Kubuntu To Be Sponsored By Blue Systems, Rather Than Canonical

JRiddell writes "Kubuntu, the KDE flavour from Ubuntu, has found a new sponsor in Blue Systems. They will be providing more resources than were available by previous sponsor Canonical. The project will remain much the same: community led, KDE focused, Ubuntu flavour. With the new independence it can branch out into new markets such as a Kubuntu Active flavour for tablets."

Comments

In Ahnold voice

[tripleevenfall]

Consider this a divorce!

Re:"More resources than were available"

[Bill_the_Engineer]

More like Kubuntu now has another source of money and no longer has to adhere to any implied restrictions that Canonical may place on their money.

Re:"More resources than were available"

[idontgno]

Problems? As far as I can tell, Canonical was Kubuntu's primary problem, and finding an independent sponsor is an awesome solution.

I hope this works out. I vastly prefer KDE over that Unity abortion Canonical is trying to foist on us. I'd use Kubuntu over Ubuntu even if Kubuntu stagnated completely, but this makes avoiding Canonical's silly marketing games practical.

Re:"More resources than were available"

[metamatic]

Well, personally I was considering moving to Debian, but there really aren't that many APT-based distros with good KDE flavor.

Re:Good

[causality]

Because Unity sucks.

About the only things I want from a distribution are a good package manager, a good selection of available packages, and timely attention paid to security.

What comes installed by default is something I'm likely to rearrange anyway. I don't like Unity either, which is why it would be installed for all of a few minutes until I replace it with something else if I decided that Ubuntu/Kubuntu fit my criteria.

So how many Slashdotters really just stick with defaults no matter how much they like something else better? Seems like a total non-issue (and a non-complaint) to me.

Re:Good

[jawtheshark]

I don't know for other slashdotters, but I can tell you why I care about sane defaults. Support. You see, many slasdotters live in a void where there is their desktop and the rest can just suck it up. I, on the other hand, help other people with their computers.

Ubuntu, until the version 10.04 LTS, was a distribution you could take, drop on a machine, install half a dozen packages (Thunderbird, Restricted Extras, ....) and be done with it. Installation time very quick. This compared to a Windows install which can take a up to a day, including hunting for drivers, software, securing it and finally setting the GUI to sane defaults. It's a complete pain.

Now, assume just for the sake of it that I ddi default installs for my friends and family and let them figure it out, and I do my thing in my corner. First support call, I get from them will put me and Linux in a bad light (either, or... ) and I want neither. Thus, I use the default desktop in order to be able to support them! Eating your own dog food, you know.

Deviating significantly from default install, increases the initial install time and increases the risk that you forgot to change a tiny GUI setting you use. (Example from the Windows world: you work with extensions turned on, the default is off. You forgot that on you family/friends computer. Try explaining the how to turn it on and why you need it, as it now suddenly deviates from what they are used.

That's my personal problem with the whole debacle. Furthermore, there has to be said something about software quality feels. If you have sane GUI settings from the beginning, your software is perceived as higher quality. That is also very important for the normal user. That we, nerds, can change everything to our hearts desire is not important to them.

As for Unity, I hated it at first too, but the changes in 12.04 beta, improved its usability. It's not perfect, but by now I can see my mom use it. (She's on 10.04LTS) and that /is/ important to me.

Re:"More resources than were available"

[Anonymous Coward]

I was with Debian since v4 - finally ended with Debian 6.04. I won't go back. Not only is the installer a pain in the rump, but it's almost impossible to install the binary nVIDIA drivers on a 5 year old card even.

I went with OpenSUSE 12.1/KDE 4.6 works like a charm, AND I installed the nVIDIA drivers without a bit of a problem.

Debian's people got their egos in the way.

Re:"More resources than were available"

[hairyfeet]

I think this is wonderful news as KDE has been the saner choice as of late as far as stability, but if they are smart they will base it on Debian and NOT Ubuntu. it is pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that Canonical is floundering, trying to find a business model that will keep them alive and failing, first Netbook edition (coming waaaay past when that boat had sailed) and then trying to rip off of all people that stupid ass MSFT idea of pushing cell phone UIs on the desktop, hoping they can sell either Ubuntu TV (not a chance, Android and embedded Linux variants has that tied up) or Ubuntu smartphones (not a chance the market is too crowded as it is, its obvious it'll be owned by apple and Android) so they can expect quality to go down, bugs to go up, simply because they have ZERO real revenue stream and Shuttleworth has already said he's not sinking more of his money into Canonical.

Debian was here before Canonical and will be here in 3 years when i predict Canonical will either go cloud server OS only or close their doors. they have testing if they want to be cutting edge but IMHO basing it on stable would be the way to go, a rock solid never breaks KDE with a push towards user friendliness might be just the ticket to gain some share when MSFT shits out Win 8, aka "My God I want to be the CEO of Apple so bad it hurts!" Ballmer edition.