This is such a great reply. Thank you, majika.
> What's changed?
Nothing much on the Linux side; Windows has just become better. Windows XP as I remember it was utter shit. Windows 7 is actually pleasant to use. I also got myself a MacBook in 2008, wrote many Cocoa applications, and found that the Mac was a better work machine than my Linux machine. So if someone can't afford a Mac, I tell them to use Windows 7. Otherwise it's time to hit the Apple store :)
> People get comfy in their distributions. When Shuttleworth dictates "design" decisions with the reasoning of "just because," and as a result many people no longer find their distribution of choice comfortable, can you really blame them for being pissed off?
Totally agreed. So can we say that not only does the Linux world lack leadership, the little leadership it does have makes terrible decisions? :p
> Fragmentation is inevitable in free software. People build what they want - you can't stop them, and you don't have to use what they make. The solution is not to provide the "one distribution to bind them all" and somehow dictate that everyone should use it, but to get the different ecosystems and environments following standards. They're doing that pretty well.
Once again you make a very good point. But I'm looking at this issue from a consumer's standpoint. The consumer wants to deal with one entity; he doesn't like fragmentation. In any case, these mostly identical distributions serve no purpose. Most of them have no reason to exist. Personally, when I want to use Linux -- and I do use Linux on servers because that is where it shines -- I default to Debian and pretend that nothing else exists. I'm not good at dealing with choice, and I believe the man on the street is almost as bad as I am.
> It seems you wish for the same universality for Ubuntu as exists for Windows and Mac OS X.
I do. I honestly do. Universality is a good thing. I know a properly written GTK+ app will run identically on every Linux machine out there, but there are still some very tiny incompatibilities, especially w.r.t. packaging and distribution. As an indie developer, I don't want to deal with that stuff. I just want to create a DMG/MSI, ship it and expect it to work for the next 5 years without issues. The universality of Windows and the Mac gurantees that.
Oh, one more thing: Windows and OS X let even bad developers bang out working applications. All their assumptions about their OS, their hardcoded paths, their assumptions about certain libraries existing at certain versions, all their bad code ... it all just works. Small point, but I think it's an important one. All of us were ignorant once :)
I know I'm going to sound like a crazy person here, but I just feel there is something very wrong with fragmentation. I don't know; it's just something I feel. I guess I probably am a crazy person ...
> Linus is (a) busy, and (b) has no clue about usability. He runs Xfce, for heavens' sake :)
Hey, Xfce is pretty damn good :)