[ubuntu-us-ma] Is Ubuntu-centricity holding us back?

[John Wheaton]

A point I have pondered is the general goal of any of the distros.  Are they promoting 
themselves or the concept of F/LOSS?  When I made my move to a 'nix-based system a few 
years ago, I went through several of the distributions before I settled on one.  I didn't 
feel as though I was choosing between Apple, Microsoft, and "Linux" (pardon the loose 
generalization), but I was choosing between Apple, Microsoft, and every "Linux" 
distribution out there.

It was overwhelming.

Then there are the "party politics" of each distribution to understand and consider the 
value of being attached to.  For example, I didn't choose Gentoo because of the elitist 
attitude at the time -- yet the users of Gentoo seem to be one of the biggest and most 
vocal proponents of F/LOSS right up there with Debian users.

Are we promoting a F/LOSS ideal via Ubuntu, or are we promoting Ubuntu and the F/LOSS 
ideal is an ancillary perk?

Even then, are we promoting Ubuntu or *buntu?  I use Kubuntu.  I feel alienated most of 
the time -- I'm one of those Damn KDE Lovers / Close-Source Qt Using Bastards.  Thumbs up, 
Ubuntu-land.  Way to consistently piss on a distribution based on your core!  I kid you 
not, that's the kind of slander I have heard and received about users of non-Gnome/GTK 
Ubuntu derivatives .  I didn't realize there was an Ubuntu Gestapo out there and I almost 
switched to another distribution -- I came over from the Fedora Side and they didn't 
really seem to care which WM I was running when I ran into issues.

MY POINT is that these are the kinds of politics and biases that emerge (har har) with 
each distro.  It gives the appearance that the goal is not the promotion F/LOSS ideals but 
of that specific distro... and then if you happen to pick up on the notion of F/LOSS, well, 
that is okay too.

What is our goal?  What is our message?  Is Ubuntu a means to an end, or the end in 
itself?

__
John