My take on reviews and reviewers
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| caitlyn May 06, 2009 7:04 PM EDT |
Some of y'all have noticed that my distro reviews are "late", often months after release. I also try to get under the hood and look at why and how things work and what, if anything, makes a given distro unique. To do this I have to use a distro heavily for a period of time. I think Steven's article is spot on in one respect: most early distros are fans raving about their favorite's new release. It's all fluff, no substance, and no criticism of any flaws. When I do point out the flaws in a distro I often get reamed and roundly flamed for it. This encourages more fast fanboy reviews and less real and substantial reviews, which in turn results in everything Steve complains about. Chris Smart's two distrowatch articles (which also got roundly flamed) aren't reviews in a standard sense. They look at one claim made on the Xubuntu website: that it is the lightweight version of Ubuntu, and debunks it in part 1. In part 2 he explains how a lightweight Xubuntu can be made. It's more about identifying an issue and explaining how to work around it than doing a review. In any case, Steven makes a valid point. I haven't written a review since July of last year. That is about to change. I hope Steven likes what I write. For those who want fandom and praise and fluff, well... I've invested in asbestos undies. |
| azerthoth May 06, 2009 8:22 PM EDT |
Dont worry caitlyn, we will rake you over coals this time as gleefully as last time. *evil grin* |
| caitlyn May 06, 2009 8:50 PM EDT |
az: I know i can always count on you. :) |
| tuxchick May 06, 2009 9:50 PM EDT |
** humming and igniting the barbecue, lalalalaaa, more accelerant, hum de hummm ** |
| tuxchick May 06, 2009 10:08 PM EDT |
On a somewhat more serious note, I'm going to review KDE4 on Kubuntu and Mandriva, and maybe one more just for fun. So far the KDE4 debate has been pretty simple-minded, mostly a lot of "It sux and the developers must be killed!" or "It rox, and you suck!" It makes me wonder if any of them actually use it. It will be interesting to see how an actual review based on actual testing and usage will be received. |
| gus3 May 06, 2009 10:09 PM EDT |
tc, are you going for a Texas-sized mushroom cloud over the fire? |
| tracyanne May 06, 2009 11:55 PM EDT |
I'll be interested in your review TC, and see if it matches my perception. |
| tuxchick May 07, 2009 12:19 AM EDT |
gus3, you know the rule-- there is no such thing as too much accelerant. TA, 4.2/Kubuntu is getting there, but it's still not reliable, and it's full of little ineffciencies that drive me nuts. It's like they have a mouse clicks quota, and if the user is not forced into a thousand extra clicks per day they have failed. Kubuntu 8.10 had loads of problems and they made into 9.04, so I'm thinking their KDE mojo might not be very good. It will be interesting to compare with Mandriva. |
| Steven_Rosenber May 07, 2009 2:32 AM EDT |
I don't really have the time or inclination to write about anything I'm not doing at the moment. I'm not a full-time writer, and long ago I figured out that my writing has to mirror what I'm actually doing at the time, or I'll never get anything done. And I'm not terribly interested in throwing lots of distros on my boxes and writing reviews about them. But that could always change. I should be working on my Web coding skills and not messing around with shells, window managers and config files ... |
| mortenalver May 07, 2009 2:52 AM EDT |
I'm using KDE 4.2 on Mandriva, and I like it (there are still bugs, though). I also installed Kubuntu 9.04 on my old desktop computer, but it became incredibly slow. I switched to Gnome, and suddenly it worked well again. I seem to remember talk about problems with Nvidia and KDE4, that could be the reason. |
| NoDough May 07, 2009 1:06 PM EDT |
>> I've invested in asbestos undies. If you get cancer from the asbestos I've got the number to Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe. |
| azerthoth May 07, 2009 3:54 PM EDT |
TC, Sabayon4.1 K ships with KDE 4.2.2, its a crapshoot if you have an ATI card though. |
| ColonelPanik May 07, 2009 5:35 PM EDT |
Who reads distro reviews?
Linux people I guess.
Then said Linux people, being unherdable, install
whatever distro they want and draw their own
conclusions. Do users of Mac or Winders releases read any reviews of Linux distros? I doubt it. It is nice to know if there be monsters there in these distros, even better to know where you found the way to slay those monsters. And my Ubuntu 9.04 still has not pooped. |
| vainrveenr May 08, 2009 2:23 AM EDT |
Quoting:Do users of Mac or Winders releases read any reviews of Linux distros? I doubt it.... and yet, maybe a sizable number of Mac or Windows power-users actually DO read such reviews. For these power-users, it's good to know what else is out there should various unexpected IT "situations" arise. Without question, technical staff at Microsoft MUST be aware of reviews of distros which could possibly grow enough to challenge MS's marketshare, e.g., Red Hat (Fedora), Ubuntu, ... ... and LXer readers painfully know that MS continues to be QUITE aware of SuSE developments at Novell. |
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