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Ubuntu Feisty Fawn Released
Lots of readers told us about the official release of Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn (screenshots here for Ubuntu and Kubuntu). Some readers report that the distribution servers are being hammered. Here is a review of Feisty Fawn. Reader LinuxScribe sends us to LinuxPlanet for the story on a pleasant Java surprise in the release.
Help alleviate the load: use the torrents.
"I think it would be a good idea!"
Gandhi, about Internet Security
Whatever we think about this man, we should thank him to have launched the Ubuntu Project. This is the first Linux distro that have the potential to succeed on the Desktop and to get some decent market share beside Windows and MacOS.
Ah, please can you take your self-righteousness and shove it up your ass?
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore
Whether you agree with what the Ubuntu project is doing or not, there is nothing sneaky about it. They have never tried to hide what they are doing.
Many of us, including me, have been asking for a long time for a distribution that fucking works. One that does things, out of the box, that every other operating system does. And we frankly don't care if that means that we have to run closed software today. Because as we have seen, the existence of closed software on Linux does not prevent people from working on open alternatives to it. The existence of free-as-in-beer Java hasn't stopped people from working on free-as-in-speech implementations (and as you point out, Java is on its way to Freedom.) The existence of the free-as-in-beer nVidia drivers isn't stopping work on an alternative.
Ubuntu is doing what a sizable slice of the community has asked them to do, and your complaining about it is ridiculous. Complain about the users if you like.
And stop complaining about the lack of Ubuntu-distributed new features. Even if no one "at" Ubuntu ever fixed a bug, which frankly is not required by the Open Source model, they do a shitload to coordinate it, and they have done more to package Linux for the end user than anyone else.
Finally, Ubuntu is going to be bringing out an entirely-Free distribution. So I'm not really sure what you're bitching about. If Free software can't compete on its own merits, then it deserves to lose.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
There's a gui to upgrade the distro version???
It seems that ubuntu is the first distro to really "just get it" when it comes to the desktop!
All hail the New Hope for Linux on the Desktop!
I don't want to sound harsh because I believe you're genuinely concerned, but I think you're wrong. Ubuntu is providing non-free packages for some things because it's what people want. People want the ability to get easy 3D accelleration for their video cards, and the open source drivers don't do it, so Ubuntu provides the ability to install the non-free drivers easily.
And yes, "what people want" matters. Making it easy for people to get good performance from their computers will win converts to Linux. As Linux's share of the market grows, there's an increasing chance that various companies will support linux in various ways. The more people are using Linux on their desktop and the more people want 3D accelleration for their desktop, the more likely it is that someone (maybe even Nvidia and AMD) will actually produce Free drivers.
You're so far off your rocker that you don't even know where your porch is.
Every time I hear someone go off on how free-as-in-beer software is evil and corrupts the precious open-source movement, I just want to smack my forehead in disgust.
It's the usability, stupid.
It's about turning your computer into something productive, so it's not a paperweight with blinking lights. Ubuntu has made more headway in organizing a usable system than RedHat, Mandrake, and Debian combined. It is really the first distro that nearly everyone can use.
Now, about your comments that it is "parasitic", I think you're confused even further. If nothing else, Ubuntu is a way to increase the user base of the software which you say it doesn't contribute to. It gets Linux, Open Office, Xorg, and thousands of other softwares into the hands of people who would never have known there was another alternative to Microsoft otherwise. And you decry it because it encourages people to have choice. You insult the very software that could very well be the cause of manufacturers opening drivers, or if not providing open drivers, perhaps providing working binary drivers, ala NVidia. But then, you're against that, too. To fanatical egotistic closed minded people like yourself, having a binary driver in your kernel would sully it somehow, rendering it unfit to use, so instead you install semi-working drivers provided by people who have reverse engineered the hardware and bitch about how for-profit companies refuse to give away their trade secrets.
Get over yourself. It's not a paragon of virtue and selflessness. It's a fucking kernel. That's it.
Check out my sysadmin blog!
Oh, and hey--one complaint (more of an observation actually), for those of you who complain about how often you must enter the root password on a PC, take a look at that page and see how often "SUDO" (the Linux equivalent) is required. Holy cow, it's like every single time you want to call apt-get (in other words, any time you want to install ANYTHING), you have to give up the root password. I believe this means that all install scripts are running as root--I don't know if this is a security hole, but it sure sounds like one.
First, a correction: sudo requires you to enter your own password, not the root password.
Requiring administrative/root privileges to install software is the whole point. You are installing programs that are to be used system-wide. You need root privileges (granted to you via sudo) to do that. It's not a security hole when implemented properly. The point is that, unlike many Windows desktop, you're not running with 'root' privileges all the time. This is exactly what most Windows XP desktops are doing. You never need to be prompted for a 'root'/admin password when doing that, because you're always admin! That's insecure.
"If you think the problem is bad now, just wait until we've solved it." --- Arthur Kasspe
Ubuntu widens the market for Linux by providing a distribution that people can actually use.
As a result, it strengthens the push for Free software, because most Linux software is Free.
Ubuntu is the first Linux distribution to include an automated crash reporting tool, which feeds more useful bug reports into the system, which is a benefit to all. And the entire system, including aggregation of these crash reports, was built and is maintained and run by Ubuntu.
Finally, Ubuntu is using software in accordance with its licensing, so really no one has room to bitch. If you want to force people to contribute back changes, then put something about that in the license of the software you develop, and quit bitching. Let peace begin with me, and all that.
What software have you written and released under an OSI-approved license? What patches have you written and released (and had accepted) for Free software?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"