
Ubuntu has the strongest chance to take Linux mainstream - davidw
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/-ubuntu-has-the-strongest-chance-to-take-linux-mainstream--486274
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ErrantX
Heavily disagree. And unlike Jeremy I can rationalise that opinion!

\- They have no clue on user exerience. The desktop and user interface is the
ONLY thing joe public users really care about. Ubuntu spends no time on it's
menu structures / namings or on the design (which looks awful!).

\- Their package management is poor. You end up being upgraded by default to
the newest releases - which is fine to a point but a) if I want to stay with
an older release (I prefer the .04 releases - plus I dont trust this newer
kernel) you have to fight it and b) it messes up the upgrade so much, a lot of
my .04 rigs now report as .10 incorrectly... they need to fix their package
trees and tagging

\- The user support isn't wonderful. The forums have improved but they are FAR
from easy to use (as an experienced forum user I have trouble at times) and
the website is far from accessible.

Ubuntu has done a good job making a big noise about itself - but it's flashy,
showy and gives Linux a bad name... it wont make us mainstream.

I keep saying that to go mainstream Linux needs 3 things: \- #1 a dedicated,
funded, team to make a decnet stable base distro like Debian but without the
huge waits (4month release cycle).

\- #2 a good UI engineer to take a look at the layouts and designs and change
a lot of it

\- #3 some benefactor millionaire willing to promote and pay/support a distro
into the mainstream. I know it is a free product but no one can trust it if
there is not _some_ sort of culpability....

~~~
davidw
I think it's easy to criticize Ubuntu for being less than perfect, but if you
look at what they've done over the years, they have made _impressive_ strides
in terms of making Linux more usable, in many ways.

BTW, sorry for the post title - it should really mention Jeremey Allison, not
Ubuntu, but I submitted it and then got busy and now it's too late to change
it.

~~~
ErrantX
Oh yeh I agree it has done a lot (some of which I disagree with :)) - but that
wasn't the point of the post..

Everyone get so excited about Ubuntu and how it is "ready" for "mainstream".
It isn't and probably never will be :) IMO

Besides: only via criticism can it improve surely :D

(Edit: for spelling)

