You lost a new Ubuntu user

[S'orlok Reaves]

I'm afraid I don't quite grasp the severity of automatic network access: Windows (as it installs by default) will automatically download security fixes without asking, and will even restart your computer so you can immediately enjoy these patches. (It usually plays nice, but a hotfix or two occasionally pushes its way through).

Is the issue that your ASDL service was chosen for you, when there were other (better) options? Does the latest Live CD not prompt if multiple internet sources are available? (I'm still using Hardy, so I wouldn't know...) This might be a reasonable request.

Can anyone clarify this?
-->Seth



--- On Tue, 12/23/08, Evan <eapache at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Evan <eapache at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: You lost a new Ubuntu user
> To: pk.henderson at westnet.com.au, ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com
> Date: Tuesday, December 23, 2008, 4:08 PM
> I would agree with Vladmir (phcoder). Ubuntu tries to be a
> distro that
> non-tech-savy people can just plug in and use. That
> requires it to make some
> decisions for the user (such as automatically downloading
> security patches)
> which normal users really just don't care about.
> 
> If you don't want it to do *anything *without your
> permission, then Ubuntu
> is not the distro for you. I would recommend Arch Linux
> instead. However, be
> warned that even Arch has some regularly scheduled tasks
> set up
> automatically. They are all simple and harmless things like
> clearing old
> system log files, and they can be turned off fairly easily
> if you don't want
> them to run, but they are set to run by default.
> 
> If even that is too much automation for your tastes, then
> I'm afraid I can't
> offer any more advice. Short of compiling your own custom
> Linux from
> scratch, there is nothing out there that doesn't try to
> make the user's life
> easier by doing at least some things automatically.
> 
> Just keep in mind, the more control you want over your
> system, the more work
> you're going to have to do to keep it running.
> 
> Evan
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