Ubuntu Turns 7

sfcrazy writes "Ubuntu, the world's most popular GNU/Linux based operating system is celebrating its 7th year today. Ubuntu was first released on 20 October 2004. In these 7 years Ubuntu has changed the GNU/Linux desktop segment by making it more useful for ordinary user." Besides the work that Ubuntu has done to popularize and polish the Linux desktop, and to present a humane entry point for non-guru users, it's provided a base for many other distributions (like Mint and Puppy) and helped make people realize just how powerful is the Debian infrastructure that Ubuntu itself launched from.

Comments

Nice distro but they messed up the desktop

[yog]

I used to love Ubuntu; a few years ago, I threw it on a Dell laptop and it just worked (albeit with a bit of tweaking to get wifi connected). I was impressed by its ability to locate printers on the network. Now I have it on both a desktop and a couple of laptops. I also have it in VirtualBox on my XP work laptop and it works great there as well.

However, in recent versions they are pitching this Unity desktop thing which I despise. It may be great, it may be awesome, it may be the next big thing. But it's not for me. I'm an old Windows/X/KDE guy and I don't want to deal with icons down the side. So I'm stuck on an old revision and am starting to look around for another distro, possibly OpenSuse which I use at work and enjoy very much.

Now they are forcing Unity on us in the latest revision; there's no option to go back to the classic desktop (please correct me if I'm wrong but that's what Slashdot said a few days ago).

I will agree that Canonical has done a great job popularizing this Windows alternative and making it so easy to install and use. I wish them well. I just wish they'd stop limiting people's choices. Linux is about choices. Guess I'll have to look into some of these Ubuntu offshoots like Linux Mint.

Re:Nice distro but they messed up the desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

I've read a lot of forums, not just computer related ones but other things where someone starts a "Linux" thread.

I'd say the opinions run about 90% against unity, and 10% for. Trouble is, they made it the DEFAULT, rather than an option, and since in the mind of most non-hardcore people, Ubuntu *is* Linux, they are turning people off from using Linux. Sure, gurus know they can install KDE or XFCE or another environment, but people new to linux don't know that. They grab the thing they have heard of, a default version of Ubuntu, try it, encounter Unity, and think, "Wow, Linux really sucks", and go back to Windows.

It's doing irreparable harm to the image of Linux, and they *won't listen* to the massive outpouring of user feedback against it. It isn't that it shouldn't exist - it's fine, just not as the default environment for the distro! Because of that choice, it has been a disaster for the image of desktop Linux.

Re:Nice distro but they messed up the desktop

[Dyinobal]

ya I used the unity desktop and I didn't like it much. I ended up using Lubuntu for my laptop because a lot of the newer stuff in these latest few releases was really slowing it down for no good reason. About the only reason I use it these days I the debian packaging system, with out all the debian silliness.

Re:Nice distro but they messed up the desktop

[Frenzied Apathy]

It'd be interesting to know who those 90% and 10% are. I.e. are the 90% mostly people who have been using Ubuntu before - and therefore have something to compare to - and the 10% mostly newcomers? I'm curious because, as I stated in a previous post, I personally like Unity, which is my first experience with Linux.

Re:Nice distro but they messed up the desktop

[cshark]

Not true. It's not beautiful or functional.
It's been hindered, and it drains productivity.
It has no fucking admin tools! You can't move the control bar! You can't multi-task! You can't move icons! How is that functional?!

It's like Mac OS, without the flexibility. If you are a serious computer user, Unity is not for you.

Re:Nice distro but they messed up the desktop

[Knuckles]

You can't multitask? You can't move icons? Not true at all.

Re:Nice distro but they messed up the desktop

[westlake]

I've read a lot of forums, not just computer related ones but other things where someone starts a "Linux" thread.
I'd say the opinions run about 90% against unity, and 10% for.

The thing is, Canonical may not give a damn about posters to the "Linux" forums.

What it has is maybe 1/3 of Linux users. Which is still nothing but a ripple in a vey big pond.

The traditional community oriented Linux desktop distribution is not attracting converts from OSX or Windows. It threatens to be eclipsed in global market share by the walled garden of the iOS mobile device. That has implications for developer support. Retail support. The politcal effectiveness of the EFF and others.

'Doesn't Make a Jot of Difference'

Finally, for Barbara Hudson, a blogger on Slashdot who goes by "Tom" on the site, Ubuntu has bigger problems to worry about than just Unity.

Namely, Unity aside, "this latest Ubuntu doesn't make a jot of difference to the world because it doesn't add to the list of programs that Windows or OSX users can now use in Linux," Hudson told Linux Girl.

In fact, "this same mis-directed effort is also why the year of the Linux desktop won't happen," Hudson asserted. "None of the distros, including Ubuntu, are trying to meet the No. 1 demand of the majority of users: to run their existing programs."

'You're Not Growing the User Base'

Most users have at least one application that doesn't have a decent equivalent under Linux, "either open or proprietary," she explained. "Until that changes, 'fixing' the user interface or adding a music store will remain as useful as adding more cowbell. You're not growing the user base, just competing for more scraps from a tiny, stagnant market.

"Free software? For more than 99 percent of the world, Ubuntu is just another word for, 'I can't run your program,'" Hudson added. "The latest Ubuntu doesn't fix that, and neither will the next one, nor the one after it."

So, "until this fundamental weakness is addressed, you won't be able to sell most users on Ubuntu," she predicted. "Heck, you already pretty much can't even give it away to them for free.

"It's a shame that the future of linux in the consumer space is to toil away in obscurity, with products like Android getting all the credit," Hudson concluded. "It's also telling that when Novell took the first small steps to correcting this, they were roundly pilloried by the community."

Ubuntu 11.10 and the Oddly Oneiric 'Countdown' [Oct 20]

Re:Popularity

[siddesu]

considering Windows 7 got there in just two years and XP was a hugely popular OS

Excellent trolling, I salute you.

Re:Memories

[nightcats]

I still have several lying around, beginning with 5.04 (hedgehog? I get the critters confused). I'm sure there are lots of geeks who look down their noses at it, but for this non-geek/para-geek, it was a tremendous learning experience. After just a few months with ubuntu and the shell, I was suddenly understanding some of what the architects and admins were talking about in meetings at work, and they noticed too. And I was eventually making smarter choices (and non-choices) on all the tech consumer shit that's been flooding the market this decade. If I were teaching tech in a middle school or high school setting I'd create a linux network in a classroom and introduce them to tech that asks a little more of them than slide-n-poke. The corporations in particular and the collective overall want us to experience tech in as superficial a way as possible; I think linux could offer kids a chance to overcome that conditioning. I always had the feeling that was part of ubuntu's mission, if you will: to offer a deeper and more rounded and intelligent experience of tech than the proprietary gods want us to have.

Re:Why not focus on quality instead of major revs?

[Desler]

Yeah the LTS is great until you hit the point of having to upgrade to a non-LTS since you can't even get the latest version of Firefox anymore. And before you say "but ppas!" if one had to install ppas on an LTS that sort of defeats the point.

Re:Popularity

[Tarlus]

I don't think you know what "trolling" means.

Ubuntu doesn't force you to use ANY desktop

[Mike]

I'm running the most recent Ubuntu, but I'm running a combination of E16 (Enlightenment) and Gnome2, a.k.a. e16-gnome. Unity is just the default; you're certainly not forced to use it.

Re:There is a way to not use Unity

[rubycodez]

Screw that, there are lingering issues with the way Unity clobbers up some files. Instead, apply the patch ( i386 version here )and everything will be good. It fixed all my Ubuntu systems at home and at work, took the suck right out of them

Re:Die Unity Die!

[leamanc]

I recommend that if Ubuntu does not rid their distro of Unity, then I suggest that it be boycotted.

You recommend that you suggest? Way to take a stance there.

It is possible to run other window managers on Ubuntu, you know. You might even give Kubuntu a try if you are so inclined to customization.

Debian at it's core

[Edam]

Ubuntu is still *mostly* Debian packages, IIUC. In other news... Debian is approx. 18 years old.

Re:Unity is different, in a good way

[Darinbob]

It's difficult to just try it out for a couple of weeks. It's not a simple switch to turn it on and off. So once you're tired of trying out Unity the choices are to either stick with it or to uninstall the OS. Once you've uninstalled then potential users may prefer to not install other Linux versions.

Definitely I understand why traditional Linux users dislike it. Unix people in general want control over their systems and are better educated about how computers work and dislike the dumbed down feeling. Ok, so it may be a nicer UI for tiny limited tablets but it just doesn't feel right for a real computer especially as large displays have been getting more affordable and convenient.

Re:There is a way to not use Unity

[CalcProgrammer1]

Fallback is NOT GNOME 2! Everyone keeps saying it's the same, but it is quite different (try it sometime!). The theme looks like crap for one (inconsistent coloring and shading), the applets can't be positioned other than left/middle/right, to right click on anything you actually have to alt+right click, it uses a lot more RAM than GNOME 2, it takes more work to get Compiz effects running, it lacks a System menu and instead clutters up Applications categories with system and administration items, Nautilus (file browser) lacks home/up folder/view/zoom functionality with its new dumbed down UI, and I'm sure there are plenty more problems with it. I COULD get used to it, which would take a lot of time, and would still mean I have to give up using my old 512MB RAM laptop altogether, or I could just go use another distro that hasn't gone crazy and still uses GNOME 2, have none of the above problems, and still use my old laptop without issues. Change for the sake of change is a terrible idea, it seems like the Ubuntu and GNOME devs have all gone off the deep end, and that's not good considering together they make the most widely known and used Linux distro (outside of the business world at least).