sounder Digest, Vol 68, Issue 14

[Chris Puttick]

>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 10
> Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:17:53 +0000
> From: David Sanders <dsuzukisanders at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: sounder Digest, Vol 68, Issue 12
> To: sounder at lists.ubuntu.com
> Message-ID:
>        <6228eb141003241817w75d198cen7836908235783657 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>> Show me Kubuntu on http://www.ubuntu.com/. In fact, tell me if anybody
>> ever talks about Kubuntu to the media. People most certainly DO NOT
>> choose to install Ubuntu. They install it because that is all they know
>> or hear about.
>
> That's beside the point - Ubuntu is a GNOME-based distro, Kubuntu is
> just a spin-off project, but why don't you try comparing the numbers
> to a KDE default distro?
>>
>> I am sorry but I did not switch to Kubuntu. I know where to get Kubuntu
>> and I know the difference between Kubuntu and Ubuntu and Xubuntu. I can
>> therefore make an INFORMED choice and not just slap Ubuntu on because
>> every Tom, Dick and Harry I know is trying it. There is no public
>> opinion for Ubuntu versus Kubuntu because the public knows squat about
>> Kubuntu or that it even exists and that goes for Xubuntu too.
>
> Again - I say look at a distro with a default KDE desktop. It strikes
> me, having just looked for some, that very few distros use KDE as the
> default. Does this not say something to you?
>

Why, yes it does. Most end-users of a computing device are not aware
that there is a choice and tend to use Windows (then there are the Mac
people who know there is a choice and prefer not to have one!). The
people I know who prefer Gnome are mostly developers/technical
specialists, and these are the people influencing both the decisions
of new Linux users and the manufacturers who are bundling Linux with
their computers. The developers are also the group of people who can
get into a position to strongly influence the direction of a
distribution. So all the facts that have been covered in this thread
tell me is that developers tend to prefer Gnome.

One of the most commercially successful (makes a profit) desktop Linux
distros uses KDE by default. Does that tell you something? In fact, if
I was making new market decisions at Dell (which I'm not, but as they
keep buying or working with companies I previously had chosen to do
business with, maybe I have more influence than I should...) I'd make
KDE my default desktop on Linux boxes, retain Gnome as an option, and
put some resources into polishing the KDE GUI on my chosen
distribution. KDE in my opinion is in a far better position to excite
new Linux users than Gnome is.

This would be an interesting test: take some focus groups of current
Windows/Mac users with no previous (recent) desktop Linux/Unix
exposure. Let them play in a controlled environment with a number of
desktops and laptops running Gnome and KDE in a random mix and get
some feedback from them on which they preferred. Then take the groups
into rooms with a mix of computers with each room running only Gnome
or KDE. Staff the rooms with people knowledgeable about the GUI in use
in that room and do some demonstrations of the available features,
answer questions as they arise, then get some more feedback. You
really think that Gnome would come out on top?

And here's a functional and powerful solution for making the Ubuntu
brand stronger while retaining the advantages of choice that are one
of the key benefits of Linux on the desktop and server. Make Ubuntu
mean Linux, append the edition name; so Ubuntu KDE Edition, Ubuntu
Server Edition, Ubuntu Server LTS Edition, Ubuntu Education Edition,
etc.. Where "etc." absolutely has to include Ubuntu Gnome Edition or
you break the brand.

Chris

-- 
My employers website: http://thehumanjourney.net - opinions in this
email are however very much my own and may not reflect that of my
current employer, past employers, associates, friends, family, pets etc..

Documents attached to this email may be in ISO 26300 format:
http://iso26300.info