Why Ubuntu Isn’t a Flagship Linux Desktop Distribution Anymore

Although Ubuntu has been an enormous success, controversial decisions will prevent it from being named the best Linux distro in the future.

I’m aware that this article’s headlines are not among the most popular of the day. On the other side, the Internet is overflowing with articles like “Why Ubuntu is the best distribution for…,” which are not valid for one reason. In Linux, there is no such thing as “best.”

But before we go any further, it is essential to note that this post only covers the desktop editions of Ubuntu. The server side of things is an entirely different story that is outside the scope of this article.

So we will start with the following maxim – Ubuntu is a phenomenon. The distribution has risen from 0 to 100 at a rate that no other Linux distribution has ever matched.

Only a few years after its initial version 4.10, “Warty Warthog,” in 2004, Ubuntu rose to the top of the desktop Linux rankings.

In the years that followed, Ubuntu evolved to the point where, to the uninitiated, the terms Linux and Ubuntu meant the same thing. In other words, the distro became synonymous with Linux for a good reason.

It just works out of the box. Everything a traditional desktop Linux user could want: video drivers, hardware support, stability, and reliability.

Unfortunately, Canonical, the parent company, did not capitalize on the created momentum. Instead, controversial distribution development decisions piled on top of one another. Of course, these acts have impacted how more Linux users see the distro today.

Why Ubuntu Isn't a Flagship Linux Desktop Distribution Anymore

Autocracy Instead Community

Dear Ubuntu decision-makers, please do not push your perceptions on users. This is Linux. We believe in open source for one simple reason: freedom of choice.

If I want to use an operating system where things can only happen in a predetermined way, I’ll go to a nearby computer store and get a Windows license or, even better, a Mac Book Pro.

Of course, there is another alternative that is the most reasonable outcome. We use different Linux distributions. But let me explain what this is all about.

Several times, Ubuntu has attempted to force various things on its users. For example, it came with a pre-installed Amazon shop application for a long time. Of course, practically all users were against it, but the company’s commercial interests demanded that it be available.

It got to the point where the distro was taken as spyware. Fortunately, common sense won out, and the software was removed in Ubuntu 20.04, but the bitter taste in the mouth persisted.

However, in its most recent releases, the distribution has decided to re-impose to its users something widely disliked in the Linux community: the Snap format. This is why the following section is entirely devoted to the subject.

Snap

First, let’s explain to our readers what Snap is. Simply put, this is an approach to distributing software encapsulated in a Snap package that offers compatibility in its use between various Linux distributions.

So far, so good. However, there are two other players in this area: AppImage and Flatpak. And while AppImage has a modest level of community acceptance, Flatpak is the preferred method for most major Linux distributions.

Of course, Snap is a format developed in-house by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. Hence, Canonical’s understandable desire to push its product.

But when on one side we have Mark Shuttleworth’s opinion that Snap is better than Flatpak, and on the other side, almost the entire Linux community prefers Flatpak, things are clear. So with all due respect, Mr. Shuttleworth, I consider the Linux community’s assertion true.

Almost everyone except Canonical agrees that Flatpak is better than Snap: it’s much faster and integrates better with the system (especially theming). In addition, it has more 3rd party support now.

And most likely, this entire section would not exist if the recent Ubuntu 22.04 decision to make the Firefox browser available only as a Snap. Ubuntu’s much-loved and favored model for software distribution.

The year is 2022. Even with modern hardware, the initial launch of Firefox in Ubuntu’s most recent version takes between 15 and 20 seconds. To open your browser. In 2022.

We are moving on to the next section.

Packages Mess

When we install a specific version of a desktop environment, we expect to receive only that version, with all its applications and features.

In other words, by installing KDE Plasma 5.25, the Linux user has a valid reason for installing it. For example, wants specific functionality or simply wants to enjoy it fully. In the same way, we want to use the features provided by GNOME 42 by installing it.

But Ubuntu sees things differently. So, again, we’ll use the most recent Ubuntu 22.04 as an example. As we know, the desktop environment there is GNOME.

However, as not every user of this distribution is likely to have realized, the GNOME version in Ubuntu is an organized mess of packages from several versions of GNOME, set up to function together.

Here you will find the GNOME 42 base packages, but you will also find GNOME Calculator 41, for example. Of course, we may go much further with the GNOME Keyring from the GNOME 40 version. And we could keep going for a long time. GNOME is composed of many packages, and the variety of different versions available in Ubuntu is enormous.

The whole thing gives the impression of inconsistency. It seems that the desktop version of Ubuntu is no longer a priority for the company, in contrast to the server version, which generates most of the company’s revenue.

On top of that, the lack of innovation in Ubuntu’s desktop edition in recent years only confirms this belief.

Unpredictability

Certain Linux distributions give the user confidence in the future. He knows what to expect and, more importantly, what not to expect. To avoid being accused of bias, I will not drop names.

However, Ubuntu has a notable propensity to start and then abandon projects. I recall creating an account on Ubuntu One with enthusiasm many years ago. Only to find out shortly that the service was being discontinued. Unfortunately, it did not bring in the expected revenue for the company.

Then Ubuntu started reinventing the wheel by creating its display server, Mir. And this is in the presence of alternatives such as X.org and Wayland.

Of course, those were the years when “convergence” was the sacred word in Canonical. In other words, buy a phone with an Ubuntu operating system, connect it to peripherals and a monitor, and voila! You have a desktop operating system.

When Canonical discovered that such an animal as “convergence” could not exist at that time, the project was abandoned. Mir, farewell.

Unity, Ubuntu’s attempt to develop its desktop environment, met a similar fate. But in this case, both the idea and the end product were excellent. In other words, Unity was a great desktop environment.

However, at some point, Canonical decided that the investment was no longer worthwhile and threw it into the dustbin of history.

Not to mention, of course, Upstart. This is an event-based replacement for the classic init daemon – the system in charge of starting your computer correctly. And here, the story repeats itself: the project was canceled.

On the other hand, something else makes a strong impression, which I’m sure our readers are aware of.

For several years, Ubuntu has tried to replace essential fundamental tools in Linux to impose its own – the boot system, the graphical server, the desktop environment, and, last but not least, the package system with their Snap. And failed at all of them.

These decisions may be driven by company strategy and interests, forcing the regular Linux user to accept the facts. I mean, it’s challenging to be a fan of something while trying to forcefully like the next change of direction.

Meaningless Non-LTS Releases

Is anyone using non-LTS Ubuntu versions these days? I mean, other than those two hours in VirtualBox where we enjoy the wallpaper with yet another animal called unusually?

With a 9-month lifespan, these releases inspire a single thought: a testing ground for the impatient while waiting for the next LTS release.

Outside of pure fun, I can’t imagine a real workstation where I’ll have to cross my fingers every nine months, run an upgrade, and hope for the best.

Even with Fedora, perhaps Ubuntu’s biggest desktop competitor, 15 months of support is guaranteed. I’ll stop making any further comparisons between the two because they all favor Fedora, although I’m one of the last people to advocate Red Hat.

I don’t mean to imply that there’s anything wrong with releasing these intermediate versions of Ubuntu. On the contrary, they provide a lot of material for writing and are undoubtedly entertaining.

If Canonical intends to use these as a testing ground between their main LTS releases, that’s great. The time and effort spent on these are well worth it. However, from a purely practical end-user standpoint, I don’t believe they have much use.

Conclusion

This brings us to the end of the article. I hope our readers understand that the purpose of this post is not to blame Ubuntu but to illustrate why the desktop version of the distribution is no longer the dominant force driving the status quo.

Certainly, Ubuntu will stay one of the most popular and widely used desktop Linux operating systems. However, as controversial as the statistics provided by DistroWatch may be, they indicate how Ubuntu has slipped from first to sixth place in recent years.

The distro has shifted its attention from the Linux community and its desktop version to business users and its server version. But, of course, behind all the slogans and marketing gimmicks, Canonical is a private company that is simply following its business interests. And that’s perfectly normal.

After all, the slogan with which the company first promoted Ubuntu, “Linux for human beings,” today should somewhat be rephrased to “Linux for business beings.”

Yes, only financial results are used to evaluate a product’s success in today’s world. And Ubuntu is a product with its own goal – profit for its makers. And there is nothing wrong with that.

However, when seen in a more naive and idealistic light, akin to the concept of open source, there’s something more significant than numbers for any distro – the points earned in the hearts of those who use it.

Because the existence of any Linux distribution would be worthless and doomed without them, unfortunately, with a number of its moves and decisions, Ubuntu is losing a large number of them.

Bobby Borisov

Bobby Borisov

Bobby, an editor-in-chief at Linuxiac, is a Linux professional with over 20 years of experience. With a strong focus on Linux and open-source software, he has worked as a Senior Linux System Administrator, Software Developer, and DevOps Engineer for small and large multinational companies.

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74 Comments

  1. Those who don’t invent anything have no risk of failure. Those who try to innovate hope the idea might be successful.

    Retrospectively, looking at the failures. It is pretty obvious to “predict” they would have failed.

    • Interesting take. I was never an Ubuntu-user until a couple of years ago when I installed it on a desktop. I then found this Snap-thing and I completely agree. I hated it. I would rather compile things from source than to use Snap. But I think I will stick with Fedora for my other computers. And Alma for my next server install

  2. I left Ubuntu when they decided 32 bit libs were not needed anymore…. Unilaterally.. they said they didn’t need it. To hell with anybody else. It causes Valve to look elsewhere and not recommend Ubuntu for gaming. After many tests, I settled on Manjaro and haven’t looked back.

    • My permanent switch to Manjaro came with the release of 22.04 after many years of using Ubuntu, 4.10 to 20.04. The Gnome experience was the final straw and the camel fell over. Manjaro 21.3 Is literally what Ubuntu 22.04 **should** have been.

    • The 32-bit libs are still available in ubuntu 22.04 as steal-installer pulls them in on install.

    • DoctorX,

      According to DistroWatch, Manjaro distribution no longer supports 32-bit architecture since its November 2016 release.

      • It doesn’t support 32 bit cpus.. but it sure does have 32bit lib support. I game with no issues with 32 bit libs. I have some very old games that still work.

      • Omfg.. you didn’t understand a word I said. 32 bit libs are still used for a ton of programs. Some people still play old games or use old software…. Especially if there isn’t an alternative. This has nothing to do with the dang os.

      • Omfg.. you didn’t understand a word I said. 32 bit libs are still used for a ton of programs. Some people still play old games or use old software…. Especially if there isn’t an alternative. This has nothing to do with the dang os.

  3. I was a distro-chaser, trying so many of them from 2007-2012. The last decade, I just use Ubuntu and everything works or is workable. Instead of checking Distrowatch, I just do work on Linux instead of taste-testing distros like I used to. Snap Firefox breaks some extensions, and I have a few choices there. I think I’ll switch to Waterfox, but Brave is my main browser, so it doesn’t matter much. I install and use KDE’s Nautilus instead of the GNOME file manager. I run the 6 month releases on my main desktop and laptop, as potentially better for Steam games, but stick with the LTS releases on all other PCs including my parents’ PC which I just upgrade for them every 2 years.

  4. “almost the entire Linux community prefers Flatpak”

    How do you know? Have you done a meaningful survey? What was the size of your sample population?

    Please, please, please never use popularity as an argument for X being better than Y — it just devalues the case you are trying to present.

    The home video recording “community” preferred VHS over Betamax even though Betamax was a much better quality and technical recording format.

    The reason why Ubuntu became so popular was not only that installation was simple and the desktop worked, but also because it was distributed on free CDs when then got passed around to friends and neighbors, and so was easily available.

    And yes your are absolutely correct that Canonical and Ubuntu has wasted resources on projects which were eventually abandoned — upstart init replacement, Mir display server, Unity desktop, Touch phone, Edge phone, Ubuntu One etc etc

    The poster Innocent Bystanded is correct that innovation is important but equally important for an innovator to survive is to learn from the mistakes of past failures not keep repeating them.

    • Pardon me but Flatpak is installed by default on every major distro I’ve used (Fedora, openSUSE, Debian, Linux Mint, CentOS, AlmaLinux), , . Snap is only in Canonical’s distros. It’s available in other distros but isn’t installed by default like Flatpak is).

    • “almost the entire Linux community prefers Flatpak”

      The quote LITERALLY said “prefers”, not “best”. Learn to read, your entire rant against something they NEVER even said just looks silly

    • Snaps suck. Flatpacks suck, appimage sucks a little less. They are a security nightmare and unbelievable slow.

  5. Much ado about nothing, and poorly written at that. Ubuntu has been a seminal but controversial work of Linux.

    It’s here to stay. Take it or leave it. There are lots of choices. Use what works for you, and let the market decide to rest. No need to bicker.

    Long-time Mint user. I like to stray, but I always come back.

  6. The parent company has its inner circle of Ubuntu official releases. Similar to Fedora and other brands. There are a few layers in Ubuntu of other affiliated “family” releases.
    These other releases are more adventurous than the core families.

    The most famous and most popular is the Mint family. These other Ubuntu derivatives generally start with the LTS version of Ubuntu-core.
    Ubuntu core is the most popular starting point for more creators of Linux operating systems than any other version of Unix based systems.
    Institutional users might prefer the standard inner family of the Ubuntu systems. Others probably prefer the largest selection available from the derivatives.
    Generally the derivatives prefer Flatpak, gparted, and using Ubuntu’s PPA systems.
    Ubuntu itself seems to use its own spin of Gnome, rather than anything like the official version of Gnome.
    Similarly Ubuntu stays tightly with the applications for the other Desktop Environments, rather than sending the best apps, regardless of loyalty to whatever environment is available.
    My personal preference might be Mint, or Neon with the Dolphin file browser.

    • Mint is not “affiliated”. It uses an Ubuntu base, but that’s freely available to anyone. Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Budgie, etc., are all official derivatives that are released simultaneously with the GNOME based default.

      • Heck, unlike Ubuntu ditching 32-bit libraries, Mint still provides a 32-bit distro for those few who need it!

        • I need to correct you there, the last 32 bit version was 19.3, based on ubuntu 18.04, the last version with 32 bit releases. There have been no 32 Mint releases since, they use the same base and libraries as ubuntu, with their own stuff on top of it.

        • Russell,
          According to DistroWatch, Mint no longer provides 32-bit release. The last one with 32-bit architecture was Mint 19.3
          (tricia). And Linux Mint Debian Edition 5 apparently does not provide a 32-bit release either.

  7. Yes Ubuntu’s reliance on Gnome and Snaps is a problem, but one easily solved. Mint is the easiest solution, based on Ubuntu without the problems of Ubuntu. Also Ubuntu Mate an official flavor. The Mate desktop is great and the forum will show you all kinds of ways around snaps.

    • Mint’s defaults are either Cinnamon or XFCE. IF you want GNOME, you’d be installing the Ubuntu LTS version from 2018.

  8. Another article pushing the false information that canonical forced the Firefox snap on its users…. Just a simple bit of research would tell you it was Mozilla who forced canonical to distro the snap because it’s easier and quicker for them to maintain and push new versions. Eventually only one will survive, flatpak or snap but snap really isn’t this monster everyone is making out. I’ve been on Ubuntu 22.04 for the past few months and I’ve have no issues at all

    • This is exactly right.

      As I read the ‘article,’ I slowly realized that this was not an objectional critique, but rather a highly biased (not to mention bitter) opinion piece. A “this is bad, take my word for it, EVERYONE HATES IT TOO” type of post. Sure their are some vocal community members that share these views, many of which seem bitter, but they do not seem to be the vast majority that the author claims them to be.

      That being said, something does seem to be happening within Canonical. They have been losing highly beloved faces of the company. It seems like love for the company both inside and out is waning. While the title of this article isn’t true as of yet, I sadly do see a future coming where it is.

    • Mozilla hasn’t pushed Snap on anyone. Every other distro I’ve used uses that distro’s default packages for Firefox. They’re compiled from source from Mozilla. Mozilla itself only distributes its Linux browsers via manually installed tarballs (I run the Nightly version of Firefox),

      • Exactly. THis claim that Mozilla forced this is absurd, and just an excuse, otherwsiee other distros would be doing similar. And none are

    • They did it on Ubuntu 20.04 with chromium browser. Can’t blame that one Mozilla.

      And the worst part is, the snap and snapd get installed if you try to install it with apt!

  9. Another crap article based on the writers opinions and claiming all linux users agree them. No detailed information or statistics.

    Please stop writing this drivel. It’s fake news.

    • “Another crap article based on the writers opinions and claiming all linux users agree them” Except that’s NOT what it says at all. Pull your head in, and stop foaming at the mouth because ubuntu is getting some legit criticism.

  10. Jeez I’d like people to stop the comparisons of Flatpaks vs Snaps!

    Apples and oranges!
    But digs on Snaps just keep regurgitating previous articles.

    re Firefox startup time. People ignore the fact that Mozilla wrote the Snap & adopted Snap format for its own reasons. The Firefox Snap only takes that ~20second start up time the first time it runs

    • Mozilla hasn’t pushed Snap on anyone. Every other distro I’ve used uses that distro’s default packages for Firefox. They’re compiled from source from Mozilla. Mozilla itself only distributes its Linux browsers via manually installed tarballs (I run the Nightly version of Firefox),

  11. For the reasons stated in this article I’ve already switched to LMDE 5. It’s working well so far.

    There are many ways to fund open source projects. Corporate sponsorship is only one of them. Linux developers and users should take it upon themselves to protect and preserve the freedoms and democratic norms that have served the Linux ecosystem well thus far.

  12. The first version of Ubuntu was called 4.10 which rather than being an actual version number was a reference to 2004 October. Instead of using the truthful and honest version number. 1.0….like the entire rest of the software world would have with a first release……. they chose to fudge the version number. This little white lie made me uncomfortable with using or recommending Ubuntu. Subsequent decisions and actions by Ubuntu haven’t changed my mind and only reinforced my distrust of this distribution. Distributions basing themselves on this distribution as a base would be wise to move to a Debian base now rather than find the rug pulled from under them at some future point when the weight of Ubuntu’s many bad choices inevitably result in the failure of this distribution.

  13. I switched to Ubuntu from Windows about a decade ago. After spending most of that time distro-surfing, I’ve settled on Kubuntu. But in general, all Linux desktop is not that great. I recently bought a Chromebook, and I’m much more productive on that because the DE is more stable. I’m saving money now, all I need is $700 to buy the new Apple M1. I’ve decided that I prefer not constantly tweaking and fixing my DE. Engineering quality is more important than ideology, at least to me.

  14. I agree with most of this. My go-to distribution is now Fedora, after years with Ubuntu as my default (I say default, because I run numerous different distros in VMs).

    Fedora is (and has been for years) the best alternative to Ubuntu. A stable distro with up-to-date software, released every 6 months, with 15 months of support.

    Unlike Ubuntu, the Fedora Project won’t hesitate to delay a release till (most) all major bugs are fixed. Ubuntu doesn’t waver from planned release dates, and this is to its detriment.

    Ubuntu 22.04 is a hybrid mishmash mess. The current release of Fedora Workstation has the complete version of GNOME 42. The current release of Ubuntu is a weird GNOME 40/41/42 mashup, that’s missing several of my favorite features found in GNOME 42.

    Perhaps if the Ubuntu devs had held off for a month, they could have released “Jammy Jellyfish” with the complete version of GNOME 42. Had I not previously abandoned Ubuntu, I would have been willing to wait another month.

    And don’t get me started on Snap…

  15. Who cares about the ranking of distros?
    If it works best for me then I will use it.
    As summarized in the last paragraph, this article is not about how useful this distro is but only about how many are using it and why.
    The whole body to the article is a mishmash of personal feelings that the distro elicits from the author – hence the title of the article is VERY misleading.
    The linux movement and the Ubuntu movement, as pointed out, is about freedom for all to pick and choose.
    I REALLY don’t give a hoot if I am using the most popular distro. I guess some must get satisfaction about bragging about “their distro” being the most popular.
    Boooorrrrring!

  16. The controversial acts have not “impacted” how more Linux users see the distro today, they have *affected* it. I don’t know where this nonsensical jargon is coming from or why it’s becoming popular.

  17. To the author: Your argument would be much more convincing if you were equipped with the basic facts. It is nearly trivial to install Firefox on 22.04 without Snap. I bet you can Google up the instructions, if you try. I have a few 22.04 systems happily running Firefox sans Snap — in fact, this is out of necessity, since the Snap version crashed on launch every time.

    There exist some reasons not to use Ubuntu, but that’s not one of them.

    • I removed the FF snap and replaced it by a “regular” package. I also use FF with several different profiles, often there are some 5 or 6 profiles open. Never a problem, until april this year. Now FF blocks the system for minutes (and longer). My system is not productive anymore, and that means Ubuntu will go.

  18. Seldom think about instant gratification, because I’m old and not particularly picky – so long as machinery doesn’t take forever to perform simple tasks.

    So… thought I’d test; freshly booted (so nothing is in cache) 10-year-old Panasonic ToughBook CF-31 Mark 1 running latest OpenSuSE LEAP, 8GB.

    Firefox click to browsing, a shade under 7 seconds.

    Right, then.

  19. Ubuntu was and still is the flaship linux distribution.
    Your personal agenda or preferences or fanboism are irrelevant with the reality.

    • No it’s not.. Arch based distros have been more popular for a while. If Ubuntu was, steam deck would be using it instead of Arch.

  20. # Snap Remove
    snap list
    sudo systemctl disable snapd.service && sudo systemctl disable snapd.socket && sudo systemctl disable snapd.seeded.service
    sudo snap remove gtk-common-themes gnome-3-38-2004 core20 bare snapd-desktop-integration firefox snap-store
    sudo rm -rf /var/cache/snapd/
    sudo apt autoremove –purge snapd
    rm -rf ~/snap
    cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/nosnap.pref
    Package: snapd
    Pin: release a=*
    Pin-Priority: -10
    EOF

    • And this proves what? Joe user will not be able to do this. Face it, Linux now for the masses… Not just elitists. Just stop.

  21. Hmm… should I start out insulting the author or insulting other commenters? Maybe I’ll just insult Microsoft and/or Apple. .

    Maybe different distros appeal to different audiences. In the early days of Ubuntu, I REALLY LIKED that installing non-floss drivers was easy. IIRC, it was an option, not a requirement so you could be floss-pure if you wanted to be. Debian at the time was a little widgey about proprietary drivers. I don’t think it was ’cause people were doctrinaire, it’s cause people didn’t have time to chase down NVIDIA reps to get them to publish their experimental linux blobs. Then Canonical hired someone to do that for Ubuntu and gradually proprietary drivers became easier for everyone. Did Canonical do that? Meh. Probably not. But they certainly gave an air of “enterprise respectability” to the nerf-herder linux mafia.

    But then we all got systemd forced down our collective throats. And Gnome weirdness. And all sorts of things. I still use Ubuntu for my daily driver desktop, but moved back to BSD (YES! I’M A BSD USER. I’M SUCH A BAD LITTLE MONKEY!) for my dev system. Sure, my BSD system doesn’t play video games, but it has dev tools that are only 6 months out of date (as opposed to the 2.5 years for *buntu.)

    Okay. I have my nomex suit on. Flame me.

  22. I have never been a (direct) Ubuntu user. I’ve been in Linux for more than 20 years and my default distro of choice today is Linux Mint.
    OK it is based on Ubuntu, but in light of my experience this distro is what Ubuntu should be.
    I have Ubuntu 22.04 on a test machine and despite how well it operates, nothing makes me leave Mint yet.
    Particularly, and after many years, experimenting and working with Linux, I am attracted to distros that offer stability, consistency (between different versions and applications), as well as good HW compatibility, flexibility, application offerings and good community support.
    I believe that Ubuntu as well as others Distros in the top10, are far from combining these conditions as Linux Mint does.

  23. Firefox being available only via snap is one of the most painful Linux-related things I experienced in a while 🙁

  24. OP isn’t wrong. While Ubuntu is still the most recommended distro for newbies, the reason it is recommended isn’t the same as in Ubuntu’s heyday.

    Way back when Canonical wasn’t quite the corporate entity it is now and Ubuntu was more of a community distro, it was a breath of fresh air in a larger community with the mentality that you “need to fix your troubles on your own.” Ubuntu as desktop distro showed the importance of polish and innovation in the small things that matter. It rightfully became the darling it was in that period. All of the Linux community believed in Ubuntu’s goals and recommmended the distro to newcomers without reservations.

    Then we got all the known Canonical corporate shenanigans. Questionable one distro software projects / unwanted CLA’s / PR SNAFUs. The attitude towards Ubuntu shifted. Now Ubuntu is still recommended to newbies, but a large contingent of the community recommending it aren’t running Ubuntu themselves. It’s more like shunting newbies off to Ubuntu so they are out of your hair. There is enough info on Ubuntu online that they can find info on their own might they need it. The general reasoning seems to be that the smart ones will find something better than Ubuntu and the ones stuck on it are no longer a concern.

    With every passing year Ubuntu seems to become less and less connected to the rest of the Linux ecosystem. Except for Ubuntu focussed sites, there is no real excitement about a new release or Canonical announcing a new software project. Which is a shame, because Ubuntu started out so promising.

  25. I Installed Ubuntu 22.04 on my evaluation PC which is a Lenovo thickcentre 57e. Of course slow boot. But after that it was snappy with opening folders and files. I took out the Firefox snap and installed the PPA. https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/04/how-to-install-firefox-deb-apt-ubuntu-22-04 and Firefox loaded much faster than the snap pkg.
    I never worried about the middle editions like 21.04 or 21.10 cause I know that they are not stable. I use Linux Mint 20 as my primary Linux distribution which took out the snap and installed flat pack. I only install a few apps from flatpaks. I want to clone this install to a ssd drive see how fster the boot and over all speed changes. But no OS is perfect though I will never buy a macbook again due to the fact they come large paper weights after 10+ years.

  26. Yes, Linux is freedom. Why people seem to need perpetual upgrades is a mystery to me.Ubuntu would not exist without Debian. Once one has discovered Debian, there is no coming back. And even there, I wait a full year in average before upgrading the system. And as to Unity being brilliant… everybody’s free. Greetings from Debian 10 + KDE 3 (in the form of Trinity).

  27. Hi, I am a sysadmin with 32 years of experience. I use Linux starting with kernel 1.12 or so (I guess 1993). I’m a long time user of KDE and I was also a big fan of Ubuntu (Kubuntu) as my favorite desktop OS.
    This spring I was waiting for the 22.04 LTS to come out to upgrade my 20.04. This upgrade turned to be very disappointing.
    First of course there is the FF-Snap thing. But there is more. My Logitech stuff (keyboard, mouse) is not working anymore as it should. Now I also notice Dolphin gets incredibly slow. Is not the disk access (ssd) itself, it’s probably the processing of the disk info. And there are more flaws.

    I regret to have updated to 22.04. I will consider to reinstall my system with another distro. Ubuntu/Canonical, get your stuff together, you are not just losing it, you have already lost it.

  28. Ubuntu is not very compatible with parent Debian. if you mix it will break. And can be very bad.Unlike for example MX linux you can mix stuff at want and need.

  29. Lovely to see, the usual, lovely, polite, Linux, community discussions…
    “Neckbeard Keyboard Commandos, let’s get ready to ruuuummmmbbbblllleee!” 😆
    Honesty after 15yrs of reading the same s#@t, I just never tire of seeing it.
    COMMUNITY=Common Unity(not the desktop with ironic name obviously).
    Whilstvsome may take personal offence, seemingly, at any criticism of Shuttleworth’s repeated missteps..
    Many of us just look at them as wasted opportunities, resources, years of work spent on projects that get binned and the detritus of people, then, losing their livelihoods’ because, Canonical lost marketshare.
    On the subject of the snap only FF, the issue is this(at least on main gnome edition)…The important issue of chrome-gnome-shell not being able to talk to a sandboxed snap, so you can’t install any gnome extensions from browser, as you literally can on any other distro. I saw somebody raise this issue, with the Devs 18months ago. Not only, has it not been worked on or fixed, the ignorant idiots didn’t even bother to reply to the guy.
    I see things, like that, and I just think “C@#*s”.
    I’d never recommend Ubuntu(or flavours)anymore. When I see interviews with guys ,and girls, on the various flavour teams, they now look like they’re making hostage interviews, having to go along with YET ANOTHER misstep from their kidnappers.
    I used to be critical of Clem and the Mint team, on certain choices of holding back packages, in the past. So I cannot be any less critical with the “Frankengnome” 22.04 release of Ubuntu.
    22.10 is actually pretty good, as I kicked the tyres in a VM, but can’t recommend a point release.
    However, I’d point noobs to Mint, first and foremost, as always a safe , polished and very easy welcome to Linux.
    There’s several I’d recommend, before any flavour of Ubuntu. If Distowatch, is any indicator, so does the community.
    Honourable mention to MX, which is all about the community and not about a dictator with a god/poor man’s Steve Jobs complex…

  30. Agreed that most of this conversation occured in June 2022, But I just ran into it.

    I installed Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS over Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS in the middle of August. Without any doubt it was the WORST install of UBUNTU that I have ever seen since UBUNTU 8.04 – It is now the middle of November and I am still trying to recover from this disaster,

    Not only was the actual upgrade flawed, the concept of FIREFOX in a snap was even worse. The problems that I encountered in August should have been resolved long before I installed the upgrade 6-months after the initial release.

    The upgrade failed because the maintainers decided to replace PYTHON 3 with PYTHON3 in the middle of the upgrade by deleteing and then reinstalling and did not bother to check to see if the re-install was successful. On my system, the re-install failed because of an unknown “compatability” issue – that message was flashed on the screen, and then promptly disappeared. The rest of the install destroyed the contents of two 1-TB hard drives, one of which was not mounted – and which contained most of my backup files.

    In the case of FIREFOX, because it is sandboxed, it was unable to access the local “document” file which serves as my home page. It also did not even attempt to migrate or access any of the “.dot” files that firefox uses.

    Thes are all issues that should not have existed in an LTS version, 6 months after the initial release.

  31. @billturner6277
    I agree. I found this searching to see if I was the only one who hates where Ubuntu is today. I am not.

    Years ago, I bounced around distro to distro, and they all seemed to do something(s) that bothered me. I loved Gentoo back when it was more of a Linux-from-scratch experience and took HOURS to build. Everything about it was perfect (to me) because I built it exactly the way I wanted it. It also booted in seconds from a spinning-disk. Eventually, Gentoo became any other distro, and I was on the hunt again.

    My first experience with Ubuntu was amazing. It was very stable. It wasn’t overly opinionated (back then).

    My most recent experience was nothing like that. Ubuntu is more like early Windows. It’s like they are deciding more and more for me and making it difficult and time consuming to do to many things any way but theirs, and maybe worse than that, maybe not, things extremely unstable and finiky for a distribution this old. They should be getting tighter and tighter as they “grow,” but they obviously stopped trying to make the best distro a long time ago. Who knows what their focus is now, but it’s not to be a good distro.

    Snaps are horrible, by the way, it’s a system that solves problems that most of us don’t know we have, and it causes us problems that we can’t miss. Maybe as an option, but not as a default.

  32. Snap is just bad implementation and adoption. But I am not sure Canonicle even cares about desktop Ubuntu that much. Given the low market share and so many distros. I don’t think this is a priority anymore. The dedication doesn’t seem to be with desktop development.

  33. Ubuntu is a brand sold as product, no different from RHEL in that there are hidden costs. The average use of base Linux is there and free, but coupled with brand level production its really a horrible delivery system and rears its ugly head when freedom takes a back seat. I stopped using Ubuntu when I discovered Arch, now a days I root for Artix an easier to use branch of Arch installable by average users. You will never need to worry about being up to date on Artix you can also choose your own init system, following the Arch philosophy of a rolling release means you always have the latest packages. Artix however differs a little from Arch in that it doesn’t make use of AUR on an official capacity, AUR is synonymous with the Arch cadence of delivery also the most hated feature since it requires contacting loose and unsigned packages its where Arch gets its bad rep. Without AUR Artix reach is a bit limited, but it also means you get a Linux distro more closer a normal distro without package contamination.

  34. Ok. I like Snaps. It’s even easier to package them and publish. Yeah, it has issues as it’s trying to isolate apps to avoid security issues.

    Ubuntu is a boring distro, that’s why it’s popular. I used and don’t need to think too much since more than 15 years. (Hey, I was even an official translator to Spanish!).

    It’s still popular, just check Steam stats. Also, if you dislike a distro for getting specific versions, maybe it’s because that’s the reason of the Distros. Select what for your users is best, not because is the last shinning stuff.

    And they tried stuff (a lot) and not everything worked. But that’s how is innovation. LiveCDs+Install in one CD, LTS versions, Linux certified Hardware (end user), cloud-init, ZFS on desktop, good Active Directory integration, Simple Scan, PPA repositories, Work on WSL. All that was made by Canonical and Ubuntu community.

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