Fwd: You lost a new Ubuntu user

[Felipe Figueiredo]

Peter,

Disclaimer: I'm a regular user, not a Ubuntu developer, nor affiliated with 
Canonical in any form.

I also think further replies should be directed to the ubuntu-users list [1]. 
Please subscribe to that list if you need further help on this.

On Tuesday 23 December 2008 18:02:15 Evan Dandrea wrote:
> I'm forwarding here as Peter's email implies permission to do so.
> Please CC Peter on replies as he is not subscribed to the list.
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Peter Henderson (2nd Acnt) <pk.henderson at westnet.com.au>
> Date: Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 10:07 AM
> Subject: You lost a new Ubuntu user

[snip]

> Then came the deathnell for using the system because at 82% of
> installation IT SETS UP AN INTERNET CONNECTION AND USES MY ADSL MODEM

The subject seems much more harsh than the body. The only complaint, as I see 
it, is a lack of notification on what the update process means during 
installation. This should be considered a minoir wishlist bug against the 
installer.

From the background you describe, you have all the right to a mild paranoia. 
But dropping a Linux distro based on a lack of information is a little 
exaggerated, since probably most or all other distros do the same. If you 
want to make the installation using only the media you have (I assume it's a 
CD or DVD) you simply have to not set up network during installation. You 
have this option earlier in the process.

> AND WANDERS OFF TO SOME WEBSITE(MIRROR) FOR SOMETHING I DON'T EVEN
> KNOW AND I DIDN'T ASK FOR...........

Also, it looks like you failed to read enough information before migrating. I 
suggest at least the installation instructions [2], but you might find the 
migration instructions useful as well [3].

The mirror is used to get the latest version of packages directly from the 
internet. This is done in a secure way using cryptographic signatures. If you 
want to know the details, you can start reading about APT [4]. It's not 
recommended to let your applications become outdated, but you *do* have the 
option to not update, if you like (or do so manually). You do have complete 
control of your OS, after all.

Again, this thread should be in the ubuntu-users list [1], which is the 
support list. I'm just replying here to spare some devels of the reading of 
such a long off-topic message.

regards
FF

1. http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
2. https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/installation-guide/index.html
3. https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/switching/index.html
4. http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/