The 2007 Rave Awards: The Wizard of OS - Mark Shuttleworth

I love LXer. Home of the baddest commentors around!

I get just as sick of the hype and fanboipersons as anyone, but I also recognize that Ubuntu has been a terrific shot in the arm for Linux. I agree that Mandriva should have been the breakthrough Linux. I don't know what went wrong; they have a large and loyal following, and introduced a lot of people to Linux, but they never seemed to be able to attain the mass popularity they should have. You'd think that Xandros, with its excellent Windows integration tools (Codeweavers, easy Active Directory integration, filesharing, etc) would have been the obvious choice for the corporate desktop, and for users migrating from Windows.

Best of all, IMO, is Ubuntu gave Debian a wake-up call. Maybe they would have gotten the lead out anyway; I think not. I think if it were not for Ubuntu, Longhorn and Etch would have finished in a dead heat. :)

Ubuntu is getting all kinds of attention for Linux, and this is a good thing.

> Ubuntu is getting all kinds of attention for Linux, and this is a good thing.

Some day's I agree with that, and some days I really wonder.... But, I always think those brown desktops are the pits ;-)

I used Mandrake 8.0 and don't see how it was any easier to install than Ubuntu. It just had a fancy GUI is all. That said, Mandrake should have been more popular than it has been.

I can change a brown desktop to any color I want.

> I can change a brown desktop to any color I want.

For my own sanity, I got to believe that most users do :D

Maybe that's a deliberate ploy to Empower Users. For once they get a taste of replacing Ubuntu brown with something they like better, it's just a few short steps to running servers, flinging up Wikis, and programming Web applications.

You guys are nuts! Brown/orange windows are the future. The desktop is a bit much though I'll grant you that. I changed mine to a picture of Jupiter. Took 5 seconds....

Just to toss some humor in, did anyone notice that at the top right of that article there is a sponsored by tag.

I would like to thank Microsoft for paying for that article.

Quoting:I agree that Mandriva should have been the breakthrough Linux. I don't know what went wrong; they have a large and loyal following, and introduced a lot of people to Linux

Two things actually:

1) Mandriva just arrived too early. It was ahead of it's time when the market wasn't. The market has caught up, but so have the other distros. 2) Ubuntu is still a loss leader. One of the things that really helped drive Ubuntu home was the ShipIt program that sends stacks of install CD's free of charge (even free of shipping cost) to anyone that askes. That's what created the hype. The Ubuntu marketing machine then picked it up and ran with it.

> The Ubuntu marketing machine then picked it up and ran with it.

They sure did. The latest I see are the multitude of articles poring out of Ubuntu sources touting things like 'Fun with GNU/Linux!', 'The Perfect [whatever]', 'Ubuntu [wonderful whatever]'.... With the latest being 'Feisty Fawn bliss'(?) I'm beginning to think they're really pushing drugs :D

Ok jimf, I'll smoke my Kubuntu CD if you will too!

> Ok jimf, I'll smoke my Kubuntu CD if you will too!

Sorry TC, an occasional beer is all I get to do these days...

Quoting:I was using Mandriva, then Mandrake, before Ubuntu was a chocolate colored gleam in its parent's eye,

Actually I think Mandriva is still easier to use than Ubuntu. And I'm beginning to think that PCLinuxOS is even easier than both of them.

tracyanne,

I would agree...but I'm pretty biased toward PCLOS currently :)

TuxChick,

Mandriva's problem is that it didn't update its packages back in the day...cooker would stagnate...they didn't update their packages and Texstar was single handedly keeping all rpms updated through his third party repository...and then they ostracized him in the community saying that he didn't want to work with others, etc.

That was Mandrake 9.2...when he forked off PCLinuxOS...he took many people's respect for Mandrake with him. It's not been the same since IMHO.

Quoting:That was Mandrake 9.2...when he forked off PCLinuxOS...he took many people's respect for Mandrake with him. It's not been the same since IMHO.

That's a pity, I think, because Mandriva is a very good Linux, and it happens to be my personal favourite (I'm sure nobody twigged that). I think though that Synaptic may actually be an easier (as in less confusing) package manager for non technical users - My only problem with it on PCLinuxOS, at the moment is how do I add repositories like I can with DrakConf Media Manager.

here you can see a linuxdistrotimeline ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Linuxdistrotimeline-7.2.p...

Quoting:My only problem with it on PCLinuxOS, at the moment is how do I add repositories like I can with DrakConf Media Manager.

Synaptic >> Settings >> repositories :)

Or Kmenu >> Run Command >> kdesu kate /etc/apt/sources.list

Currently, the repositories are a bit messed up...Tex and the gang switched from GCC3 to GCC4 with this release...that means they're still catching up to porting over the older repository to the new one...they have to recompile all packages.

What I _like_ about Ubuntu, other than the "there is no such thing as bad publicity" aspect, is that changes are easily propagated upstream back into Debian.

Like Knoppix's hardware detection.

Indeed, the competition did get the Debian developers off their butts, but it also creates a _huge_ test bed because Ubuntu uses a mishmash of testing, unstable and stable Debian packages.

Much like saying Calvinists and Lutherins point out much needed reforms in the One True Catholic church. :^)

Quoting:What I _like_ about Ubuntu, other than the "there is no such thing as bad publicity" aspect, is that changes are easily propagated upstream back into Debian.

After you've seen Conary from rPath and Foresight changes upstream like this take a whole new aspect :)

Quoting:"there is no such thing as bad publicity"

Tell that to Novell ;) I don't think that making a deal with Microsoft - which would make *a lot* of publicity - would be *good* publicity ;)

" I don't think that making a deal with Microsoft..."

The name of Faust has gained renown the world over. Isn't "renown" something everyone wants?

"Sulla! To the infamy of his name, and the utter damnation of his line!"

"If you go, Achilles, you will never return home, but your name will be remembered forever."

"Just sign here, and everyone will be talking about Novell for _years_!"

etc.