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System76 Pop!_OS Beta Ubuntu-based Linux Distribution Now Available To Download (betanews.com)
BrianFagioli writes: Next month, a new era of Ubuntu begins. Unity is dead, and GNOME 3 takes over as the default desktop environment. While this change was for the best, it was still shocking for many. For a company like System76, for instance, that sells computers pre-loaded with Ubuntu, this was problematic. Why? Well, the company essentially lost control of the overall user experience by relying on vanilla Ubuntu. It was being forced to follow Canonical's path. To solve this, and regain some control, System76 has been developing its own operating system called 'Pop!_OS.' No, it is not reinventing the wheel here -- it will still use Ubuntu as a base, and GNOME will be the desktop environment. The company is customizing the operating system, however, with things like fonts, themes, and icons, to create something truly unique. This could lead to an improved user experience. Today, the first official beta of the operating system becomes available for download.
Someone should tell these people that sticking random punctuation into your brand names is a fad that died long ago. It was dumb back with the :CueCat, and today it looks hopelessly moronic.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
Obligatory
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
I use the default desktop as a measure of a distro's developers'/maintainers' competency. If a distro's team has chosen to use Gnome 3 as the default desktop environment then I get very concerned. I don't think that a competent person or team would choose Gnome 3 for any reason, especially with so many better alternatives available. If a team has screwed up something as simple as choosing a good default desktop environment, then in my opinion the rest of their decisions can't be trusted, and I cannot justify using their distro.
Been using Linux off and on since 1993 with the now-defunct SLS distro. I drank the kool-aid back then. Now it's been 24 years now. The closet thing to a fun and attractive (to me personally) desktop there has ever been was using Enlightenment v14 (not the new phone-canvas garbage). In my opinion and experience, GNOME and KDE are big buggy jokes filled with Pottering-like personalities, lame half-working applications, and dozens of abortive ideas piled quickly on top of each other.
I also work very nearby the System76 folks. They seem to me like 20-something bearded hipsters trying to Python-script their way to Linux desktop glory. Good luck with that. At this point, after 24 years of crap-on-crap, I give up. I declare the Linux desktop fragmentation thoroughly fatal. At least it keeps these lamers all in one place, though. There is that!
If you don't know how to get root in Ubuntu you probably shouldn't have access to root.
There's a whole lot of subjective "me" in that comment but very little objective "fact". Look if Linux doesn't work for you, okay. You found something else to use? Great! I think we've all moved past the idea that there will ever be a year of the Linux Desktop.
They seem to me like 20-something bearded hipsters trying to Python-script their way to Linux desktop glory.
Really?! These people look like 20-something hipsters? Have you ever worked in a programming job? Because these folks look exactly like the last three groups of folks I've worked with which is typically a pretty diverse mix of folks.
I give up. I declare the Linux desktop fragmentation thoroughly fatal.
Well I'm sure we're all glad that you've finally declared that. We have all been waiting with bated breath for you to go one way or the other. We can all now rest easy knowing for sure which way you lean on the matter.
I own a System76 machine and have had exactly zero issues with installing or doing anything that I want with the OS. Installing KDE was a dream and nothing has broken as the result of any NVIDIA updates (which for me has been historically awful). It's rock solid and faster than shit...I'm glad that I could afford the extra cost - I'm happier with my machine than I would have been on a Mac (and I spent less).
The one downside: The laptop weighs a freakin' ton. As an original owner of the breakout model of the first Dell XPS laptops, I consider that a small price to pay for 1) "just works" and 2) Freedom.