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Fedora 8 A Serious Threat to Ubuntu

Tubs writes "According to MadPenguin.org's latest article, Fedora 8 from Red Hat is a serious threat to Ubuntu. The author writes, "I was never that swept up with past releases of Fedora. There was nothing compelling about it. But for the first time, I cannot help but feel that the Fedora team has been spoon fed an extra helping of Wheaties, which has put them into overdrive with their accessibility efforts."

24 of 334 comments (clear)

  1. Linux Wars? by ThePromenader · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wouldn't consider one open-source project to be a danger to another...

    --

    No, no sig. Really.

    ThePromenader
    1. Re:Linux Wars? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      What are you, a commie? EVERYTHING is a competition. You have to be number one. Coming in second is just not an option. It is your responsibility as a living being to completely win over every other living being at all costs. For example, I make sure I go outside and yell at my lawn at least twice a week and I kick the trees along my street every Tuesday just to show them who's the boss. If Fedora 8 can "win" over Ubuntu, that is a "win" for all of us and we will all laugh and be happy and dance around our living rooms with the now-famous "Unix Wins" dance that we've all seen on TV. If, however, Fedora 8 cannot WIN... then we must all immediately side with Canonical and weep with joy over how wonderful Ubuntu is and how it is the best. Give your head a shake, get a haircut, move out of your commune and join the real world... where there is only ONE WINNER and YOU must be that winner.

      Thomas "the winner of Sarcasm" Dzubin

    2. Re:Linux Wars? by Albert+Sandberg · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Exactly. If anything. it's a threat to microsoft and apple, but maybe not so much the latter. Since microsoft has screwed up more and more stuff lately, if they don't come on track again, more and more users will start looking towards the alternatives. Since they have a PC computer already, installing linux could be a nice step to take before scrapping the compouter and go Apple and the more dists that looks good and shiney and do what they should, the better.

      I was for instance surprised that there was no hassle AT ALL installing my Brother HL-1250 printer the other day while in windows I've always hassled with drivers and previously in linux I had to config some stuff manually, but this time it was just 100% plug in and pl^H^H print. Totally awesome, I had my tabs printed out in no-time.

      I've gone the path from windows to linux by testing out a lot of distros (pretty much redhat->suse->debian->mepis->ubuntu) and most people don't have the patience enough to walk through a wall of configuration, so this is good news for everyone! Even the ubuntu crew should benefit from this in the long run.

      Happy new year everybody.

    3. Re:Linux Wars? by kripkenstein · · Score: 5, Informative

      I wouldn't consider one open-source project to be a danger to another... That's a good point.

      Also, TFA has absolutely no content on which to base its claims. It mentions 4 things, PulseAudio, CodecBuddy, Spins, and the Fedora theme. Ubuntu 8.04 will have PulseAudio; in fact, this is just another example of the usual relationship of Fedora and Ubuntu - Fedora is slightly more 'on the edge', Ubuntu is a little more stable - but still, at least in non-LTS versions, quite risk-taking. Regarding CodecBuddy, Ubuntu has this, and in fact had it before Fedora. Spins are fairly meaningless - a nice idea, but let's see some compelling implementation. And anyhow both Ubuntu and Fedora welcome 'spins' aka derivative versions; Ubuntu has its own Kubuntu/Edubuntu/etc. as well as the non-official Mint, etc.

      Finally, the theme. Well, he's got me there, Fedora does win in that respect. I don't mind the Ubuntu brown, but they aren't doing something nice enough with it so far. However Ubuntu 8.04 will have a brand new theme with a lot of effort put into it, so here's hoping.

      Returning to your point, in fact most of these examples prove it. Fedora led the way with PulseAudio; Ubuntu saw it was possible, and will now do it as well. They might even benefit from the code. Similarly, Ubuntu led the way with CodecBuddy-type things, which Fedora wisely adopted. Hopefully Fedora's nice theme will encourage Ubuntu to focus more on that. Thus, we have in effect excellent examples of how FOSS project spur each other to better and greater things.
    4. Re:Linux Wars? by nine-times · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's pretty much what I came in here to say.

      Why does the most recent Fedora seem so competitive to Ubuntu? Well probably because they're pulling their updates from a lot of the same places.

      But if you want to imagine the two groups fighting it out, go right ahead. Insofar as they are competing, there's only one possible winner: us. Each group is trying to improve Linux more, each will feed off of the other's improvements, and the end result will be a better FOSS operating system that will be accessible to all of us.

      Good luck to both of them.

    5. Re:Linux Wars? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I love how Ubuntu is given 'credit' for codec buddy. Who wrote codec buddy? Bastien Nocera who works for Red Hat and Thomas Vander Stichele who works for Fluendo (you know, the guys who want your soul so you can play mp3's)

      Red Hat pays someone's salary to write codec buddy and yet 'ubuntu' comes out the better. Sounds like NetworkManager all over again. Red Hat pays to write the code the fanboys think ubuntu is the greatest thing ever....

    6. Re:Linux Wars? by xenocide2 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      PackageKit (slated for Fedora 9 it seems) and codecBuddy are based on the ideas first implemented in Ubuntu under the spec Easy Codec Installation, intended to generalize the idea. Redhat does great work, no doubt. ConsoleKit, Network Manager, etc, and I hope they can fix up Network Manager to have system-wide, user independent connection settings.

      But lets not just up and declare that Ubuntu just steals credit. I don't think anyone is saying that Ubuntu wrote codec Buddy, but the features are similar enough.

      --
      I Browse at +4 Flamebait

      Open Source Sysadmin

  2. Please be serious by bogaboga · · Score: 4, Insightful
    How can Fedora be a "serious threat" to Ubuntu when according to well known facts, the Fedora platform is a testing ground for RedHat and will always be?

    The Ubuntu zealots are also very vocal and defend the Debian apt system from which Ubuntu gets its package manager. Has yum improved that much to match apt? I doubt.

    1. Re:Please be serious by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I prefer apt, but yum isn't so bad.

      Some of us prefer make.

    2. Re:Please be serious by MSG · · Score: 4, Informative

      How can Fedora be a "serious threat" to Ubuntu when according to well known facts, the Fedora platform is a testing ground for RedHat and will always be?

      That's not a fact, it's a characterization. It's not a particularly good one, either. Stability is, in fact, important to the Fedora developers, because they're users too. Slashdot did an interview with Max Spevack, the Fedora Project leader a while back. His answers, particularly to question #8, are relevant to your assertion.

      Quoted: Fedora is the best of what works today. RHEL is the best of what will work for the next seven years.

      Fedora isn't going to be the latest beta of stuff that doesn't work. The people who tell you that are advancing a political agenda.

      Has yum improved that much to match apt?

      It's likely that you know a great deal more than I do about apt, so you should correct me if I'm wrong about this:

      While yum is slower than apt to resolve dependencies, I think it's a much more useful tool. apt can install a package if you know its name. Yum can install a local package, and get its dependencies. It can also install a package based on its name, a virtual capability, an actual capability (library name or executable), or a file provided by the package (by path).

      Yes, yum is a little slow, but in exchange it is capable of better doing what I want it to, as a user. I think it's better than apt. As a Fedora user, I have the option to use either one, and I stick with yum.

  3. Issues with the article already. by palegray.net · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Lately, I have been looking into other distributions that, like Ubuntu, are working to make strides to attract new users. I still have Debian Etch burned to a CD, waiting for a test in our lab. Next up is going to be Fedora. (emphasis mine) I'm supposed to take this reviewer seriously, when he hasn't got around to testing Debian Etch but wants me to trust his knowledge of Linux systems, including Ubuntu? Right.

    Posting from an Ubuntu 64 workstation, running several Debian Etch VPS containers in VMWare Server, and a couple of dedicated Debian and FreeBSD boxes on this LAN.

    1. Re:Issues with the article already. by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm supposed to take this reviewer seriously, when he hasn't got around to testing Debian Etch but wants me to trust his knowledge of Linux systems, including Ubuntu? Right.

      Posting from an Ubuntu 64 workstation, running several Debian Etch VPS containers in VMWare Server, and a couple of dedicated Debian and FreeBSD boxes on this LAN.

      Are you like, totally serious? You've set that all up by yourself. OMG OMG OMG!!! Please, like, tell us your opinion on FC8 vs. Ubuntu. Pleeeeeasssseeee ;)

      (I so can't wait to tell my friends that I actually talked to you! OMG OMG OMG... )

  4. fedora is an upgrade treadmill by Jepler · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fedora is an upgrade treadmill. With Fedora, you're stuck upgrading every 12 months or so, or you can't get security updates anymore. With Fedora, install an LTS version and you're covered for 5 years on the server. That's why I switched.

  5. Threat?... by sykopomp · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...When are we going to stop seeing distros as opposing forces and stop accepting that it might be nice to have more than one popular distro? SPOILERS: Your favorite distro isn't the best.

  6. I object to the word "threat". by A+beautiful+mind · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In F/OSS environments we welcome alternatives and diversity.

    --
    It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
    Be yourself no matter what they say
  7. They are the Same by ArkiMage · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've installed both on the same machine within the past 2 weeks. Once the desktop is up and I'm clicking around it would be very difficult to tell which OS is running on the box except for the backdrop and default color scheme. Gnome 2.20 is pretty much Gnome 2.20 no matter which distro it sits on top of. Icon placement, desktop panels, menu arrangement, they were pretty much identical. Who cares about apt vs yum either, click Applications->Add/Remove Software and point'n'click your way through installing whatever you need installed.

    There is no "war" between distros. I can run Firefox on any Linux distro. Same goes for Amarok, K3B, OpenOffice, Thunderbird, etc...

    Get over it.

  8. Ubuntu is more than just what's on the disc by IGnatius+T+Foobar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's going to take more to "beat" Ubuntu than just having someone say "this is going to beat Ubuntu." There's more to Ubuntu than just what's on the disc. Since Fedora 8 is really just the beta version of Red Hat "Global" Desktop, all I'm really hearing here is "me too." Ok, so they prettied up the screens and added some more configuration options? Great. What happens when Fedora 9 comes out? Will I just be able to push a button and seamlessly upgrade the whole thing in place? I doubt it. And what happens if I decide I want paid support? Will Red Hat support my free Fedora download the way Canonical will support Ubuntu? No, they'll insist that I run "Red Hat Enterprise" for that. And where are the free Fedora discs being mailed to anyone who wants, just for the asking?

    Ubuntu nailed the winning formula for desktop Linux, just like Red Hat seems to have nailed the winning formula for enterprise Linux. I wouldn't use either one in the other's place.

    --
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  9. Re:Wake me up.... by rasjani · · Score: 4, Informative

    And things have changed how exactly from days of when redhat was redhat and there was no fedora? Gone worse ?

    Seriously. How many redhat releases there where ? 9 majors if i remember right and few .1 and .2 releases + the ee versions. So, how much time have gone into 8 fedora releases ? How and how much progress has happened in them ? Does redhat still back up fedora development, do they provide services like bugzilla/mailinglists, mirrors, what ever to fedora project ? And what about the community ? There more more 3rd party wiki pages, news sites, *RPM REPOSITORIES*, support forums and what not than there was ever provided by Redhat alone..

    And you say that support has gone worse because "they dont want to support the serious users"..

    So, honest question, could you actually give some real facts how things are worse now than they where ?

    --
    yush
  10. Who cares? by diegocgteleline.es · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Having worked with both, including making my own RPMs and specfiles, I can safely say, that using RPM is a dream compared to trying to do anything interesting with apt.

    It's weird that having worked with packages, you confuse the package format (RPM/DEB) with the package manager (APT/YUM). The main reason why ubuntu rocks is APT, not the .deb format. I still have to see a package manager that beats APT in practice (and that includes commercial systems - and it's not that APT cannot improved...). Why the RPM people went with yum instead of using (or modifying) a proved solution is beyond me.

  11. Divide and Conquer. by Fantastic+Lad · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The attitude of Coke vs Pepsi and Democrat vs Republican doesn't sit well with Open Source.

    Not every darned scenario in the world must resolve to some sort of Darwinian competition. Sometimes people just like to create at the peek of their powers for the sheer joy of creating something amazing, and not because they feel the need to destroy the competition. Ask the best painters, musicians and writers if their best work came about because they felt threatened --or if they felt in love with their medium and with the world in general. --Or rather, if you are a coder, how was the best code you ever wrote generated? Were you wearing your Nikes or were you just obsessively having fun trying to solve a problem?

    The ideas of Darwinism and Competition certainly hold validity, but they are also two of the most highly abused concepts ever invented. Sheesh, the whole 'final solution' thing was based on Darwin. Talk about an abuse of concept!


    -FL

  12. yum Is Solid by EXTomar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How can Fedora be a "serious threat" to Ubuntu when according to well known facts, the Fedora platform is a testing ground for RedHat and will always be?


    The Ubuntu zealots are also very vocal and defend the Debian apt system from which Ubuntu gets its package manager. Has yum improved that much to match apt? I doubt.

    Why is it bad that Fedora is backed by Red Hat? Why do you even ask "Has yum improved?" when you admit you don't know (or care) about the answer. Asking "How can Fedora be good if it is backed by Red Hat?" and "Has yum improved?" are both empty questions meant to cast both into a bad light instead of offering some insight instead of investigating the issue. I honestly never understood why people don't like "yum" but like "apt" when they seem to match each other feature for feature. There maybe something deep down that one does that the other doesn't but at a high level: "# yum install firefox" and "# apt-get install firefox" are equivalent.

    Beyond this, I really don't see why Ubuntu or Fedora need to "beat" each other. We should be celebrating the difference in strengths and the choice. I'm never convinced by fanboys on any side who think everyone needs to their favorite distro.
  13. Truly awful article - reviewed before installation by Animats · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now this is a truly awful article. The article isn't a review of Fedora 8. It's someone blithering that they're going to do a review of Fedora 8. This is a review of the press release.

    The author has trouble with English, HTML, and the concept of free software. If you think the text is painful, try "view source". The page was apparently generated with Microsoft FrontPage, then hacked by hand. Badly. There's code from at least five sources, some of it in Visual Basic.

    Notice the link right after the article: "Click here for prices on Linux distributions".

  14. Re:Linux Wars? It's a matter of choice! by JohnBailey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I agree. We should be all happy because we actually have freedom on what distro to choose.

    I personally don't like this kind of news fomenting wars between opensource projects. What war? It's just friendly rivalry. If one distro gets a few lines of coverage, no big deal. Next time some other distro will. The only ones who get upset are the rampant fanboys, who kind of embarrass the rest of us anyway.
    --
    It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.
  15. Re:PC? by nebosuke · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This distinction entered the common vernacular when IBM briefly held the trademark on the term "personal computer".

    Every older programmer that I've met still uses the term that way. That usage was also pervasive when I got my first computer as a kid in the 80s, so I still use it that way through force of habit. The Apple switch campaign and pc/mac commercials also continue to make the distinction 'pc' vs. 'mac'.

    It's 'dumb' in that the distinction is meaningless in the sense that macs are technically 'personal computers', but 'PC', as with many other terms, has additional connotations to a certain segment of the population which makes this usage both meaningful and correct.