 

Yeah,I appreciate that, the fact is though that they are the same under the
bonnet. It's only really from the DE upwards that they differ.

> The answer here is IMO that Canonical did the right thing by
> concentrating on a smaller set of packages than Debian for their initial
> release. They only included Gnome in the main release as it's a small
> set of goals to complete.
> 

Indeed, I understand the history of Ubuntu and where the "other" flavours
came from. I just don't see why it's a problem. I suspect you wouldn't be
able to fit Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu and the necessary live environment on one
CD for a start! 

It certainly makes life a lot easier to support a new user if you separate
out the ubuntu from the kubuntu users. Whilst as I said they're the same
underneath, and from a technical perspective they're much the same to
support, the user/computer interface is dramatically different. Terms are
different, desktop applications differ and therefore application support
needs to be tailored.

> There is a lot of merit in this approach but it does mean you are
> excluding people who want to use alternative environments.
> 

Excluding them from what?. You can apt-get kubuntu-desktop, xubuntu-desktop
or even fluxbox, blackbox or whatever you like.

> Canonical also mastered the art of community building and they now have
> a vibrant set of derivatives offering the alternatives.
> 

Yeah, totally.

Cheers,
Al.