<OT> ubuntu bad press

[Ric Moore]

On Fri, 2011-08-26 at 12:13 +0100, Graham Todd wrote:
> On Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:43:35 -0400
> Ric Moore <wayward4now at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > The fact remains that some people have up and left and told us about
> > it. Ergo, some have up and left and said nothing. Then that article
> > came out. It all is worth ~noting~, and it may be cause to reflect if
> > we're doing the right thing by the average Joe Lunchbucket user, or
> > the system Admin who wants to install Linux as the default for a
> > small/large office setting. Are we there still? I see no crime in
> > expecting packages to be upgraded to the latest STABLE version of an
> > application, especially when they are as widely popular as Java and
> > Firefox and possibly Libre Office, ...if that is stable yet. I don't
> > think that is too much to expect from an LTS version. Again, just my
> > two cents. Ric
> 
> As has been said, the latest versions go to the developers first so
> that they can test them for stability.  I don't know the situation with
> Ubuntu developers, but in general, developers in the open source
> environment are volunteers and I would assume that with all the flack
> flying about at the moment regarding the Ubiquity interface in the
> latest version, it would have a higher priority than LTS upgrades.
> 
> I cannot be sure about this of course, but it seems to me to be logical
> that when a perfectly able set of applications that are however LTS, do
> not get automatically upgraded to the latest version or near-latest
> version (perhaps as a result of the effect it might have on the
> dependencies of other packages).

My point was that there are security fixes to Java 6 that require a mere
updating of the package. So, I bone-headed-ly went APE and installed
Java 7 straight from Oracle. I figured if I'm gonna hose my pristine
install, I might as well hose it rEaL good. 

It took most of a day of chasing down the HOW-TO's that appeared to know
what they were writing about. And then, I still didn't completely trust
them, so I backed up every configuration file and java directory that
might get dinked with in the process and then proceeded.

I used this how-to...
http://codeslinger.posterous.com/how-to-install-java-7-on-ubuntu
This guy is sharp. But, this whole process reminded me of why I quit on
Fedora. I added a couple of comments from my experience of the clean-up
stages and now java just flies. The difference is nothing short of
remarkable. It seems to use multi-cores where java 6 ate lunch on just
one. Oracle did a good thing. And, my Wonderland application server does
ant build in 2/3rds less time, and it spends a bunch of time writing
out .jar files before I can launch the client. And, when I launch the
client application, it is running in 2/3's less time. I'm talking a 3D
graphical application for virtual worlds and audio/video conferencing,
"OpenWonderland" It is a system consuming beast. And it runs flawlessly,
without a burp in the barrel, on trusty old 10.04, from what I am seeing
now. OpenOffice runs just fine AND quicker. I have removed all other
javas from my machine, leaving ~only~ java-7-jdk. 

So, I am capable of doing this kinda stuff, all day long. I would rather
see it available as a backport, as it is sooooo HOT and deserves to be
integrated within the Ubuntu scheme of things. All I really wanted was
the next update of Java 6. Again, if I am going to hose a pristine
install, then I might as well go for the gold. I'll have to do this
again when I install Mint. :) Ric
  
  
-- 
My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say:
"There are two Great Sins in the world...
..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity.
Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad.
Linux user# 44256