Why Mandrake is Too Cool for UnitedLinux

An anonymous reader says "Mandrake's lastest community (spam) newsletter contains their explanation as to why they won't join in on UnitedLinux. Besides the obvious geek-fun of rolling their own distro, they claim that the underlying idea of UnitedLinux is based on a flawed comparison to the Unix world of the 80's. " I think the whole UnitedLinux thing is lame- the distros that want to be compatible already are. UL is just the 2nd tier distros trying to get attention and ink away from the "evil forces" in North Carolina. I'll just stick to the best distribution and watch the fun from afar ;)

Comments

debian rocks :)

[ard]

lets get that 3.0 / Woody out the door and show who really has the best dist :)

Why Mandrake is right

[Ali Jenab]

Much has been written about the supposed "fragmentation" of Linux distributions. However, what the stories don't mention is that there are simple solutions for the problems that seem to keep cropping up. The core issue, though, is simple to understand but hard to solve: proprietary software developers are incompetent. Let me draw from my personal experience as a Linux guru and system administrator of many years and explain why that is the case:

• Commercial software companies don't understand dynamic linking. It is a basic principle of dynamic libraries that versions and functionality changes between releases. Ever notice how many different versions of Microsoft's DLLs you have on your Windows box? That's no coincidence - Windows developers are forced to incorporate the version of the DLL that works with their application. Linux provides a far superior development model, allowing publishers to statically link the correct library into their binary. Mozilla does it; Oracle does it; why can't the rest of the vendors get a clue and do the same thing?
• Commercial software developers don't understand the UNIX filesystem. UNIX is not like Windows: when a user installs an application on UNIX, he does not expect that application to install random files in arbitrary directories all over the filesystem. There is no registry in UNIX and no guarantee that the application won't be relocated to another system. Any application that forces the user to use anything more than 'tar xvf' to install it is improperly designed, from an experienced UNIX user's perspective.
• UnitedLinux is an illegal cartel. Similar to OPEC and De Beers, the members of UnitedLinux realize that their product is nothing more than a commodity in a very crowded market. To that end, they intend to fix prices, limit supply, and use anticompetitive tactics to artificially inflate the market share and supposed importance of their "standard." As the most influential group of UNIX users and administrators in the industry, will we allow them to get away with it? I hope not.

/ali

Re:Why Mandrake is right

[2g3-598hX]

DLL hell is not caused by general dynamic linking but rather Microsoft's specific (bogus) implementation of it (COM). Apparently .NET will solve this, the DLL version info is just going to be in one place...

Best Distribution link?

[Kaypro]

Why is the link for "best distribution" linked to www.debian.org? I though Gentoo's site was www.gentoo.org?

Re:LINK CORRECTION

[pgpckt]

I'll just stick to the best distribution [debian.org] and watch the fun from afar

should be

I'll just stick to the best distribution [slackware.com] and watch the fun from afar

should be

I'll just stick to the best distribution and watch the fun from afar

Its ok, everyone makes mistakes.

This is the first story ever

[Marx_Mrvelous]

Where every post is going to be modded "flaimbait" or "troll" lol

Re:UL is a disservice to the GNU/Linux Community

[microsoft.CLIT]

I don't see why you guys want to use lunix anyways. microsoft has been the standard for 20 years now. A superior product means you get more market share. hence redhat of all the linuxi has the most market share. Of course it's still a pathetic product compared to Windows, but thats another matter.

Re:Loki installer

[microsoft.CLIT]

Is loki even still in business? You guys always bag on microsoft but they are still around and making more money then your sorry ass ever will.

Re:Why Should Success == evil forces?

[SpacePunk]

It's because "Linux land" is full of a bunch of freeloading hippie goofs.