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Interviews: Ask 'Ubuntu Unleashed' Author Matthew Helmke
Matthew Helmke (personal blog) is the author of the newly published 11th edition of Ubuntu Unleashed (published by Pearson); this updated edition of the book will cover the OS through Ubuntu's 15.10 and (forthcoming) 16.04 releases. Helmke is also a former Ubuntu Forum administrator, a musician, an entrepreneur, and a long-time Slashdot reader who now leads a "nice quiet life in Iowa." Ask Matthew about what it's like to be a Linux book author and community leader, and his thoughts on Canonical, the goods and bads of modern Linux distributions, and the future of Ubuntu -- especially relevant with the upcoming release of the first Ubuntu-based tablet. (Remember, Matthew isn't responsible for gripes you may have with either Ubuntu or Canonical, but he might have some good solutions to particular problems.) Ask as many questions as you'd like; we just ask that you keep them on-topic, and please stick to one question per post.
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Why do you support a distro that ships with such a lousy piece of garbage software?
Ubuntu as is, is basically forking itself into the mobile version (and IMO making it all kinds of 'crap' in the process). This process has caused Ubuntu Desktop to stagnate like a mofo since 2013. 16.04 isn't looking much better in this regard. Is anything going on to ~innovate~ the user-facing side of Desktop Ubuntu? Mir feels like vaporware, Unity hasn't changed at all. 8 might be good but is also vaporware. Canonical has a wonderful opportunity to steal vast shares of the windows market with MS spying going on, but is letting the OS stagnate to chase some pipe dream of mobile they'll never gain a real foot-hold in....
stderr? This is driving us nuts when we have about six hundred Ubuntu servers, and simple problems are harder to solve because stderr is not displayed in the terminal or saved in the journal.
I have been using Linux since the good old days of the late 90's. I was using Debian until Ubuntu came around in 2004 and switched. Ubuntu was amazing in terms of how it made Linux more usable. However, as time went along Ubuntu was no longer so cutting edge and no longer resonated with me, so I have switched back to Debian. Anyway, all this time as a Linux user it's been a rough ride, every laptop I have purchased (I haven't had a desktop for 15 years) has had issues with Linux. Most common issues for me are that wi-fi drivers don't work and graphics card drivers are unstable. I choose Laptops that are going to give me the least problems by researching them thoroughly beforehand. The most recent laptop (HP ProBook) came with the option of having SUSE Linux installed by default, I thought this would be perfect, but the wi-fi did not work unless you had the correct version of SUSE installed. I am experienced at debugging and resolving issues, a new user would require a lot of patience, technical no-how just to get Linux functioning before they can use their PC. Although you can use Linux without the console, it is difficult to never have to go to the console. The console requires a paradigm shift for many users. In a nutshell the first hurdle for Linux is a massive jump, and only few are brave/curious enough to take it.
So my question is: What support channels would you recommend for new Linux users?
I'm a life long computer user and have been considered very knowledgeable in some operating systems, but so far I can't claim to be knowledgeable or even comfortable with Linux, although I would like to gain that knowledge. I'm leaning towards Debian. Is there any reason that I should try to learn and use Ubuntu over Debian? If something has been dumbed down at the loss of flexibility or usefulness I would not consider that a "feature".
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.