Re: [tlug] Newbie: Kubuntu Configuration: Kubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon)Released

[Scott Robbins <scottro@example.com>]

On Fri, Oct 19, 2007 at 10:34:23AM +0900, burlingk@example.com wrote:
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Stephen J. Turnbull
> > Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 4:25 AM
> >
> > Should we (ie, some subset of TLUG members bigger than 
> > {poster} ;-) care? If so, why?  (If not, pardon the noise.)
> > 
> 
> 
> At least a few people in the group have at
> Times indicated that they use Ubuntu.  That is
> Why it is of a more general interest to the group.
> ^_^  The new versions tend to have more eye candy. Hehehe.

I think the answer is, in part, the changing face of Linux--7 or 8 years
ago, I suspect that to almost everyone on TLUG, the computer was an end
in itself.  As Linux has become more user friendly, we now have many
more people to whom the computer is a means to an end--some of them just
dislike MS, some of them tried out of idle curiosity, with some it was,
no doubt, a combination.  (Piers Anthony, the well-known writer, had
afterwards in several of his books about how he attempted to switch to
Linux, primarily out of dislike for MS.  It took about three books
before he succeeded. Of course, he has leverage--if *he* sends his
publisher something in OpenOffice format, they're not going to say, "NO.
We want it in .doc.)

Ubuntu's #1 bug is that MS is more popular.  So, they've made great
effort to make it a viable alternative, have marketed it aggressively,
in the sense of whether it was altruistic or not, will ship free CD's,
etc.  

Although MS still dominates, their lack of concern for their customers
is driving more and more people to Linux.  Ubuntu is one of the first
ones that they'll hear about.  (MS sometimes reminds me of the old Lily
Tomlin good on Saturday Night Live.  "The phone company.  We don't care.
We don't have to."  With lines like, "So, if you don't like our service,
get a couple of tin cans and some string."   Of course, the government
eventually broke them up, but anyway...)

I would guess that the majority of Ubuntu users here are those who see
the computer as a means rather than an end.  The exceptions would be
someone like Jonathan and others, who find that marriage and children
cut into their time and get to the point where they want something that
Just Works(TM). 

Especially for the newcomer, it has several attractions.  Things like
Arch and Gentoo aren't really newcomer friendly. Nor is the venerable
Slackware.  Fedora is cutting edge, and things break, also Ubuntu comes
on one CD vs. the Fedora DVD.  

Debian has the reputation of being difficult to install.  PCLinuxOS has,
apparently, rude folks on their forums (I've just often heard that
said in passing, I don't know if it's true.)  Also, it's far smaller,
primarily a single developer I believe.  

SimplyMepis started out being what what Ubuntu became, but I think it
just got overshadowed by Ubuntu.  Again, it's dealing with a single
developer.  Vector is another good one, based on Slack, with a
relatively small development team, and I don't know why it never took
off--it was originally aimed at older hardware, so probably wasn't as
pretty--their default desktop used to be a modified fluxbox, with some
nice icons and very attractive themes--they've switched to xfce, which
is too bad. 

Many people like the eye-candy, though I find stuff like that fun for
about 5 minutes, then go back to fluxbox. 

Also, I suspect that many more experienced folks might have friends or
family who hear about it, so they throw an install on something so that
they can give better support--especially those who are into advocacy.
Or, they might throw on an install out of curiosity, because we all hear
so much about it. 

Let me emphasize that when I say we have people here now who use the
computer as a means rather than an end, it's not an insult--it just
means that the face of Open Source is changing.  Even FreeBSD is
becoming more user friendly, and there are now desktop versions for the
newcomer, one of which has their own packaging method.  (Actually, Dru
Lavigne did a comparison of PCBSD and Ubuntu and found PCBSD more user
friendly.  (Of course, she did this some time ago, and as one who from
time to time, tries Ubuntu, I have to admit it's come a long way.)

So, there's your looooooooooooooong answer.  The biggest factors in its
popularity are probably the publicity that it gets, deservedly so, the
fact that it's on one CD, (I left out SuSE earlier--like Fedora, they
don't have a single CD, though Fedora now has a single live CD which
will also install.)

I would bet, however, that compared to many Linux lists, our percentage
of Ubuntu users is relatively low.  Out of frequent posters here, Josh
uses Gentoo (and is a developer) Stephen uses Debian, I think, we have
several Arch users, though these days, I'm so busy with the new job,
that I concentrate on Fedora as we use RH, some older Fedora versions
and CentOS--however, for me, Arch is almost the perfect distro, small
base install, few services installed at startup, BSD style init scripts,
Godwin uses Slack, or his own modified version, I'm not sure these days,
Columbus Jim uses CentOS (and possibly other RH based, but he usually is
the first to come up with an RH based distribution answer, though he may
use others) etc.  Not to mention Wayne, who is a moderator on the Fedora
Forums.  

Ok, I'll shut up now.

> 
> 
> -- 
> Ken
> 
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-- 
Scott Robbins
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