[PLUG] 'buntus

[John Jason Jordan]

On Sun, 25 Apr 2010 11:05:38 -0700
Bruce <kd7vvk at gmail.com> dijo:

>I would like some comment from your vast pool of experience as to what 
>this writer said.  Most of my curiosity  stems from the latter half of 
>this article.  Pointers to articles, other distros, etc. are all 
>welcomed.  If they come with your observations or opinions, so much
>the better.
>
>http://www.ghabuntu.com/2010/04/where-is-ubuntu-going-to.html

The author of that article is mostly misguided and has failed to
understand a lot of things. Someone decided that the Gimp wouldn't fit
on the CD unless other more important stuff was eliminated. You can
always install it yourself. Ditto for just about all the other
complaints.

As for Shuttleworth saying that Ubuntu is not a democracy, well, that's
true of most distros. There is frequently one key person who started the
distro and keeps it afloat. That person decides what will be included
and what will not. In fact, I think Ubuntu responds to user input
better than many. And if you're worried about a for-profit corporation
owning the distro, then you'd better stay away from Mandriva, OpenSuse,
Fedora, and several others. 

I lived happily with Ubuntu for my first several years in Linux,
although today I use Fedora 11. I take my hat off to Ubuntu.
Shuttleworth's big claim to fame is that he said several years ago that
it was time for Linux on the desktop. Considering the massive user base
of Ubuntu, he was right. Hardly anyone else had the gumption to target
the desktop user base. The success of Ubuntu has brought millions of
new users to Linux. How can that be bad for Linux? If Shuttleworth
thinks he is entitled to maintain control of the distro, I'm happy to
let him. 

There always seems to be a group who think that if someone is
successful they must have done something wrong to get there. I don't
know Shuttleworth, but I have met the man and heard him speak. I also
know his story. He's OK in my book.