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

[Scott Kitterman]

On Thursday 31 July 2008 12:23, George Farris wrote:
> On Thu, 2008-07-31 at 10:18 -0500, Tony Yarusso wrote:
> > On Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 8:14 PM, Anthony Watters
> >
> > <tonyozwatters at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > The Ubuntu server should come in two offerings; i.e. the unfriendly
> > > existing Ubuntu server, and, more importantly to the masses, a friendly
> > > pre-configured Ubuntu server that uses SME Server
> > > (http://smeserver.com) and ClarkConnect (http://clarkconnect.com) as a
> > > starting point only not crippled, and much better.
> >
> > a)  It's not unfriendly to those who run servers and know how these
> > things are supposed to work.
> > b)  Servers absolutely should not come pre-configured, as that would
> > mean that they were full of bloat and unnecessary applications (along
> > with the security risks of having too many ports open), and would
> > likely not be correctly configured for anyone.
> > c)  I don't know what SME Server even is, since they don't have a
> > functional web site.  Why would I trust anything like that?
> > d)  ClarkConnect looks largely like what I mentioned in b) -
> > installing everything by default so you have as much bloat and open
> > entry points as possible, something no server admin would touch with a
> > 20-foot pole.
>
> Wow, this response seems to completely missed the entire point.
>
> Lets start again.  Yes, contrary to popular "geek" culture, there are
> people that would like to:
>
> A) Install a home server from CD
> B) Login and be presented with a list of options for configuring that
> server
> C) Not have to understand how to run the server at the "guts" level.
>
> Do you want to shared your music on your network?
> Yes
> Where is your music located?
> Done
>
> Do you want to share files with others on your network?
> Yes
> Fine -> Proceed to share definitions.
>         Define file locations and security
>
> Would you like to run a web server?
> Yes
> Fine this is now set up and you can connect here:
>
> Ubuntu does NOT have anything like this at the moment and they should
> seriously think about it.  Other home server software kicks there
> collective butt.
>
> This is not about running an enterprise/business server which I agree
> should be understood at a deeper level.  It is about giving home users a
> simple, nice way to get some functionality from Ubuntu.

Generally you can do any server things from a desktop if you install the 
needed things.  For easy Apache configurations there is:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/rapache

There's a pending request to have it backported to Hardy.

What's needed are people who understand the under the hood part of servers 
well enough to write such a thing and also care enough about the GUI 
experience to do it.  Ubuntu Server is a young project and is headed toward 
being able to support such things, but it won't happen overnight.

What we lack isn't ideas or understanding of the need, but people to do the 
actual work to provide it.

Scott K