I could write more but I don't want to. Whether Ubuntu is the best Linux distribution or not is debatable, whether Ubuntu has made or not made significant contributions to desktop Linux is also debatable, saying otherwise is ludicrous. Preference of one distribution over another comes down to personal taste, individual experiences with hardware support and individual experiences with the maintenance of the system. However the marketing effort Ubuntu made is undeniable, I don't remember any other distributions that made such commitment to promoting desktop Linux.
Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux
11–20 of 83 posts
Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux
#12our superior operating system is only superior to computer savvy users who are able to fix what they break and configure what they buy and who have the patience to figure-out things like why a configuration made in the KDE UI disappears at reboot. Hint–it might be because that particular configuration in your particular distro must be made in the distro’s configuration panel which overwrites anything done in KDE’s pa…
There are many perfectly usable, free, desktop environments to choose from on GNU/Linux. I just can't take complaints like this seriously.
Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux
#13But, I don't particularly "want Linux to succeed". I want an OS to succeed that's free, and doesn't suck for my purposes. This article seems to assume that we "want Linux to succeed" simply because we're rooting for our home team. Edit: To clarify, I'm not saying I don't want Linux to succeed. I'm saying that if that success comes at the cost of making it suck more or be less Free, that will be a Pyrrhic victory.
By the transitive property, and assuming Linux doesn't suck for your purposes (probably a fair assumption), you want Linux to succeed.
Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux
#14Because he pumps a load of cash into it and isn't afraid of new things?
I don't actually like many of the new things, but you can't fault him for having a go and getting some decent results, and (X/K)Ubuntu always looks pretty polished
Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux
#15The most important thing he can do is railroad through a Nexus-style Ubuntu exemplar hardware platform. All you need is one or two devices. I'd pay 25% over a comparable Apple for a real Ubuntu-Debian laptop with Apple-quality build and a real software-hardware pairing. I'm tired of flimsy setups from a weekend configuration tutorial hack job or Dell's XPS empty gesture.
I hate to recommend this, but my Macbook Air runs Ubuntu pretty much perfectly, and pretty much out of the box.
Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux
#16This article reads like it was written in 2006. The ideas that Linux distros lack polish, and that Ubuntu brought that to the table; that this is a capitalist world and Mark Shuttleworth understands capitalism, etc. are very, very trite.
Also, what kind of bizarro world is this where Android doesn't exist? You know, the Linux distro/interface that's leading the development on the consumer side? Smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices is the future for Linux and computing in general.
You have not explained how Android is relevant to a conversation about desktop Linux.
>Smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices is the future for Linux and computing in general.
Even if that is true, it does not automatically make Android relevant to a conversation about desktop Linux.
Will you concede that at the current time, essentially no one uses Android as desktop OS?
Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux
#17Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux because he's the only one with vision, and the means to carry out that vision. He's making the tough, unpopular decisions that are advancing desktop Linux into the mainstream, and the only one with the balls to go at it alone. Despite its issues (and it has them), Ubuntu is by far the most usable Linux variety, both on the desktop and server...
Apparently you've never tried gentoo.
Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux
#18But, I don't particularly "want Linux to succeed". I want an OS to succeed that's free, and doesn't suck for my purposes. This article seems to assume that we "want Linux to succeed" simply because we're rooting for our home team. Edit: To clarify, I'm not saying I don't want Linux to succeed. I'm saying that if that success comes at the cost of making it suck more or be less Free, that will be a Pyrrhic victory.
simply because we're rooting for our home team
It would be good for Linux to succeed just to have competition- even if there was a better (for me) OS I would still want Linux to succeed so in the distant future I will still have a choice and an even better OS spurred on by competition.
Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux
#19But, I don't particularly "want Linux to succeed". I want an OS to succeed that's free, and doesn't suck for my purposes. This article seems to assume that we "want Linux to succeed" simply because we're rooting for our home team. Edit: To clarify, I'm not saying I don't want Linux to succeed. I'm saying that if that success comes at the cost of making it suck more or be less Free, that will be a Pyrrhic victory.
1. When I look for work, people expect me to use a particular OS I'm not very found of and it seems natural to them. I'd definitely would like to see more diversification and Linux is by far the best chance for that. So yes, I want it to succeed. I want my next employer to tell me the interfaces they have and let me figure out how to work with it instead of forcing me into their restricted worldview.
2. I'm not an administrator. I'm a software guy. And I want to make money to buy food and shelter and stuff. I want the Linux desktop to succeed because then I have a userbase that has various needs and is willing to spend money to fulfill the needs. Yes, I want to create beautiful "works out of the box" apps that people want to spend money for. Things like the Ubuntu software center and Steam are pointing the way there, but we still have a long way to go. And nobody else seems to be on this path.
Re: Why Mark Shuttleworth is important to desktop Linux
#20The most important thing he can do is railroad through a Nexus-style Ubuntu exemplar hardware platform. All you need is one or two devices. I'd pay 25% over a comparable Apple for a real Ubuntu-Debian laptop with Apple-quality build and a real software-hardware pairing. I'm tired of flimsy setups from a weekend configuration tutorial hack job or Dell's XPS empty gesture.
I hate to recommend this, but my Macbook Air runs Ubuntu pretty much perfectly, and pretty much out of the box.
pretty much