Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> __/ [ George Ellison (undercover) ] on Sunday 13 August 2006 06:04 \__
>
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>> Show your Ubuntu pride !!
>>> FREE strip of four 'powered by Ubuntu' stickers
>>>
>>> ,----[ How? ]
>>> | Send a self addressed stamped envelope to:
>>> |
>>> | System76, Inc. (Free Sticker)
>>> | 875 S. Colorado Blvd. #765
>>> | Denver, Colorado 80246
>>> `----
>>>
>>> http://www.system76.com/index.php/cPath/53_64
>>
>> Do they have 'really powered by Debian' in the fine print?
>
> Good point. There was some friction between Canonical and Debian recently.
> And a couple of days ago I read the folloing popular page:
>
>
http://techanchor.blogspot.com/2006/08/ubuntu-vs-debian-what-canonical-doesnt.html
>
> Ubuntu vs. Debian: What Canonical Doesn't Want You To Know
>
> The previous post was this:
>
> STFU Ubuntu Users!!!
>
> ,----[ Snippet ]
> | Ubtuntu Linux is one distro. Its leading on distrowatch. That doesn't
> | mean its the freaking embodiment of the open source movement. I have
> | used Ubuntu. It is a fine OS. It's actually a very good OS.
> `----
>
> Many can relate to these words.
Don't see any need for friction, though I suppose it's only human nature,
like the never-ending Gnome/KDE/desktop-of-your-choice debates.
Debian is great, and serves its community well. Especially great for
servers, though as the article correctly notes not quite so great for
desktops and new Linux users.
Ubuntu itself, as a downstream distro, is part of the Debian community, and
also has its own downstream community that it serves well. It's especially
great for desktops and for new users, again as noted in the article. The
result is that downstream benefits, not least because of the expanding
user-base, and upstream Debian benefits as well due to the magic of the
General Public License.
I previously used Mepis, which was one of the best before being overtaken by
Ubuntu, but found it a little brittle due to using a mixture of Mepis
repositories, non-free packages, and upstream Debian repositories. With
Ubuntu Dapper which I'm now using, I think those issues go away - and for a
reliable and reasonably up-to-date desktop I also think Ubuntu is better
suited to the desktop than any of the Debian alternatives, Stable, Testing,
or Unstable. That's because Stable is too out-dated, Unstable is too, well,
unstable, and Testing is a little dated and a little unstable and IMHO not
what's needed for a primary desktop.
As for the commercial aspect, I really do hope that Canonical and Mark
Shuttleworth (more power to his elbow) can make it work commercially and
build a viable business model based on Free software. There is nothing to
say that Free software need be produced on a charity/not-for-profit basis,
and successful commercial development while staying true to the philosophy
of Free software and Ubuntu is a *GOOD THING* that helps secure the future
of Ubuntu, Debian, and Linux for all of us.
Some of the article seems to boil down to simple envy; the fact of the
matter is that Ubuntu is #1 on Distrowatch quite simply because it's doing
nearly everything right for the mass market, and very little wrong. If they
keep up the good work, then they'll stay #1 and may well become
commercially viable; if they falter, then in the Free software world
there's always a competitor snapping at the heels and #1 spot is easily
lost.
Just my $0.02 worth as a happy Kubuntu user and Linux/Debian/X|K|Ubuntu
advocate :-)
--
JPB
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