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Ubuntu will switch from X window server to Mir

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Re: Ubuntu will switch from X window server to Mir

#251
post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upstart is available in the Debian package repos, and it was used for a while by Red Hat before they switched to Systemd.

Fedora package != RHEL defaults. Debian package != Debian defaults. RHEL 6.4 still uses systemv init, in fact.

Have the Debian defaults (by some definition) had an opportunity to update since upstart was packaged for Debian?

Re: Ubuntu will switch from X window server to Mir

#252
post #44
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What I like about the GNU/Linux ecosystem is that a lot of distros share a lot of common underpinnings, and everyone benefits from a large community fixing bugs and improving those underpinnings Exactly. Standards exist in the GNU/Linux world for reason. Mir, Unity, etc. all don't seem to play too well with other distros and are very tightly integrated with Ubuntu; if this continues Ubuntu might turn into a slightl…

Apple already have more developers contributing to useful upstream code than Canonical (Webkit, cups, LLVM).

Didn't Apple buy CUPS specifically so that they could keep parts of it proprietary?

They're definitely only funneling money into LLVM so they can drop their dependencies on GCC, which will probably have a net harmful effect on the free software culture.

Re: Ubuntu will switch from X window server to Mir

#253
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In terms of user interface have those standards delivered? I remember fonts being really screwed up for a long time. Longer that it should have been. Just getting anti-aliased fonts was major deal. Then graphics drivers are a mess. I blame manufacturers of devices here. But still treating it as a black box I just see that is inferior. I know Linus flipped of NVidia but at the same time is a chicken and egg problem. W…

> Let them innovate If Canonical were good at it, everybody would be saying "yeah, go for it!" But they're not. Every time they strike out on their own, they seem to end up producing overly complex, badly performing, messes, with tons of issues, that everybody hates. bzr, unity, ... The only reason people use any of their stuff is because ubuntu pushes it on their users, and people with little experience end up using…

[if Canonical were] gaining users the hard way, by being better, then nobody would blink an eye.

Maybe they are "being better".

I have no doubt that technically Wayland is better than Mir, but for me (as a user who lost interest in configuring Linux back when FVWM95 was considered interesting) I don't care.

I use Ubuntu (including Unity!) because it works. I never, ever want to deal with weird configurations to work around some bug, and for the most part Ubuntu lets me avoid that.

For me, "better" means "it just works". No other distro does that as well as Ubuntu.

(BTW, Unity isn't that bad once you've used it for a while)

Re: Ubuntu will switch from X window server to Mir

#254
post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upstart is available in the Debian package repos, and it was used for a while by Red Hat before they switched to Systemd.

Fedora package != RHEL defaults. Debian package != Debian defaults. RHEL 6.4 still uses systemv init, in fact.

EL6 uses upstart[1], the SysV init scripts are using the rc compatibility.

[1]: https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enter...

Re: Ubuntu will switch from X window server to Mir

#255
post #35

I don't understand all the negative reactions. Canonical is recognizing various problems in making GNU/Linux mainstream. They are then innovating at a deeper level (fixing root causes rather than duct-taping) to ultimately attempt to really attract the layman to a mobile or desktop GNU/Linux distro. Devs don't need to target Mir if they don't want to, Linux users can switch to another Debian if they don't like it, an…

> the Layman discovers that Linux can possibly be just as shiny as Mac OS. Why do we want the layman to be using Linux? To give Valve more Linux customers or something? We should let them be. Laymen will invariably be better served by Microsoft or Apple, trying to win them over in some sort of misguided drive to "win" market-share seems foolish. Linux should focus on it's niche, and Microsoft and Apple theirs. This m…

It could help make the software market more competitive. We can already see that Apple and MS want a lot of power over their platforms to the point of being able to decide what software will run. A more neutral platform in wide use could make the playing field more level thus leading to better software in the long run.

Re: Ubuntu will switch from X window server to Mir

#256
post #33

Maybe this is a good idea, I don't know about X/Wayland enough to say. But it worries me that Ubuntu is increasingly striking out on its own. What I like about the GNU/Linux ecosystem is that a lot of distros share a lot of common underpinnings, and everyone benefits from a large community fixing bugs and improving those underpinnings. It's also less knowledge to have to keep in your head for system administration st…

> Maybe this is the kick in the pants Linux needs to increase adoption. But I would much rather know GNU/Linux, not Ubuntu.

I'd rather know Unix, not GNU/Linux or Ubuntu. Maybe Ubuntu diverging a bit from other Linux distributions, and from GNU, will encourage people to write portable code.

Re: Ubuntu will switch from X window server to Mir

#257
post #35

I don't understand all the negative reactions. Canonical is recognizing various problems in making GNU/Linux mainstream. They are then innovating at a deeper level (fixing root causes rather than duct-taping) to ultimately attempt to really attract the layman to a mobile or desktop GNU/Linux distro. Devs don't need to target Mir if they don't want to, Linux users can switch to another Debian if they don't like it, an…

> the Layman discovers that Linux can possibly be just as shiny as Mac OS. Why do we want the layman to be using Linux? To give Valve more Linux customers or something? We should let them be. Laymen will invariably be better served by Microsoft or Apple, trying to win them over in some sort of misguided drive to "win" market-share seems foolish. Linux should focus on it's niche, and Microsoft and Apple theirs. This m…

For better or for worse, market share was always Canonical's goal. See their bug #1.

Re: Ubuntu will switch from X window server to Mir

#258
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Practically: I want to be using a system that I can be confident has good hardware & software support, not always double checking everything I buy to make sure it will work. That means getting at least a few % market share so that other companies take it seriously. There's also an ideological angle: many Linux users feel that there's something wrong with a world where only the technically adept can use a free, open s…

> not always double checking everything I buy to make sure it will work. I feel like we've been there since... 2007? My last several purchases were made with zero caution or research anyway, maybe I've just been getting lucky. > many Linux users feel that there's something wrong with a world where only the technically adept can use a free, open source operating system. That's fine and all, I don't buy into that ideol…

Even drivers that were previously mainline have broken. So while the Intel 4965 used to work fine on Linux, it no longer does. And that is for a driver in mainline.

Re: Ubuntu will switch from X window server to Mir

#259
post #252
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple already have more developers contributing to useful upstream code than Canonical (Webkit, cups, LLVM).

Didn't Apple buy CUPS specifically so that they could keep parts of it proprietary? They're definitely only funneling money into LLVM so they can drop their dependencies on GCC, which will probably have a net harmful effect on the free software culture.

> They're definitely only funneling money into LLVM so they can drop their dependencies on GCC

Definitely and only? How did you determine this?

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