Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

[Mark Greenwood]

On 7 Feb 2012, at 15:10, Thomas K Gamble wrote:

> On Tuesday, February 07, 2012 09:44:55 AM Sarunas Burdulis wrote:
>> On 02/07/2012 09:27 AM, Thomas K Gamble wrote:
>>> According to Ubuntu Counter (assuming theire stats are a reasonably
>>> accurate representation)
>>> 
>>> http://ubuntucounter.geekosophical.net/
>>> 
>>> Kubuntu only accounts for 2% of the various Ubuntu flavor
>>> installs.
>> 
>> I wouldn't assume much of a representation to the stats there. And the
>> latest is for Lucid... KDE4 has progressed quite a bit since then.
> 
> True, it's not the best data since it's voluntary reporting and not many 
> participate.  Linux counter is not much better at about 6.4% of the Ubuntu 
> flavor installs. https://linuxcounter.net/distributions/stats.html
> 
> Just theorizing as to their rationalization.  Usage vs cost of support.
> 
> Personnaly, I think there'd be wider usage if they put a little more effort 
> into it.  The lack of support (for the user bases concerns) and attention to 
> useability issues is what has hurt kubuntu adoption.

I'd agree, but I'd also rephrase that to say that what has hurt Kubuntu adoption is KDE. After all, Canonical are not responsible for things like KDE PIM, or for bug fixes, or for usability issues -  they just package what KDE deliver. Garbage in, garbage out.

But I think what has hurt it the most is the religious adherence to a six-month release cycle, which has resulted in things being released long before they are ready for general use (anybody remember the early KDE4 releases?). I think it's pretty ridiculous to try to stick to a release schedule when the software you are releasing is mostly written by enthusiasts in their spare time. Perhaps a more Debian-like approach, when coupled with the more user-friendly aspects of Kubuntu, would result in better take up.

Mark

> 
>> 
>> KDE/Gnome package updates' download stats from Ubuntu servers might
>> give a better picture.
> 
> I didn't have much luck digging up those stats.
> 
> -- 
> Thomas K. Gamble
> Research Technologist, System/Network Administrator
> Chemical Diagnostics and Engineering (C-CDE)
> Los Alamos National Laboratory
> MS-E543,p:505-665-4323 f:505-665-4267
> 
> "There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full."
>    Henry Kissinger
> 
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