<OT> ubuntu bad press

[Craig White]

On Thu, 2011-08-25 at 00:40 -0400, Ric Moore wrote:
> Seems Ubuntu is getting kicked around in the online media. 
> http://www.technewsworld.com/story/72773.html
> 
> One thing I have to agree with is that when you dink with your userbase,
> it's a recipe for disaster. My peeve is that the LTS version isn't
> getting package upgrades to some key applications. Sun Java is falling
> way behind in release upgrades. The standard Firefox package for 10.4
> has mold on it. I don't want to rely on personal repo's in order to get
> a recent package... I'd feel more secure if they were vetted into the
> Universe, or whatever. Just' saying I'm having a bad hair day, finding
> that I have to go outside the usual channels to get something updated. 
> 
> Myself, I'd rather see what we have be more rock solid and up to date
> than to turn my desktop into a wannabe fondle slab. Canonical is really
> going out on a limb with un-asked for improvements. People left Fedora
> in droves to come here, after RedHat went past the point of audience
> participation. I pray that Uncle Mark keeps his eyes on this
> intellectual child of his. I love what Ubuntu has stood for. 
> My two cents, Ric
----
first off... opinions are like a**holes, everyone has one but they often
produce stuff that stinks. Really, does it actually matter what some
people - and I wouldn't say anything resembling a significant number.

secondly, you really need to get your expectations in check or at least
a better understanding of what you're using and why. The whole entire
point of using an LTS is to prefer stability over the latest updates and
thus, having older versions of some things, including core things like
Firefox is the point. If you were forced to get the latest/greatest
Firefox, you would find that many extensions don't work. You always have
to decide where you want to be on the food chain and if you want the
latest/greatest, then don't stick with the LTS - there is an 'apt-get
dist-upgrade' option.

As for distribution philosophy, regardless of what you think you want,
Ubuntu for all purposes mirrors what Red Hat does. The LTS releases are
fewer and farther between like RHEL releases and they are designed for
servers and for people who just want a computer to use that is stable
and not changing. The other releases on Ubuntu are like Fedora... quick
releases designed to push development faster (release early and often).
While this sometimes has unintended consequences, it's only when the
rollouts reach a larger audience with a larger variety of hardware that
the bugs get squashed. This also means that those who use the current
releases should be reporting bugs through the official channels. If you
are not up to that, stick with the stable LTS releases and you have a
reasonable OS.

What's more troubling than the rants of a web blogger/reporter is the
rather inane chatter on the mail lists, including those given to
excessive list mom behavior where swatting people for top posting, html
posting is pounced upon like a sport. A simple nudge is sufficient and
let it go. I really dislike seeing the chatter go on especially to
reinforce some really unneeded list mom behavior.

Craig


-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.