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Canonical Narrows Linux Focus By Dropping Kubuntu
As Linux users look forward to the release later in April 2012 of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, Canonical’s decision to cease sponsoring Kubuntu as an official Ubuntu variant has passed largely under the radar — a sign, perhaps, that Kubuntu’s user base is small. But as the first member of the Ubuntu family to lose official endorsement, where is Kubuntu headed? And more importantly, what does its departure mean for the Ubuntu brand as a whole? Read on for some analysis. |
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Comments (17)
You seem to like dictating to developers today. You insist the openSUSE should drop GNOME in another thread and you're basically telling the Kubuntu developers that their distro should drop dead. Not going to happen. Kubuntu has already found another backer. There is no reason on earth the developers should quit a job they are actually getting paid for.
@caitlyn --
Dictating or not, he's right. Mint is nice and joined forces could do both more and better.
Yes -- It's free software and people are entitlted to do as they damned well please.
Doesn't change the fact that joining forces is often the most satisfying move small teams can make.
Dictating or not, he's right. Mint is nice and joined forces could do both more and better.
Yes -- It's free software and people are entitlted to do as they damned well please.
Doesn't change the fact that joining forces is often the most satisfying move small teams can make.
I can disagree, can't i? Kubuntu has financial backing which Mint lacks. Perhaps the Mint developers should give up and join the Kubuntu team instead. It makes more sense financially.
Kubuntu as well as Mint/KDE are 10% Kubuntu/Mint and 90% Debian. So why not just use plain Debian? I'm running a highly customized Squeeze/KDE on half a dozen desktops in my office and even install it on my clients' production desktops. Have yet to find some bugs. http://www.microlinux.fr/desktop_linux.php
Quoting:Kubuntu has financial backing which Mint lacks.
More accurately, Kubuntu used to have financial backing from Canonical but no longer will after Kubuntu 12.04. Now it has support from BlueSystems. And so does Mint-Linux for some projects.
I fully agree with @Dino, @kikinovak and partially with @Khamul per what I outline in a previous comment here on Lxer. Partially with @Khamul because I don't find it necessary for the Kubuntu name to disappear although it might help because of the bad rap Kubuntu has been getting unjustifiably & unfairly. I have been and still using Kubuntu for a while now and find it to be best Distro over all & all around. Of course that is just my own opinion.
i agree that the name kubuntu should not be dropped. to my xperience too, kubuntu has been my first choice kde distro and it will continue to be. kubuntu is clean and sleek. i just love it...
It's not likely Kubuntu is going anywhere, nor should it. Also, many -- if not all -- reports about Canonical dropping sponsorship ignored the fact that the thriving Kubuntu community wasn't leaving the distro, and many -- if not all -- reports ignored the fact that Kubuntu would be treated in the same manner as Xubuntu, Lubuntu and any other *buntus out there NOT sponsored by Canonical.
My understanding -- and the newly announced sponsorship may or may not have changed it -- is that Kubuntu folks were going to talk about the future at UDS next month in Oakland.
My understanding -- and the newly announced sponsorship may or may not have changed it -- is that Kubuntu folks were going to talk about the future at UDS next month in Oakland.
@Fettoosh: I think the Kubuntu name needs to die, not because Kubuntu itself is bad, but because its parent, Ubuntu, has gone sour, and doesn't even support Kubuntu any more. Kubuntu, obviously, is a derivation of Ubuntu (as is its name), therefore I don't think Ubuntu deserves to gain any positive name recognition from Kubuntu. It would be better for it to either join Mint, or even come up with a totally new name, so that people don't associate it with Ubuntu/Canonical, and so that Canonical doesn't gain any undeserved lauding for Kubuntu's good qualities.
But technically speaking, again, the differences between Mint and Kubuntu are extremely minor, and having two is wasted, duplicated effort. It's not like, say, openSUSE and Kubuntu, or Fedora and Kubuntu, etc., where the two distros differ in many fundamental ways (rpm vs. deb, for instance); Kubuntu and Mint KDE are both based on Ubuntu. Mint just doesn't advertise it so much, plus Mint is going off on its own more and more as it gains in prominence and resources. What's the point of having two KDE distros that don't differ from each other in any significant way? It's duplicated effort, which is a very bad thing in the Free software community where resources are scarce. The whole reason for having different distros is because the developers can't agree on certain fundamental points: should we use .deb or .rpm? How should we set up the startup scripts? Should we use upstart or SysVinit? For two distros both based on Debian and Ubuntu, these points of contention are non-existent. What are the things that the Kubuntu and Mint developers can't agree on? If there isn't anything they can't agree on, then there's no reason for them to not join forces.
But technically speaking, again, the differences between Mint and Kubuntu are extremely minor, and having two is wasted, duplicated effort. It's not like, say, openSUSE and Kubuntu, or Fedora and Kubuntu, etc., where the two distros differ in many fundamental ways (rpm vs. deb, for instance); Kubuntu and Mint KDE are both based on Ubuntu. Mint just doesn't advertise it so much, plus Mint is going off on its own more and more as it gains in prominence and resources. What's the point of having two KDE distros that don't differ from each other in any significant way? It's duplicated effort, which is a very bad thing in the Free software community where resources are scarce. The whole reason for having different distros is because the developers can't agree on certain fundamental points: should we use .deb or .rpm? How should we set up the startup scripts? Should we use upstart or SysVinit? For two distros both based on Debian and Ubuntu, these points of contention are non-existent. What are the things that the Kubuntu and Mint developers can't agree on? If there isn't anything they can't agree on, then there's no reason for them to not join forces.
It is too bad that Mint KDE, Kubuntu, Netrunner, Aptosid, and Siduction couldn't work directly with Debian KDE developers to keep Debian up to date with the latest and greatest KDE releases. I think Debian has 4.7.4 available in Testing and Unstable.
As for Kubuntu as far as I know Kubuntu doesn't have a native implementation of the Ubuntu-one service or the Ubuntu app store. So without direct support from Ubuntu the name Kubuntu seems a bit odd since it doesn't seem to be just Ubuntu with KDE, but an Ubuntu base without the Ubuntu extra stuff and KDE. Then again I am not too familiar with Kubuntu, I could be very wrong.
As for Kubuntu as far as I know Kubuntu doesn't have a native implementation of the Ubuntu-one service or the Ubuntu app store. So without direct support from Ubuntu the name Kubuntu seems a bit odd since it doesn't seem to be just Ubuntu with KDE, but an Ubuntu base without the Ubuntu extra stuff and KDE. Then again I am not too familiar with Kubuntu, I could be very wrong.
I'm a little late to this discussion, but I should say, how would there be a Mint KDE without Kubuntu?
Quoting:I'm a little late to this discussion, but I should say, how would there be a Mint KDE without Kubuntu?All of the 'buntus are based on Debian, so MintKDE could be based directly on Debian, instead of being based on one of its offspring.
> All of the 'buntus are based on Debian, so MintKDE could be based directly on Debian, instead of being based on one of its offspring.
And the way it's going, there's an increasingly greater chance of that happening.
And the way it's going, there's an increasingly greater chance of that happening.
There is already a Mint Debian Edition
It currently offers Gnome (MATE/Cinnamon) and XFCE, (no KDE yet).
@BS --
My wife has Mint Debian on her workstation.
Nice thing about it (in my humble opinion, at least) is that it's a rolling release. We can get new versions of software without having to upgrade.
It's a Debian thing, I think.
My wife has Mint Debian on her workstation.
Nice thing about it (in my humble opinion, at least) is that it's a rolling release. We can get new versions of software without having to upgrade.
It's a Debian thing, I think.
> There is already a Mint Debian Edition It currently offers Gnome (MATE/Cinnamon) and XFCE, (no KDE yet).
I'd expect you could add KDE with a simple apt-get, though it wouldn't have Mint's customizations.
I'd expect you could add KDE with a simple apt-get, though it wouldn't have Mint's customizations.
Speaking of KDE and not 'buntu, I'm download the ROSA 2012 Marathon beta tonight, as well as the LXDE based ROSA 2012 LTS. These two look very promising, and very possibly worth successors to Mandriva.
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As soon as I make time to upgrade the distro on my desktop PC, it's going to Mint just like my laptop.