Mark Shuttleworth: Canonical leads Ubuntu, not 'your whims'

While the community is ready to dismiss anything Canonical does, they also seem to overlook the work Canonical has done. Unity is far from perfect, but it is functional.

Also, the whole issue of inclusion of Amazon links could be solved with a single command, "sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping".

And it's ridiculous that Canonical gets flak for trying out a new revenue stream (one that can easily be removed if its bothersome), while ChromeOS is championed (which essentially makes revenue off of your web usage, targeting ads, etc.)

If the community tried to be a little less abrasive and actually held reasonable level-headed discussions instead of being dismissive we could actually get somewhere.

Infact I'd argue that it's Canonical's leadership is helping since it has succeeded in bringing generally non-Linux businesses over to Ubuntu - Valve bringing over Steam, Spotify alpha, Rdio, etc.

Re: Mark Shuttleworth: Canonical leads Ubuntu, not 'your whims'

#5

Post by JasonFruit » Sat, Mar 09, 2013, 5:24 AM UTC

This bit annoys me:

  "There are lots of pure community distro's. And wow, they are full of politics, spite, 
   frustration, venality and disappointment," he wrote.

They may be full of those things, sure, but at their best they also have quality, usability, flexibility, power, and beauty. I hope Canonical succeeds in making Ubuntu useful to people who would never have used it before, but I'm sad that that success — if it ever comes — requires abandoning and insulting people who helped make Ubuntu as prominent as it has been.

Re: Mark Shuttleworth: Canonical leads Ubuntu, not 'your whims'

#6

Post by gabipurcaru » Sat, Mar 09, 2013, 5:26 AM UTC

ameen wrote: post #4

While the community is ready to dismiss anything Canonical does, they also seem to overlook the work Canonical has done. Unity is far from perfect, but it is functional. Also, the whole issue of inclusion of Amazon links could be solved with a single command, "sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping". And it's ridiculous that Canonical gets flak for trying out a new revenue stream (one that can easily be removed if i…

"I don't like X about Ubuntu" -- Response from Ubuntu user: "It's easy; all you have to do is apt-get ..."

"I don't like Amazon lens about Ubuntu" -- Response from fellow Ubuntu user: "Yea, this sucks, I think I'm not going to use Ubuntu anymore"

I don't like Amazon lens either (there isn't even an Amazon.ro so it's mostly unusable for me), but they have to make money somehow.

Re: Mark Shuttleworth: Canonical leads Ubuntu, not 'your whims'

#7

Post by aroman » Sat, Mar 09, 2013, 5:26 AM UTC

As someone who has been an active contributor to desktop Linux in the past, and particularly very close to Ubuntu (I was sponsored to attend UDS-O), I have to say that I am happy Shuttleworth is finally taking this much needed stand.

I can absolutely understand the blowback to his sentiments, because really, the diversity of use and mindset in the Linux community is one of its defining characteristics. But frankly, he's right -- if Ubuntu isn't the platform you're looking for, either go find the one that is, or start it.

I don't see Shuttleworth's stance, or indeed the negative feedback from a vocally inflamed (though not majority) userbase, as a sign of Ubuntu's decline. I see it as Ubuntu finally having the balls to do what no other desktop Linux platform has done before -- move ahead with their grand vision on bringing free software to the masses, not just the ones that demand it the most.

Re: Mark Shuttleworth: Canonical leads Ubuntu, not 'your whims'

#8

Post by monkeyfacebag » Sat, Mar 09, 2013, 5:27 AM UTC

I found myself agreeing with a lot of the sentiment expressed in Mark's post but ultimately, I lack faith that Shuttleworth and Canonical have what it takes to pull off the stated goal of creating "an experience that could challenge the existing proprietary leaders." For example, I don't find Unity to be better in any meaningful sense than the "community-driven" GNOME 3. Canonical has come up with some interesting ideas, especially with the HUD menu system, but I just haven't seen real progress towards building the kind of consistent user experience I can find on Android, Windows and OS X.

I'd love for them to succeed, but every passing day I'm looking more to Android as the future of quasi-open Linuxes.

Re: Mark Shuttleworth: Canonical leads Ubuntu, not 'your whims'

#9

Post by macspoofing » Sat, Mar 09, 2013, 5:29 AM UTC

ameen wrote: post #4

While the community is ready to dismiss anything Canonical does, they also seem to overlook the work Canonical has done. Unity is far from perfect, but it is functional. Also, the whole issue of inclusion of Amazon links could be solved with a single command, "sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping". And it's ridiculous that Canonical gets flak for trying out a new revenue stream (one that can easily be removed if i…

>Unity is far from perfect, but it is functional.

If that's the best you can say about it, then Canonical failed.

Re: Mark Shuttleworth: Canonical leads Ubuntu, not 'your whims'

#10

Post by macspoofing » Sat, Mar 09, 2013, 5:29 AM UTC

gabipurcaru wrote: post #6

ameen wrote: post #4

While the community is ready to dismiss anything Canonical does, they also seem to overlook the work Canonical has done. Unity is far from perfect, but it is functional. Also, the whole issue of inclusion of Amazon links could be solved with a single command, "sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping". And it's ridiculous that Canonical gets flak for trying out a new revenue stream (one that can easily be removed if i…

"I don't like X about Ubuntu" -- Response from Ubuntu user: "It's easy; all you have to do is apt-get ..." "I don't like Amazon lens about Ubuntu" -- Response from fellow Ubuntu user: "Yea, this sucks, I think I'm not going to use Ubuntu anymore" I don't like Amazon lens either (there isn't even an Amazon.ro so it's mostly unusable for me), but they have to make money somehow.

>I don't like Amazon lens either (there isn't even an Amazon.ro so it's mostly unusable for me), but they have to make money somehow.

Find another business model, this one sucks.