Disappointed with Ubuntu Server, could be used by such a wider audience

[Anthony Watters]

Hello Mark,

I've had email correspondence with the editor of APCMag. I think it "might" be possible to get them to run an article on using Ubuntu desktop as a server with GUI/Web tools to create a Web Server/Webmail Server/File Server. APCMag have run several articles on Ubuntu desktop in the past assessing each version as to whether it was possible to live without Windows using Ubuntu Desktop so they might run such an article, we'll see. I'll probably have to send the editor a few more emails to stir the pot a bit.

Okay, I'm done with this thread, it was worth a shot.
Thanks everyone for the posts, very interesting.

All the best,

Regards,


Tony

P.S. I'll think about participating in one of the various projects e.g. eBox but that just seems to be a gateway offering at the moment. ClarkConnect seems to be much further along. I think the APCMag approach where they run a workshop type set of articles over several editions is probably more the go right now. If that doesn't work, I'll probably have a go myself and maybe even write a book on how to do it seeing as there is nothing on this right now.



----- Original Message ----
From: Mark Shuttleworth <mark at ubuntu.com>
To: Anthony Watters <tonyozwatters at yahoo.com>
Cc: ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com
Sent: Friday, August 1, 2008 4:39:06 PM
Subject: Re: Disappointed with Ubuntu Server, could be used by such a wider audience


The server is more difficult to define as a single "thing" than the
desktop. We've taken the view that the best service we can provide to
the free software community is to ensure that Ubuntu's server offering
is highly modular, so you can start with something minimalist (the out
of the box experience that you've seen) and then add the specific
components you want.

Ubuntu server follows from the Debian heritage of striving to be "the
best platform for a serious Linux system administrator", and I think we
succeed very much in delivering to that promise. I would credit the
server team with great work in recent releases and am very excited by
the plans they have committed to for 8.10.

I do agree with you that this requires a more expert understanding of
the free software stack, and thus is quite different to our promise
with the Ubuntu desktop, which is "the easiest and most modular desktop
experience possible with free software". I can understand that this
creates a potential shock for users who are new to Linux, find Ubuntu
very easy to use on the desktop, and then are dropped into the deep end
when they install Ubuntu server.

I would suggest, however, that those users can quite easily use the
normal desktop edition as a server-with-GUI, and that there are a
number of easy to use web administrated server management tools that
are already available with Ubuntu. I think there has been a push to get
eBox working well, and you might want to join that effort. This would
allow someone to install a minimal server with eBox and be productive
in the way you describe.

I don't want Ubuntu server to lose it's minimalist, component oriented
sensibilities, so I can't support your call to have a GUI
out-of-the-box on the server. But I would welcome your participation in
any of the existing efforts to make it possible to get the benefits of
that minimalist approach together with an easy-to-use administrative
interface, either GUI or web based.

Mark



      
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