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So this is what we will get with the long awaited GNOME 4? No mouse, no keyboard... only your hands ? :D

There is a great site called DistroWatch which trys to maintain a database of all linux and bsd distributions and allows you to discover and compare them in different ways.

That assertion is unsupported. Page Hit Rankings are meaningless, and so easily gamed by enthusiasts for various distros.

Actually, DistroWatch keeps track of the OS signatures of visitors. According to that Ubuntu (and all derivatives based on it) account for only 3.2% of the visitors using Linux. The distro with the most users visiting DistroWatch is "Unknown", at 36.3%.

Linux visitors combined account for 41.5% and Windows visitors account for 48.7% of all visitors. So, most of the people visiting that site are curious Windows users, 15.5% of whom are using XP and 29% are using "Windows 2008". 2.3% are still using VISTA!

FreeBSD would do fine if they tried pushing PC-BSD against Linux as far as desktop OSs went. Only thing - during the first instell, one has to know to some of the pitfalls one will run into while going about it, but if any company were to pre-install them on desktops, they'd be fine. FreeBSD also does well as a firewall & router (pFsense) and has some other distros as well, but from what I understand, for the consumer desktop, none as great as PC-BSD.

If you are using OS-X and Linux, and want a consistent interface b/w the two, PearOS may be a good one for you. The UX is that of MacOS - they rigged Gnome 3.2 (HA!) to get there, so that one has the OS-X UX on top of an Ubuntu based distro, but w/o either Gnome3 or Unity. Only thing - some menus are in French, even if you select English as the default languages. If one can handle that, this is a great solution for Mac users who want a similar looking OS on a cheaper desktop or laptop.

I am wondering whether desktop Linux matters in these times. For some it does I am sure, as evidenced on distrowatch . It is the most popular distro now, after pushing Ubuntu to second place.

In my little world though, Linux is inconsequential. I just do not care that much any more.

I [still] employ Windows XP at work, and use Windows 7 in addition to an Asus Eee Pad transformer at home, where I spend most of my time on the net.

I still have to ask the general public whether, desktop Linux still matters. Does it?

1. Download a VM like Virtalbox.
2. Download Puppy Linux .iso
3. Install Puppy Linux in Virtalbox. 4 gig dynamic drive with 128 megs of RAM will suffice.
4. Inside puppy download and install the pet package Hiawatha
5. Setup FTP inside your home directory (I think it's called setup file sharing)
6. Set your network in Puppy to a static IP and set Virtualbox to use a bridged adapter for the puppy install.
7. Use Notepad++, Filezilla in windows to FTP into your virtual box to update files.

That's close to a LAMP server. I don't think technically using Puppy/Hiawatha would be LAMP. But I believe Hiawatha serves the same function as Apache and I think would suit your purpose. if you're just interested in the PHP part you can also just install XAMPP.

The thing I like about the Virtualbox (or any VM) is you can wipe it out easily. You can move it to different computers. It's easy to play around with FTP and SSH settings.
There are tons of ways to do this without getting a host if you're just looking to learn. If you really want a host most have LAMP options. For many it is even the default. For tutorials I think W3 Schools is good starting point and has examples.

*All suggestions are debatable. When making these suggestions I considered using low resources and ease of use. Given more resources to give to the Virtual box you have tons and tons of choices.

BTW, the majority of major distros have chosen rpm-based systems

Distrowatch says you're wrong. Debian based distros occupy 3 of the top five slots while Fedora as slipped to number 3. Incidentally, redhat while being the most profitable, is far from most popular at number 24.

The reference in TFS actually shows Mint is THE most popular linux distro of ALL distros at the moment. Look at the last column (1 month).

Between the 2 OSs - Windows 98 and Windows NT, which one do you think was targeted at home users? 98, right? Under your reasoning, MS should have done the reverse - positioned NT towards home users, and 98 towards Corporate users, where one was more likely to have admins familiar w/ DOS commands. Although to be fair, DOS had an extremely limited set of commands and no choice of shells - like from ash to zsh, and so it wasn't difficult to get a quick handle on stuff. Also, installing anything from DOS was just a question of typing 'Setup' or 'Install'.

But even under XP, there are times you're forced to go into the command shell. Here's an experiment - the next time your internet connection is not working and you call up their tech support, note what they tell you. Everytime I've called, they'd ask me to run cmd, and then under the DOS prompt, do a ping and give me an address to ping. If one were to get rid of the DOS subsystem in NT/XP/7, how would one check for such connectivity? For whatever reason, MS doesn't have an option where you click Control Panel -> Connect to -> and then enter an IP address.

As to the question of whether a Linux could be done without CLI, it absolutely can. Go to distrowatch, and download the GNUSTEP OS, which is a Debian with GNUSTEP as the only UI. I dunno whether you were familiar w/ NEXT, but in college, when I struggled w/ SunOS, Ultrix, AIX and the like, I found in our computer lab NEXT workstations which were absolutely neat. Go to the Workspace Manager, and you'll see the entire directory tree. Clicking was all one needed to do (I'm not sure whether the install required a text driven instructions). And if one had to, one could edit the configuration files sitting in the GUI. There was no CLI mode - you had to open a terminal within the GUI.

I think that once GNUSTEP comes as an option on most distros (like it is on all BSDs), it's more possible for there to be a fully functional GUI where CLI is not needed. If Apple can do it, any distro can. Why they choose not to is another story altogether.

My understanding is that 32 bit Ubuntu binaries are compiled with i686 instructions which means you will be able to go all the way back to Pentium Pro era machines (according to distrowatch the switch from i386 to i686 happened in Ubuntu 10.10). Those packages that are performance sensitive typically have multiple versions of the code (typically selected between at run time).

I would be amazed if typical 32 bit packages were compiled to use even SSE by default (rather than optionally) let alone SSE2 (which "only" arrived on AMD Athlon64 machines in 2003). I think the next step minimum will be 64 bit only...

However your point holds - would you want to run a recent Ubuntu on such an old machine given all the other requirements?

The other problem is bad attitude, which in a way reminds me of the way online shooters have become. go to ANY forum and ask for a non CLI way to solve a simple problem and what do you get? Most likely a wave of pure hatred, with every filthy name in the book, ending with "RTFM or go back to Winblowz noob LOL!".

What a crock of !@#$. Have you even looked at the Ubuntu forums? BS like that is not allowed at all! That crap doesn't even fly in debian-user, and anything and anyone can post to it without even subscribing. Usenet and IRC used to be like that, but that stuff hasn't flown for years (which is a shame because I enjoyed stamping on those jerks' heads and teaching them civility).

What's wrong with CLI ways to solve problems? You can't type? Could'a fooled me. Why are you looking for non-CLI progs in the first place when simpler, quicker solutions already exist? Just because you're used to Windows Explorer doesn't mean GUI file managers are the right way to do things. They even decided to hide filename extensions from you, despite the dangerous security implications (in Windows) that raises.

Stop spreading FUD. It makes you look like a fool. And buy yourself a cheap sandbox machine so you can try out modern installs without fscking up your working machine. Go to Distrowatch and find some ISOs to burn. Run the install over and over again and learn their potential. Pretty soon, you'll be able to build a fully functional box in half an hour.

As a result, you can expect a MASSIVE amount of problems when introducing FOSS. Linux et al are not known for their great hardware compatibility even in modern systems, much less in really old ones that have most components in EOL for a long time.

Pure, unadulterated FUD, and demonstrably untrue. Spend a little time on distrowatch.com. There are many distributions specifically designed for running on older, under-powered, seemingly obsolete systems. *buntu has at least three of its own. Damn Small Linux is *still* going strong. Hell, even OpenBSD works well on those systems.

You could try out GNUSTEP instead, since that has the old NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP UI. Go to distrowatch, and there is even a GNUSTEP distro (based on Debian/Morphix) w/ WindowMaker as the Window Manager. That might be your best option, after GNOME2.

The other question - if you are happy w/ GNOME2, why are you even upgrading? Just stay w/ your old Ubuntu, and GNOME.

Ubuntu 11.10: GCC 4.6.1
Ubuntu 11.04: GCC 4.5.2
Ubuntu 10.10: GCC 4.4.4
Ubuntu 10.04: GCC 4.4.3
Ubuntu 9.10: GCC 4.4.1
Ubuntu 9.04: GCC 4.3.3
Ubuntu 8.10: GCC 4.3.1
Ubuntu 8.04: GCC 4.2.3
Ubuntu 7.10: GCC 4.1.2
Ubuntu 7.04: GCC4.1.2
Ubuntu 6.10: GCC 4.1.1
Ubuntu 6.06: GCC 4.0.3
Ubuntu 5.10: GCC 4.0.1
Ubuntu 5.04: GCC 3.3.5
Ubuntu 4.10: GCC 3.3.4

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=ubuntu

Namely it would have to get some standards beyond the kernel.

you mean like LSB?

you could rely on features, packages, UIs, etc being in all distributions.

Oh! you mean like LSB!

To desktop users, an OS isn't a kernel, it is a rich experience that comprises, well, everything you find on a Windows or MacOS disc. Until that happens, it'll never be an OS people want to use on the desktop because people don't want choice, they want consistency.

You can choose any of the top 10 distributions out there. They will all pretty much have the same applications on them, one of two primary desktop environments, and the experience from install to working on a desktop will not differ significantly from using a windows or a mac install disc. The big exception is gentoo which asks some more technical questions and takes a hell of a lot longer.

No distributing programs as source, no recompiling the kernel to make something work, all binary all the time for users. Again, wouldn't mean it would have to get rid of source, just that the user experience couldn't include it. That would have to be all nice guided installers that are fast and easy.

I can download the source for plenty of programs aimed at compilation on windows and mac. So I'm pretty sure that has nothing to do with it. Honestly this paragraph just tells me that you haven't used any of the major distros in the last 5 years. Recompiling the kernel is only necessary for people who have REALLY exotic hardware needs (and therefore probably don't mind the compilation issue so much). Drivers are usually all handled through automatic detection and compilation against your headers, all done behind the scenes. I can install Ubuntu on just about any machine the same way I do windows. 1) put disc in tray, 2) smack forehead against spacebar until options are complete, 3) make some coffee while the installation procedure runs.The key difference between a windows install and an Ubuntu install at this point is that Ubuntu has the newest versions of all drivers and software, whereas on windows I will be hunting down drivers from 5 different manufacturer websites, and then spending another 3 hours hunting down and installing all the applications I need.

Basically, what you're asking for is already there. You just couldn't see it with your nose so far in the air.

This.

Distrowatch has Mint and Debian right behind Ubuntu at #2 and #3.

The disaster that is Natty Narwhal may just be the the straw that'll push Ubuntu users out looking for an alternative.

While an Ubuntu user would have to make a big cultural shift going towards Gentoo or Arch (not to mention Slackware), Mint is basically just Ubuntu, only more configured.

You can only dictate to your userbase (a la Office 2007/ribbons) if you have a monopoly.

One of the first distros with a decent default configuration that "just worked' was Mandrake, now Mandriva.
They gad a brief hiccup due to poor management but Mandriva 2010.2 was one of their best releases ever. Again, it "just worked" and had a huge software repository. And again, they had a management hiccup and most of their devs left to start Mageia, which promises to carry on all the best that was Mandriva/Mandrake including sane and useful default settings and configurations. Mageia is now just in in final beta before their first release, but Mandriva 2010.2 is done, polished and constantly updated. You should try it if you are dissatisfied with the lack of user choice provided by Ubuntu.
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mandriva

Nonetheless a nice one. Ubuntu and slackware was missing, though.

I'm not sure I agree that it has lost its throne, if you look at distrowatch's hit counter it still shows Ubuntu as #1

Your Linux is just rotten
The command line's long forgotten
Be quirky if you're brave
Burma Shave!

Yeah, but Windows is Windows and OS/X is OS/X. There's little difference between them.

Linux is complicated

Who the Fuck is Steven Vaughan-Nichols?

I have run Debian based systems for a very long time. Mepis, Mint, Kubuntu, and on and on. On my server, it's just pure straight stable Debian. I did, at one point have to compromise slightly on that for PHP5, IIRC. It can be frustrating running pure stable Debian. Unstable Debian can be just as frustrating. Hence the need for third party Debian based distros. If it wasn't for Debian's crazy release schedule and placement of code in unstable or testing when it really needs to be in stable, there would be little need for the alternatives. Heck if Debian came out with a "Best of Debian" branch they'd probably kill most of the need for the Debian based distros.

I've used them all, and just like debian based more. Started with Slackware, went to RH and then Mandrake, then Debian - after that it becomes a blur. Even tried Corel Linux, LFS, Gentoo, DSL. Lastly, I tried building my own. But then I discovered Mepis, and Mint and Ubuntu variants. When Mepis went quiet, I switched to Mint. Tried Ubuntu, but hated it - for some reason.

Now of course this was a comment made by perhaps the most successful troll in the IT world, Mr. Nichols. So what can we really expect. This is what you get when you feed trolls too much. But using the closest thing we have to track Linux distribution, Distrowatch, Mr Nichols means if you're' not in the top three you're just not as important anymore. Then of course, you have the fact that Debian based distros control over 40% of the webserver market, [+ RH based ~92%]. I guess that's not important either.

I flashed on that thought but then looking at the numbers on Distrowatch the top 2 are Ubuntu and Mint (a, IMHO, crappy Ubuntu derivative) then Fedora. Unless they want to bump Fedora below OpenSUSE what would be the point?

At one point, there was even a Linux distro based on that: Hikarunix.

There's an interesting article over at Distrowatch about the binary blob issue. The author poses, like you have suggested, the rhetorical question of whether it's better to have the kernel load non-free firmware (e.g. from hard disk) or have the chip load the same from its internal memory. So is it better (1) to have binary-only firmware that you might hack even if with difficulty by using, say, a hex editor, or (2) to have burnt-in firmware that nobody but a hardcore hardware hacker can modify?

"How is "dual booting" a solution?"

For the same reason that Peter Paul makes Almond Joy and Mounds, or people dual boot Windows and Linux: Sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don't ;-)

Or this: http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=06383 or this: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2010-December/000793.html

From the www.ubuntu.com announcement:
"Unity is now the default in the Ubuntu Desktop session. This is partially implement ..."
"It support Quick lists on context menu ..."

Not wanting to sound like a chauvinist, but I prefer my announcements written by native speakers.

Not sure what your talking about.. go here.. http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=debian newest to the left.. oldest to the right.. I haven't found Debian any more difficult to install than Ubuntu.. but that's me. For a day to day system, testing has usually been very good.. unstable ?.. well the name says it all.. I know lots of people like to live on that edge, but I prefer not to... All that said, I do like Debian, but I haven't used it as my main OS for awhile.. not because of the difficulties you had, but mostly because of the whole Firefox thing.. Debian had Iceweasel, and it was giving me too much greif.. and that's why I switched.. It's probably all sorted out now.. I'll probably get a wild hair again someday to redo my OS, and I'll probably go back to Debian first.. but for now, am just plugging happily away in Xubuntu.

He did well it appears thusfar.

I say that, because this is the 2nd ANDROID security hole I've heard about in this one, & the other was at most a week ago also.

I also formerly recall ANDROID code in the kernel being part of the normal family distros you see here http://distrowatch.com/ usually, but I have recently heard it was gone now for awhile!

So... Per my subject above, maybe this is for the best, as again, this the 2nd security hole I have seen in ANDROID this past 2 weeks now in fact as I stated above...

APK

P.S.=>

"Fragmentation affects the creation and distribution of the patch." - by node 3 (115640)
on Saturday November 27, @06:18PM (#34360860)

Security also, per the above, @ least lately...

However, this DOES show you "Pro-*NIX" Penguins out there that yes, Linux can & does have "holes" in it, especially when its changed/ported (etc./et al, you know what I mean, in comparing ANDROID to other LINUX kernel builds)... apk

LINUX XP:

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=linuxxp

That about "cuts the mustard" imo @ least, per the original poster's requests he find a Windows-Like Desktop for Linux... well, "there tis"!

---

"My apologies if I sounded hostile in that post, my intentions were to give some info on what "Lindows" is if anyone is looking for a Windows-like experience on Linux."

- by wastedlife (1319259)
on Monday October 25, @02:31PM (#34015668) Homepage

No, per my subject-line above? I think you were quite cool and NOT "aggressive" (a-holish, lol) to me at all, & I appreciated the historical backdrop actually... like I said earlier? I took a HUGE break from Linux, waiting for it to be what it is now, and hopefully, moreso in the future, per VOLUME MGT. SYSTEMS, &/or games on it.

---

"I agree that KDE is the way to go for something like that.""

- by wastedlife (1319259) on Monday October 25, @02:31PM (#34015668) Homepage

Yes, I agree as you know, & for the same reasons the init. poster I replied to said he wanted: A desktop close enough to Windows to be VERY easy to adapt to.

---

"I hear Kubuntu gets far less development attention than the main Gnome-based Ubuntu, and see many people recommend SUSE for a KDE desktop."

- by wastedlife (1319259) on Monday October 25, @02:31PM (#34015668) Homepage

Could be, I am not YET that "in touch" with the Linux crowd's "inner workings" (yet), but I intend to learn more as I go is all... you may be right, but, so far? Well, KUbuntu's been great to me, and it does get daily updates (via the software packages tool &/or drivers update tool (these are great)).

---

"I have not personally used KDE in a long time, but I think I might give it another shot now that 4.x seems to have ironed out most of the kinks."

- by wastedlife (1319259) on Monday October 25, @02:31PM (#34015668) Homepage

Do, as it's "GOOD STUFF" now, @ least I think so (& I was a HUGELY "stiff critic" of Linux here for MANY years in fact, but, not anymore).

---

"I do recall a friend once customizing a KDE desktop for his parents to the point that they had no idea they were using Linux instead of Windows."

- by wastedlife (1319259) on Monday October 25, @02:31PM (#34015668) Homepage

Heh, yea... well, see the 1st thing I posted above, lol... that oughtta "blow anyone's mind", especially on this account!

---

"Also, I agree that gaming is a big thing holding linux back from mass desktop usage, but I do not see how this can be fixed."

- by wastedlife (1319259) on Monday October 25, @02:31PM (#34015668) Homepage

Time really... IDSoftware makes builds of DOOM/QUAKE/WOLFENSTEIN, so I figure it's only a matter of time before other major gaming houses do the same - it's only a matter of "love" on the devs parts though, because the "bean counters" are ALL about "sell, sell, sell" & Linux-wares are NOT generally sold for cash (freeware for the MOST part, right?)

---

"WINE and similar will always be at least one step behind in supporting DirectX/3D APIs, which are pretty much de facto. I've heard even John Carmack will be using DirectX/3D for an upcoming game."

- by wastedlife (1319259) on Monday October 25, @02:31PM (#34015668) Homepage

Right, & JC was a HUGE fan of OpenGL on both Linux &/or Windows (& other systems/OS' too)... even he has to "go with the flow" @ times.

---

"I'm not sure what you mean by a "good volume management system like NTFS/Active Directory"

- by wastedlife (1319259) on Monday October 25, @02:31PM (#34015668) Homepage

It's a feature for managing syste

"I want something that looks like Windows (start button, trashbin, tabs on bottom or top, etc). I tried to find Unity screenshots but found nothing. Does it look/feel like a Windows PC?" - by commodore64_love (1445365)
on Monday October 25, @11:22AM (#34012718)

LINUX XP:

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=linuxxp

See that URL & this screenshot of it for your reference here -> http://distrowatch.com/images/cgfjoewdlbc/linuxxp-jvbxckujv.png

From the sounds of your requests?

Well - It MAY be what you're looking for, exactly (or, as "exactly" as is possible currently).

APK

P.S.=> Onwards & upwards, "getting back to you" is all, from my other reply to you here today in regards to KDE distro usage (I like KUbuntu personally, so I suggested it here -> http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1837998&cid=34012912 ... apk

"I want something that looks like Windows (start button, trashbin, tabs on bottom or top, etc). I tried to find Unity screenshots but found nothing. Does it look/feel like a Windows PC?" - by commodore64_love (1445365)
on Monday October 25, @11:22AM (#34012718)

LINUX XP:

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=linuxxp

See that URL & this screenshot of it for your reference here -> http://distrowatch.com/images/cgfjoewdlbc/linuxxp-jvbxckujv.png

From the sounds of your requests?

Well - It MAY be what you're looking for, exactly (or, as "exactly" as is possible currently).

APK

P.S.=> Onwards & upwards, "getting back to you" is all, from my other reply to you here today in regards to KDE distro usage (I like KUbuntu personally, so I suggested it here -> http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1837998&cid=34012912 ... apk

No pity for the Million Micro$oft Virus/Bots/etc. because smart people run one of the 452 stable, safe, secure, virus free GNU/Linux distros, or one of the 36 *BSDs! My tolerance for any businesses that run very vulnerable Micro$oft, thus risking customers, is now zero. If forced to deal with them, do cash only, with the 3% discount for cash! Get Linux or BSD! http://linuxmint.com/ http://distrowatch.com/ http://www.bsd.org/ http://linux.org/

Well, yes, but you can say that about any percentage based statistic. If something doesn't exist, its statistic will be filled in by something else. The fact is that according to distrowatch, Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based Debian derivatives dominate the leader board. Not to mention the inclusion of Ubuntu on cheap Dell laptops for a time and the evangelizing of Ubuntu converts who're more passionate than new Christians. Maybe that's why Ubuntu Christian exists?

Well, yes, but you can say that about any percentage based statistic. If something doesn't exist, its statistic will be filled in by something else. The fact is that according to distrowatch, Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based Debian derivatives dominate the leader board. Not to mention the inclusion of Ubuntu on cheap Dell laptops for a time and the evangelizing of Ubuntu converts who're more passionate than new Christians. Maybe that's why Ubuntu Christian exists?

Owww.. I had a really nice troll comment someone posted on slashdot a while ago describing an example of how the "user support" of a game company would sound like after releasing a game "fully supported" on Linux... (i.e. a user calling the support hotline after his brand-new game did not have sound)

It included the specification of distro (ubuntu vs redhat, vs mint, vs fedora, vs more than 100 more) desktop environment (KDE vs XFCE vs Gnome vs ???), sound system (ALSA, PulseAudio, OSS, ALSA over Pulseaudio, OSS over Alsa...) etc.

Really, I use Linux everyday for my Work (R-project+ awk + Netbeans + gcc + Gnumeric are Teh L33t) but I won't suggest "mainstream" linux gaming is a reality...

There are Linux games, but all of them require a lot of effort to make them run compared to Console, Mac or Windows games (double click installer and TADA!)

Such things don't seem to guarantee anything...

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=evilentity

.. demanding that vendors include it as a compulsory package for Linux users who select "France" ..

What vendors ?

If you meant distributors (of Linux) ... there are 100's of them, and only a few that would be subject to French law.

If [...] the community or a man page tells you to edit something in ~/etc/foo/bar, but your seeing /etc(Prefs) instead

Perhaps putting the subtitle on a different line and in a lighter and/or smaller font would help. Compare how the "Tiles" view in Windows XP uses three lines for the filename, friendly file type name, and byte size or image dimensions.

If someone managed to hash our a decent open OS X-like distro, I would be in love.

Mac OS X is the successor to NeXTstep, and its API is called Cocoa, the successor to OPENSTEP. GNUstep is an implementation of OPENSTEP and parts of Cocoa. So would a Debian-based distribution with Window Maker and GNUstep apps be a good start? See also other thoughts on products that can be built out of GNUstep.

Pizza Pup to get a decent level of protection?
Ancient. Based on Puppy 2.14.
...and this one was last released in 2007.
http://distrowatch.com/grafpup
.
Puppy runs everything as root
Yup. ZERO security.
.
This is the only extant Puplet with any security
http://google.com/search?q=multiuser+Puppy
(Released October 2009. Based on Puppy 4.2.1.)

gewg_

" Damn Vulnerable Linux unknown"

It's based on Debbian and Knoppix. See: http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=damnsmall

Actually, that's Damn Small Linux. Damn Vulnerable Linux is Slackware/Slax-based, at least according to this

" Damn Vulnerable Linux unknown"

It's based on Debbian and Knoppix. See: http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=damnsmall

Actually, that's Damn Small Linux. Damn Vulnerable Linux is Slackware/Slax-based, at least according to this

This doesn't exactly map onto "vote with your wallet". So how are we supposed to 'vote' in a meaningful way.

This is a serious question. Not buying a product and advising anyone who will listen to do the same is one thing, but how exactly does one provide negative feedback to an Free Software project?

In this case you don't use it. As Linux is used by more and more people, companies will want to start pre-loading it on their systems. Thing is, with so many distro's to chose from, companies aren't likely to just choose a Linux distro blindly and hope for the best. They are going to want to chose the Linux distro that it most used. And that is where you 'vote with your wallet'. If people don't like what the distro is doing they will voice it on the offical distro's forums and if ignored will jump to another distro. And which ever distro has the most users is most likely to succeed. So, don't like what the distro is doing? Leave it for another and with more and more doing that, the companies will just follow the crowd.

You can fully "undress" it, down to the bare basics, and it is incredibly stable. You'll definitely run it from a 4 Gb USB stick - and your students, most importantly, will LEARN from it.

I don't think just pushing your favourite distribution is appropriate here, you really need to breakdown the myriad of Linux distributions to the basics and then let the user decide. Nearly all Linux distributions are based on Debian, Redhat and SuSE so I have given a very brief description of each group and their most popular distributions:

Debian - very customisable.
Ubuntu - Based on Debian. Usually the best when coming from a Microsoft environment.
Redhat - Commercial distribution.
CenTOS -A free supported clone of Redhat.
Fedora - This is fairly bleeding edge but is good if you are predominately using Redhat distributions.
SuSE - Commercial distribution from Novel.
OpenSuSE - Free well supported distribution IMHO looks nicer than Fedora although IMHO Fedora is better supported.

All the above allow you to run the following window managers right out of the box if you want:

KDE - Very customisable window/session manager.
Gnome - Excellent customisation however IMHO not as good as KDE.

Deciding on a window/session manager (there are others such as "xfce") is a personal choice so try them and decide which is best for you. When you run a window/session manager basically your Linux distribution is actually hidden from you unless you are updating packages or running specific distribution commands. The one thing about Linux is choice be is a full featured distribution taking up to 10GB to one that will easily run from a 1GB pen drive.

It must be noted that the Linux kernel is common to all Linux distributions the only things that may be different are some modules which actually can be propriety in some instances.

For further reading and most likely confusion take a look at the following .

Which is why I'm going with Crunchbang shortly. Apparently they got the hint.

I agree this could have been posted a little earlier, but I disagree with those who say an Ubuntu beta isn't news for nerds.

It is.

Like it or not, Ubuntu is the top Linux distribution, including all of its variants (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc.).

Also, saying that anybody who's interested in Ubuntu would already know about the LTS beta is nonsensical. People have a variety of interests, but that doesn't mean that they're obsessively following Google Updates for all of them. The point of Slashdot is to compile (selected) tech news.

After Redhat mismanaged the discontinuation of RedHat Linux in favor of an enterprise focus, many people started fishing around for a replacement default Linux. (Yes, I know Redhat still has a desktop product, but the impression people got was that Redhat was going totally corporate.)

Add to that the legendary (even promised) instability of Fedora, which is explicitly and without apology presented as a testing vehicle.

In comes Ubuntu with the Circle of Friends imagery, the Ubuntu code of conduct, the word ubuntu itself ("open and available to others"), and the promise of "Linux for Human Beings".

The rapid growth of Ubuntu to #1 on Distrowatch was propelled by evangelism done by the same power users whose opinions are apparently not worth being listened to anymore.

Further proof:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution#Examples

http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

I think it's more a question of phases.

As with Linux-on-the-Desktop, there's a moment of explosive chaos.
Followed by a market self-selection, with only a few mainstream solutions remaining at the center of interests.
Then under the impulse of these main leader, collaboration insures interoperability, which in turn make the whole stuff work better.

It was such with Linux, during the "great disto war". Nowaday, Ubuntu is pretty much the main game in town for newbie, with redhat, suse and debian maintaining stronghold with classic users, and a pile of small satelite filling specific niche ("Gentoo" for ricer customiser / Knoppix for Boot disks / Task-oriented specific disto like SystemRescueCD / low foot-print like DamnSmall). Yes there is a long list of distro mentioned on DistroWatch. But currently, if you want to "just get linux" (and not something terribly specific) it's a no brainier, just pick among the 2-3 main. Or just use whichever came with the laptop you bought.
Same with the desktop: KDE and Gnome are the main game in town, despite the much larger available choice.
Same with browser : dozen of eccentric ones exist, but people usually want Firefox.
There are efforts like FreeDesktop making sure that copy-pasting and other core functions still work, no matter which choice you made.

Well, the phone are following the same train.

In fact with Android, the situation is getting better. Before, it was pretty much every developer slapping their own stack on a linux kernel (Motorola RAZR2, LinPhone, ALP, QTopia, Mobilin, OpenMoko, all the Open-{###bla###}-Aliances). Now Android is pretty much the main game in town, with MeeGo the only other significant platform (and WebOS catering to some niche)

Now most new constructor to jump into the Linux Bandwagon just use android.
After a few years (and a few experiments) the market will settle for a more-or-less standard Android distribution with a more-or-less default update system (so development has only to target version within a small range).
Efforts akin to FreeSmartphone.org would probably have helped reaching that point.
And the people would still be complaining that open-source leads to too much different variation of mesh-networking-based-free-VoIP.
Meanwhile, the iPhone development will be so strict, that developing a farts-simulators will be the only sensible thing if you don't want your app pulled out of the AppStore because Saint-Jobs sneezed.