No, it is not the Ubuntu. It is the Linux operating system what is used on the Ubuntu.
Any REAL Linux user knows that Linux is _faster_ on networking than Windows. You do not need to think about browsers or any applications (what ain't part of OS or Ubuntu!) when thinking what makes the network speed so great. It is the one of main purposes to OS to exist, to give a networkin capabilities for applications, so they do not need to include it itself.
Ubuntu is NOT anyway special system to other... so stop these Ubuntu marketing on slashdot.
It seems that people does not even understand what Ubuntu is and how it is marketed now for people by terms what does not relay anykind facts. Just like on other news, Ubuntu users are mostly a newbies on Linux, and it can be noticed easily by their skills.
If Dell would be wise, it would switch Ubuntu to Mandriva immediately, because it gives you wizard to get a internet connection work. You do not use faulty GNOME or KDE applications to do that but own great tools. Only problem is that if the user does not understand how to plug the network device to computer, then Mandriva's applications does not help the situation at all, like on Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is far from "easy to use" or "It just works" when you compare it to distributions like Mandriva, OpenSUSE or PCLinuxOS (Mandriva).
Ubuntu just get the whole marketing from users who do not know anything about easy system for new users. Only a hype what gets taunted all over the place, even when the only speciality of Ubuntu is it's brown theme (GNOME theme) and it's own Ubuntu-tribe to suggest only a Ubuntu when something is wanting switch from Windows.
If I offer Ubuntu for new customers, soon I only need to spend my time to install them a Mandriva because Ubuntu does not include good applications to maintant the system to be a easy to use by avarage joe or lisa!
So this is just question about the default configuration of software system when testing Ubuntu's next release.
The OS boot time on Ubuntu is under one second, no matter of what. But the whole system to boot to login screen, it depends from what system services you are running what INIT needs to start and how it process them.
Well, this test was not about "hey! Ubuntu boots under Xx.x second" but just that Ext4 speed is better than Ext3 and you can get much better tests for that from web. You do not need Ubuntu FOR THAT!
So the whole article is just Ubuntu marketing, not about Linux OS speed on Ubuntu system, not about Ext4 file system what hit stable on 2.6.28 version of Linux OS, but only about how great "improvement" is about on Ubuntu. You get much faster boot to login when you turn off few system services and especially the GDM/KDM and you take only the shell with the OS to start. It is question about how you configure your system on boot, not how you configure your Linux OS on that system.
The modern OS's boots damn fast, it gets started by bootloader, loaded as whole to RAM and then it starts first userspace application and after that, you just count seconds OR minutes of the system start time to login screen or desktop... Everyone could make that easily worst boottime just by enabling few applications as system services and start before other important system services. Like place the Open Office to to start as service and you get 10 seconds added to boottime. Then place computer to calculate heavy mathematic calculations and you can even push the system boot time over 10 minutes if you want and all that time the OS was booted in one second.
There is other one too, it is modern operating system and it is Unix-like. It's name is Linux. Whole OS in 10 million lines of code. Fast boottimes and exelent hardware support and lots of available software for it, most of are even from GNU projekt so you can get easily a GNU/Linux development platform for old machines too and make applications without worring to buy new one...
That should be possible when the new RAM comes to market. Dont now remember what it was called but it stores the information without needing a power. So you dont actually need to sleep/hibernate anymore, you just turn computer ON and OFF from switch and it just works.
All the data stored to SSD and OS + system services + desktop + applications what were running are on RAM.
Internet is like big city (like New York, Beging, Berlin, London) where is all kind stuff available.
You do not let your child go alone to wonder to city like he would want. But... what older your child gets, more you let him to wonder and explore the city. And soon if you say "Do not go there" and you trun around, place where you can find him/she is exactly that place where you told not to go....
Difference in Internet to real world city, is that in real world city, a 10 yeard old kid does not get inside of stripbar (or atleast should not!) or anykind nightclub. He/She does not get boose from store or drugs from pharmasy. But, he can get those if he meats wrong people, then he is in more danger than can believe.
In Internet, even the 5 yeard old is possible to find information about drugs, boose and videos what you would not like him/her to see. But, to find that stuff, you need to do a little search for them (thanks internet search-providers!). But at least your kid can not get drugs, boose or anything FROM internet... if you kid spends 2 hours in his/her room surfing web, you can be 100% certain that she/he is not coming out drugged or drunk (unless she/he has found those on your boose-cabin or closet;-)
To protect your kid... you do not limit their access with "STOP" signs everywhere or scare them off until they are 18/21 by promising to beat a crap out of them if they do something what you do not proof. You educate them when they are kids... you teach them basic moral rules what to follow by using their own brains, think what they are doing...
If you let your kids live freem, without anykind control or limits... without authority... without telling them why something is need to done and why something not... by explaining them all... so they can see the reason for that. Not just saying "Just dont do this and do this. "Shut up! Dont ask questions, just do what I say!".. then they start come more and more against you, what ever you say.
One good way is give tasks for your childrends... give them weekmoney if they take garbage out everyday, clean their rooms and help your wife/huspend to carry food-baskets etc... every task gives them a small amount of money end of the week (not on friday).
Teach them that what ever questions they have in their minds, they can come to you and ask it. If you do not know it, you can teach him/her to find it from dictionary/wikipedia etc.
And what is most important thing... spend time with them... every day. Because since they born... the time goes so fast that you do not even notice when they are waving on door when they leave to college and starts their own life... and in that point... you just hope that you have gaved to him/her/them all the love, time and knowledge what you have effort to give, because when you are old, they are those who will help you...
Internet is just a small part of your problems on educating childrends.. biggest problem is you and your partner...
KDE4 is not build top of KDE3 series. KDE4 is new desktop environment, where they rewrote the KDE for new technologies. KDE4 main feature is new technology called "Plasma". Now 4.2 version is coming out,the Plasma is stable and API will be in future compatible for it. Before 4.2, the developers did not promise plasma API's would not change.
What if Chrome will get a Adblock bonus what blocks all other ads than Google's? Well... then Google is on monopoly trial by Microsoft, Opera and Mozilla.
Well, without Linux OS it would not be so great phone. It really does look good but I wanna know where we can get Source Code for the OS (Linux) and modifications what they have done. (I can google myself thank you).
It runs Linux Operating System version 2.6.x and with few software what gives the touch-screen capabilities it makes together a software platform called WebOS (not an operating system but a software system).
The OS is still the old same one. Linux from 1991. It might be totally new software platform but still same old Linux OS is used what is used on multiple other devices and systems.
I even get headaches when playing Far Cry 2 longer than 10 minutes. Reason is that the view is all the time swinging littlebit. My brains register that movement but because I am not moving but staying still, I get headache. Only game what I am suffering from this. Not even the legendary Aliens Versus Predator (1 & 2) did not give this when playing as Alien and running all over places with fullspeed and going 360Â all the time. Far Cry 2 is bad game for me because of that. I wanna find the option to turn off that "realism" effect because it really add realistic feeling about that game;-)
Actually they are based to silicon, powered by elecricity and run by Linux-Operating System when controlled with Gnome-desktop environment and plastic keyboard and mouse.
Hey! At least Wine was relased! Do you not remember the Duke Nukem Forever?! Over 12 years and it mayby it comes this year... we sould finally get more than just wo preview videos and few screenshots.
Even the KDE 4.2 is beta 2 state, it is better than Windows Vista UI or comes very close, if not over the Mac OS X. Just wait the KDE 4.3 and you get even better... it is just over 6 months waiting;-)
So many judges the KDE4 by the test runs what they have got with KDE 4.0.x and 4.1.3 series. KDE4 is not 4.0.x but currently it is the 4.1.3 version. And you should not judge the KDE4 by one distributor what has done some stupid desicions by backporting stuff from 4.2 development branch, what ain't ready and will just crash all. Kubuntu is one of the distributions what is _terrible_ with it. Even it is KDE centric distribution, it has failed to offer a normal users great desktop experience.
Actually as far as a medium to large organization is concerned, OpenOffice wouldn't be free in accounting terms. There would be training and admin costs on top of that -- which would initially be high. Training is expensive, and there would be a re-productivity curve for employees too, and thus a resultant increased cost again.
OpenOffice.org would still be free, you do not pay anything about that software. What you pay, is the time and effort what is needed to take it in use. Those will be counted in TCO, but in application price.
TCO includes all (as the definition says), even the free software (as beer).
There is kde-look (all the gnome-look.org, kde-look.org, kde-apps.org, qt-apps.org etc) what is nicely integrated to KDE desktop environment.
You can get wallpapers, icons, emoticons, color schemas, plasma-styles, splashscreens etc from that site, without opening a web browser. You just open the KDE4's System Settings and you click "Get new..." button and you browse stuff, and then click "Install" (or even Uninstall and Update) button and you get stuff installed for you.
KDE4 is still missing a theme manager what would allow you to set all these settings by pressing one button, just like the KDE3 version had. But it is coming and all what is missing after that, is the tool to change splashy and grub theme among KDM. Then it would be complete package.
KDE 4.2 brings a feature what allows user to select what plasma theme is used on what place. SO you can have plasma analogy watch theme from style X and the panel background from style Y while using the style Z on the Folder view.
Currently KDE4 does not have lots of styles, but at least there is QtCurve and Bespin. Both allows you to export all the settings what you have done and you can send them (manually) to kde-look.org site for others to get. So new user does not need to goe trought all the configs to get as nice desktop you have on the screenshot.
GNOME has better virtual-keyboard. You just type wanted letter and then you start moving mouse towards other letters. It needs and dictionary to know what words you are wanting to type and it predicts the needed letters bigger ones. So you can hit them more easily. You should find it from usability-menu.
Just use digiKam for photos. You can search photos by all metadata what is included to photos. Even that digiKam uses SQlite, you can sync metadata between database and photos.
In future, there should come a API to sync database with nepomuk. But currently not planned because nepomuk is not so well implented for KDE4 or the KDE4 at all. Just like all can notice that you cant search files any other way easily than using the kickoff or lancelot menu search bar.
- TA Spring (You can get games for that what ain't using the Total Annihilation files) (+ not so good for slower machines) - Nexuiz (not so good for slower machines)
I would just place games what educates and teach basic strategies like chess, go and such games. For younger childrens a KDE-edu package is bretty good.
And then of course set of marble and science applications, because those might some like to be fun.
Oh, and dont forget old kind commandline games and links to desktop heading to online java games.
When the XFCE became again "a classic window manager with a few apps"? It is still counted as desktop environment, what even use more RAM than GNOME!
LXDE is your answer if you ask what is fast, small memoryprint and not-feature rich desktop environment, unless you want to switch to window manager only when you cant use this either...
Linux is generally not "snappy" as you call it because things aren't programmed that way.
Linux is very "snappy", do not mistake the Linux OS to complete software system. It is not Linux OS fault if there is preinstalled application on system what slows things down, or the application itselfs are slow. OS can be damn fast and powerfull but applications slow and terrible. Still unwise persons believe that OS is slow then. I dont blame Windows NT from being slow if the Crysis does not work as fast on my computer as on highend computer of my friend!
Finally, Arch and Ubuntu are separate operating systems.
You are mistaken, they are same Operating Systems (unless you can proof that Arch or Ubuntu does not use Linux OS (the monolith kernel is the OS) but other) but two different software systems. You can't call them different OS's because they both use the same OS but still different version from it (example: other use 2.6.27.x-dadada and other 2.6.26.x-dippadappa).
The complete software system altought is full of different versions of basicly same applications. Thats why we have the term "Software System" what is in short way just a "System" (what you can find from GNOME menu too, not "Applications|Places|Operating System"). Arch and Ubuntu are two different distributions of same OS... because the OS is the commong thing with them and the set of basic system applications and application programs.
If distribution X offers only version X.2 of basic software needed by desktop and it is know to be slow, the Y distribution might be much faster by feeling if it offers X.1 version of software what is faster.
Companies dont need to do packages for every distribution. You follow the Linux Operating System (the kernel) API/ABI and then they offer binaries for distributors who includes them to Linux etc.
Even better if they open drivers source or specs of hardware so Linux kernel developers can make drivers and update them if needed when API/ABI's on Linux Operating System gets changed. Linus does not like to do such big changes in Linux OS, but those will happend sometimes and then it is very important that everyone follows and are ready for such things. Then it is better that drivers gets updated right away and not when the hardware maker feels good to do so.
You dont wish to get a "standard distribution". You want standard API's for what everyone can do their software and it works on all distributions.
Wishing that Ubuntu comes as "only one" is like wishing that Microsoft Windows stays as "the only one" in markets. It is just switching Microsoft to Canonical and it is not good thing at all!
Distributors does those RPM/DEB/X packages for their distributions, not the original hardware maker, even that some offers such. It would be very stupid idea, that one hardware maker should roll a package for every available distribution out there. Thats why you have community what helps you to distribute the software, help it to spread wider so the one is not needed to do it alone.
Work together and you are welcommed, work against community and you are K.O.
The standard interfaces comes from other sources, not from Ubuntu/Canonical. If you want standard OS interface, do not even look Ubuntu/Canonical, look Linux kernel developers who are developing the OS. Canonical is just one distributor among many others.
Just a reason for that the Linux OS does not run any daemons in background, because any of the daemons running in typical system is not part of Linux Operating System.
Or should we start calling all kind process like Apache or TeamSpeak as part of OS and so on it background processes, even that they ain't?
Linux is the Operating System... I repeat, the Linux Kernel is the Operating System. Not because the OS is called as "Linux" but because the Linux kernel is monolith kernel and not microkernel.
Linux operating system does not include any parts on userland mode. Do not mistake that to developing platform called GNU/Linux or complete software system what are called distributions. All Linux-distributions includes Linux operating system and different set of applications, from what some are services called daemons and some are just systemtools and some normal desktop applications etc.
When you talk about Linux Operating System, you talk the Linux kernel... and not about something else with it. What ever you run with Linux, is not part of Operating System. If Linux would be a microkernel, then the case would be different because microkernel is not alone an Operating System but a kernel. So do not fall to marketing propaganda that the software system what you get on Ubuntu disk etc, is the complete Operating System. You get graphical operating system if you have possible to get a software what draws a GUI.
The difference is that Linux OS runs as monolith in one virtualaddress while Microkernel structured operating system runs protected processes between microkernel and OS servers in userland. You can move those OS servers to kernel space, still them being separated from the kernel itself. Then you just get a so called "Hybrid kernel" what is marketing too, because the kernel is still microkernel and OS structure is still such and not monolith.
Slashdot Mirror
No, it is not the Ubuntu. It is the Linux operating system what is used on the Ubuntu.
Any REAL Linux user knows that Linux is _faster_ on networking than Windows.
You do not need to think about browsers or any applications (what ain't part of OS or Ubuntu!) when thinking what makes the network speed so great. It is the one of main purposes to OS to exist, to give a networkin capabilities for applications, so they do not need to include it itself.
Ubuntu is NOT anyway special system to other... so stop these Ubuntu marketing on slashdot.
It seems that people does not even understand what Ubuntu is and how it is marketed now for people by terms what does not relay anykind facts. Just like on other news, Ubuntu users are mostly a newbies on Linux, and it can be noticed easily by their skills.
If Dell would be wise, it would switch Ubuntu to Mandriva immediately, because it gives you wizard to get a internet connection work. You do not use faulty GNOME or KDE applications to do that but own great tools. Only problem is that if the user does not understand how to plug the network device to computer, then Mandriva's applications does not help the situation at all, like on Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is far from "easy to use" or "It just works" when you compare it to distributions like Mandriva, OpenSUSE or PCLinuxOS (Mandriva).
Ubuntu just get the whole marketing from users who do not know anything about easy system for new users. Only a hype what gets taunted all over the place, even when the only speciality of Ubuntu is it's brown theme (GNOME theme) and it's own Ubuntu-tribe to suggest only a Ubuntu when something is wanting switch from Windows.
If I offer Ubuntu for new customers, soon I only need to spend my time to install them a Mandriva because Ubuntu does not include good applications to maintant the system to be a easy to use by avarage joe or lisa!
So this is just question about the default configuration of software system when testing Ubuntu's next release.
The OS boot time on Ubuntu is under one second, no matter of what. But the whole system to boot to login screen, it depends from what system services you are running what INIT needs to start and how it process them.
Well, this test was not about "hey! Ubuntu boots under Xx.x second" but just that Ext4 speed is better than Ext3 and you can get much better tests for that from web. You do not need Ubuntu FOR THAT!
So the whole article is just Ubuntu marketing, not about Linux OS speed on Ubuntu system, not about Ext4 file system what hit stable on 2.6.28 version of Linux OS, but only about how great "improvement" is about on Ubuntu. You get much faster boot to login when you turn off few system services and especially the GDM/KDM and you take only the shell with the OS to start. It is question about how you configure your system on boot, not how you configure your Linux OS on that system.
The modern OS's boots damn fast, it gets started by bootloader, loaded as whole to RAM and then it starts first userspace application and after that, you just count seconds OR minutes of the system start time to login screen or desktop...
Everyone could make that easily worst boottime just by enabling few applications as system services and start before other important system services. Like place the Open Office to to start as service and you get 10 seconds added to boottime. Then place computer to calculate heavy mathematic calculations and you can even push the system boot time over 10 minutes if you want and all that time the OS was booted in one second.
There is other one too, it is modern operating system and it is Unix-like. It's name is Linux.
Whole OS in 10 million lines of code. Fast boottimes and exelent hardware support and lots of available software for it, most of are even from GNU projekt so you can get easily a GNU/Linux development platform for old machines too and make applications without worring to buy new one...
That should be possible when the new RAM comes to market. Dont now remember what it was called but it stores the information without needing a power. So you dont actually need to sleep/hibernate anymore, you just turn computer ON and OFF from switch and it just works.
All the data stored to SSD and OS + system services + desktop + applications what were running are on RAM.
Internet is like big city (like New York, Beging, Berlin, London) where is all kind stuff available.
You do not let your child go alone to wonder to city like he would want. But... what older your child gets, more you let him to wonder and explore the city. And soon if you say "Do not go there" and you trun around, place where you can find him/she is exactly that place where you told not to go....
Difference in Internet to real world city, is that in real world city, a 10 yeard old kid does not get inside of stripbar (or atleast should not!) or anykind nightclub. He/She does not get boose from store or drugs from pharmasy. But, he can get those if he meats wrong people, then he is in more danger than can believe.
In Internet, even the 5 yeard old is possible to find information about drugs, boose and videos what you would not like him/her to see. But, to find that stuff, you need to do a little search for them (thanks internet search-providers!). But at least your kid can not get drugs, boose or anything FROM internet... if you kid spends 2 hours in his/her room surfing web, you can be 100% certain that she/he is not coming out drugged or drunk (unless she/he has found those on your boose-cabin or closet ;-)
To protect your kid... you do not limit their access with "STOP" signs everywhere or scare them off until they are 18/21 by promising to beat a crap out of them if they do something what you do not proof. You educate them when they are kids... you teach them basic moral rules what to follow by using their own brains, think what they are doing...
If you let your kids live freem, without anykind control or limits... without authority... without telling them why something is need to done and why something not... by explaining them all... so they can see the reason for that. Not just saying "Just dont do this and do this. "Shut up! Dont ask questions, just do what I say!".. then they start come more and more against you, what ever you say.
One good way is give tasks for your childrends... give them weekmoney if they take garbage out everyday, clean their rooms and help your wife/huspend to carry food-baskets etc... every task gives them a small amount of money end of the week (not on friday).
Teach them that what ever questions they have in their minds, they can come to you and ask it. If you do not know it, you can teach him/her to find it from dictionary/wikipedia etc.
And what is most important thing... spend time with them... every day. Because since they born... the time goes so fast that you do not even notice when they are waving on door when they leave to college and starts their own life... and in that point... you just hope that you have gaved to him/her/them all the love, time and knowledge what you have effort to give, because when you are old, they are those who will help you...
Internet is just a small part of your problems on educating childrends.. biggest problem is you and your partner...
Now, we have KDE4 built on top of the old 3.5.x
KDE4 is not build top of KDE3 series. KDE4 is new desktop environment, where they rewrote the KDE for new technologies. KDE4 main feature is new technology called "Plasma". Now 4.2 version is coming out,the Plasma is stable and API will be in future compatible for it. Before 4.2, the developers did not promise plasma API's would not change.
What if Chrome will get a Adblock bonus what blocks all other ads than Google's? Well... then Google is on monopoly trial by Microsoft, Opera and Mozilla.
Well, without Linux OS it would not be so great phone. It really does look good but I wanna know where we can get Source Code for the OS (Linux) and modifications what they have done. (I can google myself thank you).
It runs Linux Operating System version 2.6.x and with few software what gives the touch-screen capabilities it makes together a software platform called WebOS (not an operating system but a software system).
The OS is still the old same one. Linux from 1991. It might be totally new software platform but still same old Linux OS is used what is used on multiple other devices and systems.
I even get headaches when playing Far Cry 2 longer than 10 minutes. Reason is that the view is all the time swinging littlebit. My brains register that movement but because I am not moving but staying still, I get headache. Only game what I am suffering from this. Not even the legendary Aliens Versus Predator (1 & 2) did not give this when playing as Alien and running all over places with fullspeed and going 360Â all the time. Far Cry 2 is bad game for me because of that. I wanna find the option to turn off that "realism" effect because it really add realistic feeling about that game ;-)
Actually they are based to silicon, powered by elecricity and run by Linux-Operating System when controlled with Gnome-desktop environment and plastic keyboard and mouse.
Hey! At least Wine was relased! Do you not remember the Duke Nukem Forever?! Over 12 years and it mayby it comes this year... we sould finally get more than just wo preview videos and few screenshots.
Even the KDE 4.2 is beta 2 state, it is better than Windows Vista UI or comes very close, if not over the Mac OS X. Just wait the KDE 4.3 and you get even better... it is just over 6 months waiting ;-)
So many judges the KDE4 by the test runs what they have got with KDE 4.0.x and 4.1.3 series. KDE4 is not 4.0.x but currently it is the 4.1.3 version. And you should not judge the KDE4 by one distributor what has done some stupid desicions by backporting stuff from 4.2 development branch, what ain't ready and will just crash all. Kubuntu is one of the distributions what is _terrible_ with it. Even it is KDE centric distribution, it has failed to offer a normal users great desktop experience.
Actually as far as a medium to large organization is concerned, OpenOffice wouldn't be free in accounting terms. There would be training and admin costs on top of that -- which would initially be high. Training is expensive, and there would be a re-productivity curve for employees too, and thus a resultant increased cost again.
OpenOffice.org would still be free, you do not pay anything about that software. What you pay, is the time and effort what is needed to take it in use. Those will be counted in TCO, but in application price.
TCO includes all (as the definition says), even the free software (as beer).
There is kde-look (all the gnome-look.org, kde-look.org, kde-apps.org, qt-apps.org etc) what is nicely integrated to KDE desktop environment.
You can get wallpapers, icons, emoticons, color schemas, plasma-styles, splashscreens etc from that site, without opening a web browser. You just open the KDE4's System Settings and you click "Get new..." button and you browse stuff, and then click "Install" (or even Uninstall and Update) button and you get stuff installed for you.
KDE4 is still missing a theme manager what would allow you to set all these settings by pressing one button, just like the KDE3 version had. But it is coming and all what is missing after that, is the tool to change splashy and grub theme among KDM. Then it would be complete package.
KDE 4.2 brings a feature what allows user to select what plasma theme is used on what place. SO you can have plasma analogy watch theme from style X and the panel background from style Y while using the style Z on the Folder view.
Currently KDE4 does not have lots of styles, but at least there is QtCurve and Bespin. Both allows you to export all the settings what you have done and you can send them (manually) to kde-look.org site for others to get. So new user does not need to goe trought all the configs to get as nice desktop you have on the screenshot.
GNOME has better virtual-keyboard. You just type wanted letter and then you start moving mouse towards other letters. It needs and dictionary to know what words you are wanting to type and it predicts the needed letters bigger ones. So you can hit them more easily. You should find it from usability-menu.
Just use digiKam for photos. You can search photos by all metadata what is included to photos. Even that digiKam uses SQlite, you can sync metadata between database and photos.
In future, there should come a API to sync database with nepomuk. But currently not planned because nepomuk is not so well implented for KDE4 or the KDE4 at all. Just like all can notice that you cant search files any other way easily than using the kickoff or lancelot menu search bar.
- TA Spring (You can get games for that what ain't using the Total Annihilation files) (+ not so good for slower machines)
- Nexuiz (not so good for slower machines)
I would just place games what educates and teach basic strategies like chess, go and such games. For younger childrens a KDE-edu package is bretty good.
And then of course set of marble and science applications, because those might some like to be fun.
Oh, and dont forget old kind commandline games and links to desktop heading to online java games.
When the XFCE became again "a classic window manager with a few apps"? It is still counted as desktop environment, what even use more RAM than GNOME!
LXDE is your answer if you ask what is fast, small memoryprint and not-feature rich desktop environment, unless you want to switch to window manager only when you cant use this either...
Linux is generally not "snappy" as you call it because things aren't programmed that way.
Linux is very "snappy", do not mistake the Linux OS to complete software system. It is not Linux OS fault if there is preinstalled application on system what slows things down, or the application itselfs are slow. OS can be damn fast and powerfull but applications slow and terrible. Still unwise persons believe that OS is slow then. I dont blame Windows NT from being slow if the Crysis does not work as fast on my computer as on highend computer of my friend!
Finally, Arch and Ubuntu are separate operating systems.
You are mistaken, they are same Operating Systems (unless you can proof that Arch or Ubuntu does not use Linux OS (the monolith kernel is the OS) but other) but two different software systems. You can't call them different OS's because they both use the same OS but still different version from it (example: other use 2.6.27.x-dadada and other 2.6.26.x-dippadappa).
The complete software system altought is full of different versions of basicly same applications. Thats why we have the term "Software System" what is in short way just a "System" (what you can find from GNOME menu too, not "Applications|Places|Operating System"). Arch and Ubuntu are two different distributions of same OS... because the OS is the commong thing with them and the set of basic system applications and application programs.
If distribution X offers only version X.2 of basic software needed by desktop and it is know to be slow, the Y distribution might be much faster by feeling if it offers X.1 version of software what is faster.
Companies dont need to do packages for every distribution. You follow the Linux Operating System (the kernel) API/ABI and then they offer binaries for distributors who includes them to Linux etc.
Even better if they open drivers source or specs of hardware so Linux kernel developers can make drivers and update them if needed when API/ABI's on Linux Operating System gets changed. Linus does not like to do such big changes in Linux OS, but those will happend sometimes and then it is very important that everyone follows and are ready for such things. Then it is better that drivers gets updated right away and not when the hardware maker feels good to do so.
You dont wish to get a "standard distribution". You want standard API's for what everyone can do their software and it works on all distributions.
Wishing that Ubuntu comes as "only one" is like wishing that Microsoft Windows stays as "the only one" in markets. It is just switching Microsoft to Canonical and it is not good thing at all!
Distributors does those RPM/DEB/X packages for their distributions, not the original hardware maker, even that some offers such. It would be very stupid idea, that one hardware maker should roll a package for every available distribution out there. Thats why you have community what helps you to distribute the software, help it to spread wider so the one is not needed to do it alone.
Work together and you are welcommed, work against community and you are K.O.
The standard interfaces comes from other sources, not from Ubuntu/Canonical. If you want standard OS interface, do not even look Ubuntu/Canonical, look Linux kernel developers who are developing the OS. Canonical is just one distributor among many others.
Just a reason for that the Linux OS does not run any daemons in background, because any of the daemons running in typical system is not part of Linux Operating System.
Or should we start calling all kind process like Apache or TeamSpeak as part of OS and so on it background processes, even that they ain't?
Linux is the Operating System... I repeat, the Linux Kernel is the Operating System. Not because the OS is called as "Linux" but because the Linux kernel is monolith kernel and not microkernel.
Linux operating system does not include any parts on userland mode. Do not mistake that to developing platform called GNU/Linux or complete software system what are called distributions. All Linux-distributions includes Linux operating system and different set of applications, from what some are services called daemons and some are just systemtools and some normal desktop applications etc.
When you talk about Linux Operating System, you talk the Linux kernel... and not about something else with it. What ever you run with Linux, is not part of Operating System. If Linux would be a microkernel, then the case would be different because microkernel is not alone an Operating System but a kernel. So do not fall to marketing propaganda that the software system what you get on Ubuntu disk etc, is the complete Operating System. You get graphical operating system if you have possible to get a software what draws a GUI.
The difference is that Linux OS runs as monolith in one virtualaddress while Microkernel structured operating system runs protected processes between microkernel and OS servers in userland. You can move those OS servers to kernel space, still them being separated from the kernel itself. Then you just get a so called "Hybrid kernel" what is marketing too, because the kernel is still microkernel and OS structure is still such and not monolith.