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Linux Mint Hack Is an Indicator of a Larger Problem (techrepublic.com)
An anonymous reader writes: On February 20th, a hacker working under the handle 'Peace' took control of the website of Linux Mint, a popular Linux distribution derived from Ubuntu (and Debian) targeted toward non-technical users and power users unhappy with modern desktop environments. While these attacks are regrettable, and part of an infrastructure problem rather than a problem with the distribution itself, it increasingly appears that the Linux Mint team is spread too thin when it comes to security. The distribution itself blacklists updates that work perfectly in Ubuntu and Debian, and the graphical utilities don't update the kernel. Because the value added by Linux Mint is in Cinnamon, why do the developers need to distribute a broken version of Ubuntu when the Cinnamon DE could be distributed as an Ubuntu spin?
and the graphical utilities don't update the kernel. Because the value added by Linux Mint is in Cinnamon, why do the developers need to distribute a broken version of Ubuntu when the Cinnamon DE could be distributed as an Ubuntu spin?
My guess would be that most - or allot - of Mint users are looking for more than just Ubuntu with Cinnamon. If that is all Mint users where looking for, there would not be a KDE version, a XFCE version, or a Mate version. If that is all they wanted, they would download Ubuntu and add the ppas for their desktop of choice. People find value with those "graphical utilities".
The author is confusing what he wants from Mint for what others want.
Actually, Linux Mint's value add was originally (and still is) providing an Ubuntu distribution that includes non-free software and codecs pre-installed and configured right out of the box (e.g. DVD playback, MP3 playback, 3D graphics drivers like then visual binary blob, Flash, JAVA, etc.). Yes, these features can be separately stalled by users in Ubuntu. But for first time or novice users, this could be difficult and Linux Mint took the approach of making sure these features were installed, configured, and working out of the box.
Cinnamon is a separate project to provide an alternative to Gnome3. Linux Mint sponsored it and is the primary user of it. But it's not the only "value add".
That said, Linux Mint did make some weird design decisions. I always thought it would be easier to just create and publish a custom Ubuntu spin that included these features rather than create a whole distribution from scratch.
I tried mint a few years ago when I found the default install of Ubuntu desktop unusable. Could I have customized it to the desktop I wanted? Sure. Or, I could try this new distribution that has a DE that is actually intuitive. If Ubuntu shipped with Cinnamon by default I'd go back to Ubuntu. Ubuntu really shot themselves in the foot a few years ago and I got tired of being a beta tester.
Top 5 reasons why Arch Linux sucks:
1) Lead arch developer got his computer hacked 3 times. see: https://web.archive.org/web/20120805043450/https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=12192&p=1
2) Unstable. Go check out arch's forum instead of listening to the fanboy to see the enormous amounts of issues.
3) Unprofessional. Arch isn't used in any professional environment for a good reason. Made by amateurs.
4) Community. Pretentious, trendy, ricer, hippie morons.
5) Forum. Full of noob questions (can't help it as majority is ex-ubuntu users)
The site in question used WordPress, which gets hacked early and often. Being hacked had nothing to do with how many Mint developers there are; it's more a commentary on flaws most php based platforms have.
Linux Mint chooses to blacklist certain applications in line with the project goals; these of course can be overridden at user's choice.
What a pile of FUD, I smell jealousy of Linux Mint's success as unlike Ubuntu the team does listen to end user needs and wants; while Ubuntu instead crams badly designed UI (Unity) down throats that neither meets needs nor was requested by anyone
I've been using Linux for many years. For most of them I was a very happy user. Linux distros in general were better than nearly all of the alternatives in terms of price, stability, quality, and capability. But I've seen all of those properties suffer these past several years.
It's not just the Linux kernel of course. It's the entire ecosystem of open source software that has built up around the Linux kernel that's suffering. GNOME 3 is atrocious, and way worse than GNOME 2. Recent releases of KDE have been very bloated. Xfce has stagnated. GCC is still slow. sysvinit wasn't great, but systemd is far worse. Wayland is nowhere to be seen. GTK+ 3 is archaic. Firefox gets worse with each release. LibreOffice is slow and bloated.
Linux and open source software used to represent great potential. They used to be better than proprietary software. Yet today they're worse. I don't think that the proprietary software has gotten better. Instead, it's the open source software that has gotten worse over time. GNOME 3 is probably the best example of how a great product can be ruined so quickly.
I don't know what to do at this point. Switching to FreeBSD is looking like the most likely option. It still suffers from some of the same problems as Linux distros do, due to it using a lot of open source software, too. But at least it will minimize the problems by FreeBSD itself being of an extraordinarily high quality, and it using better alternatives (like Clang and LLVM instead of GCC) where possible. If that doesn't work, then I'll have to try OS X or Windows 10. I never thought I'd say myself saying this, but Windows 10 is starting to look like a better option for me than most Linux distros are.
I need an operating system that works well and that is reliable. As much as I don't want to use FreeBSD or OS X or even Windows, if they provide me a better experience than Linux then I'll just have to use them instead of Linux.
I don't know what to do at this point.
I do. Wipe your i-don-wanna can't-do-it tears in your fucking sleeve, pick yourself up out of your self-pity, tie your shoes like a big boy and get to work figuring things out, working hard and making things better like the rest of us.
Honestly. I've had it with you people. You want a nice little machine to fellate you? Ask Redmond or Cupertino. You want to build your own hot rod? Be a man and hit the books, FFS.
Apple should know by now that opening up the OS to other hardware would mean making even more off the App Store.
Apple tried licensing to third-party hardware makers and saw their hardware sales decline as the cheaper Macs became popular. That was the first thing Steve Jobs killed off when he came back to Apple.
You want a nice little machine to fellate you?
Apparently I've been buying the wrong computers. Tell me more about these nice little machines.
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
Xfce has stagnated.
Great! I'd rather have something that goes nowhere at all than something that goes downhill. Software that improves itself while avoiding the eventual downhill part is extremely hard to come by, which is backed up by all the examples you posted. Putting a bunch of developers on a project yet managing to make it worse is just a waste of human resources.
Write your own and open source it
Exactly what is wrong with opensource right now. So much crap. Just because it's popular doesn't mean it's not crap. Please, please. Don't just start your own code unless you know what you're doing.