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

[Mark Shuttleworth]

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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