Ubuntu Closes Longstanding Bug #1

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Ubuntu Closes Longstanding Bug #1

Posted by timothy on Thursday May 30, 2013 @04:56AM from the sideways-looking-statement dept.

dargaud writes "Mark Shuttleworth of Ubuntu fame has closed the primal bug on Launchpad, standing since 2004 and titled 'Microsoft has a majority market share,' due to the 'changing realities' of tablets, smartphones, and wearable computing."

21 of 267 comments (clear)

Let me be the second by Zeroblitzt · 2013-05-30 04:58 · Score: 5, Funny

to say, damn you Mark Shuttleworth, now we have to worry about actual code related bugs.

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1. Re:Let me be the second by dotancohen · 2013-05-30 06:57 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  How is this bug fixed? From the initial bug report, reproduction instructions:
  
  Steps to repeat:
  1. Visit a local PC store.
  2. Attempt to buy a machine without any proprietary software.
  What happens:
  Almost always, a majority of PCs for sale have Microsoft Windows pre-installed. In the rare cases that they come with a GNU/Linux operating system or no operating system at all, the drivers and BIOS may be proprietary.
  What should happen:
  A majority of the PCs for sale should include only free software.
  I can still reproduce the bug in its entirety. Nothing has changed since 2004.
  
  --
  It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
2. Re:Let me be the second by readingaccount · 2013-05-30 13:05 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  In my experience, the only people who laugh at Windows Phones/Tablets are people who feel the need to define themselves by the products they use or don't use (also known as fanboys).
  Such people are fucking pathetic and aren't worth caring about.
This is a compatibility issue by intermodal · 2013-05-30 05:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

I think Microsoft fixed this bug by creating a compatibility issue that prevents its OS from functioning on devices that people actually like to use.

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New Bug Report by SnarfQuest · 2013-05-30 05:04 · Score: 5, Funny

New bug posted.
Android has too much market share.

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1. Re:New Bug Report by kthreadd · 2013-05-30 05:23 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Actually, they have one.
  https://connect.microsoft.com/
Closed Platforms by Adrian+Lopez · 2013-05-30 05:11 · Score: 5, Insightful

Microsoft is losing market share to tablets and smartphones, but these are shut tighter than the PC platform ever was. I'm not sure that's something to celebrate.

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"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
1. Re:Closed Platforms by TWiTfan · 2013-05-30 05:30 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Yes the walled garden of iOS, controlled by one company absolutely and completely, is definitely progress over the open world of the PC.
  
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  The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
2. Re:Closed Platforms by gallondr00nk · 2013-05-30 05:44 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Microsoft is losing market share to tablets and smartphones, but these are shut tighter than the PC platform ever was.
  Agreed, It's essentially a Phyrric victory. We didn't get all worked up about Microsoft back in the day just because it was Microsoft, but because their monopoly threatened the open nature of the PC platform. Now we have a mobile platform with two major players, one of which is closed in a way that Microsoft could only dream of.
3. Re:Closed Platforms by Voyager529 · 2013-05-30 06:36 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Android is pretty open. They let you run just about anything that can't screw up the drivers without even batting an eye (at least on Sprint they do). And rooting your phone is a simple 10-minute process. I'm not really seeing the problem.
  That's not ENTIRELY accurate. The grandparent's point transcends "Microsoft" and speaks a lot to "ecosystem" as well.
  Amongst the thing that gave Compaq and the IBM clones their rise was their level of openness. You could buy any commodity x86 box (or pieces and DIY assemble said box), and run DOS or Windows or OS/2 or Linux on them, upgrade when Microsoft released stuff, and be in charge of exactly what software did and didn't end up on our machines. Now this level of openness came with a cost, namely all of the problems that naturally came with giving users complete control: viruses/malware/toolbars, the necessary routine maintenance not being performed, incompatibilities, teaching users to "click next until the installation is finished" and ending up with a dozen pieces of software that weren't wanted, and people actually believing the FBI holds their computer for ransom unless they use Greenpak to send money to "pay the fine".
  You can SOMETIMES root in ten minutes. My Toshiba AT200 has a locked bootloader and since Toshiba hasn't released a means of unlocking it (and hacking said bootloader doesn't have the same sex appeal as being the one to crack the Galaxy S5), so I'm stuck in an unrooted state. Even if I had an unlocked bootloader or Nexus 10 or Transformer Prime, I can't install Windows RT on it if I wanted to. In its present state, I can't remove the unwanted applications that came with the machine. Sure I can 'disable' them, but they're still taking up storage space I would rather use for other things. I'm at Toshiba's mercy as to whether I'll ever get Jelly Bean, Key Lime Pie, or Taramasu, and none of them look promising. Sure, I can install most applications on said tablet even if they don't come from the Play Store, but for quite some time this ability was disabled on AT&T phones running Android. I doubt I need to say more than "Kindle Fire" and "Nook Color" to make my point in those cases.
  Android, the operating system, as uploaded to source.android.com, is indeed a "pretty open" system. This doesn't make Android-as-98%-of-the-population-run-it a system as open as Windows-as-98%-of-the-population-run-it, the hardware it shipped on, and the ISPs that shuffled data to it. It might not be Google's fault that Android is twisted in the form that it is by some of the OEMs and carriers, but it is a product they put their name on.
Re:Microsoft has a majority market share by MLBs · 2013-05-30 05:13 · Score: 5, Informative

Not in my house it doesn't. 1 Win 7 laptop 1 MacBook Pro 1 Chrome Book 3 Raspberry PIs running Raspbian 1 Android tablet 1 Android phone 1 blackberry playbook 1 Apple TV Looks like Linux wins, with Android a close second. The best part is that this is all for one person living alone. :)
Perhaps I'm reading this wrong, but it seems that they're saying that in 2004, MS had a majority, but this is now changing and thus the bug can be closed. With your enumeration you simply give anecdotal evidence to this.
ha by smash · 2013-05-30 05:17 · Score: 4, Funny

This

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I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Re:Microsoft has a majority market share by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-30 05:19 · Score: 4, Funny

Don't you mean GNU/Doofus?
Re:Microsoft has a majority market share by smash · 2013-05-30 05:22 · Score: 4, Informative

The ratio of 650 Windows 7 boxes plus 75 Windows 2008 R2 boxes at work to 3 Unix machines tends to swing the balance in favour of Windows where I am.

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I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Re:Microsoft has a majority market share by SteveFoerster · 2013-05-30 05:23 · Score: 5, Funny

Both of you are doofi.

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Re:Let me be the First by TWiTfan · 2013-05-30 05:24 · Score: 4, Funny

I would care. But I'm a long-time Linux supporter, which means I only care about my distro of choice.

--
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
Plenty of purile stuff left in the list... by Bearhouse · 2013-05-30 05:33 · Score: 4, Insightful

Like this one:
#461000 General populace ignorance of Ubuntu
Easy fix; stop doing stupid things that are driving people to Mint etc. and get back to what a lot of people, (including me) were hoping for at the beginning - a decent distro that "just works" that we would could confidently install at friends, family, neighbours, SOHO whatever, without support nightmares at evenings and weekends. (Yes, I've been dicking around with BSD etc. for years, but I do need some time with my family...)
With MS busy pissing people off with Win8, they've missed a great opportunity.
I had some success 'converting' people with Linux skinned as XP; c'mon Mark; where's Ubuntu Win7 edition?
Silly rabbit... by David_Hart · 2013-05-30 05:37 · Score: 4, Interesting

....trixs are for kids
I've been on Slashdot for a while now and I'll never understand the fanaticism that drives the UNIX culture that would spawn the
1. Creation of a bug report that is, essentially, a political statement
2. One that is left open for 9 years just because they are that childish
3. Reporting said bug/political statement has been closed as if some monumental success has been achieved.
Closed how? "Wontfix?" by Animats · 2013-05-30 05:38 · Score: 4, Insightful
The typical "bug fixing" strategy for open source seems to be
- Ignore bug unless many other people confirm it.
- After a few years, claim that some change probably fixed the bug, and ask the bug reporter to reproduce it again.
- Close the bug without actually fixing it.
Re:LMFAO, seriously? by xvan · 2013-05-30 05:42 · Score: 5, Insightful

I mean, I agree that their monopoly is/was a bad thing, but I find it ironic and funny that it was classified as a bug.
BUG DESCRIPTION
Binary package hint: launchpad
Description: Slashdotters seem to not understand sarcasm.

To reproduce the bug follow these steps-
1. Raise a sarcastic bug
2. Make some reference to it in slashdot
Add Sarcasm tags to the bugtracker:

Possible Fix:
Add sarcasm tags to the bug summary
Re:Ubuntu? by Nerdfest · 2013-05-30 06:45 · Score: 4, Insightful

More money follows 'more evil' more frequently than it follows "smarter". Adolph Hitler had plenty of followers as well if you're looking to get this thread appropriately Godwin'd. Mr. Jobs was a marketing genius and general douche-bag. I don't think Mr. Shuttleworth's greed is at nearly the same level if it exists at all. He may want to be famous, but what he wants to be famous for seems a little more altruistic. I've questioned that a bit lately, but I think it mostly still applies.