Would Linux survive if Ubuntu died?

Would Linux survive if Ubuntu died?

Yes.

Would Jim Lynch survive without the ability to copy-and-paste his way through life?

Never!

I agree with djohnston. Sitting on your ass all day long and surfing the Web for stories to re-post does not a journalist make.

And devnet is correct. There are many distros that existed long before Ubuntu and many that are not dependent or based on Ubuntu. Linux is a kernel, not an operating system. It's use as an embedded OS in a multitude of commercially viable devices far out numbers the catalog of Linux-based desktop distributions. For that reason alone, you can rest assured that Linux will be around for a very long time to come.

This is getting ridiculous in my view. Would someone like to write a "I hate Jim Lynch" article ? Many "Linux" sites do what Jim has done, including Phoronix, LinuxSecurity (especially), FOSS, KDEblog and so forth. Look at it another way.....if you hadn't seen the articles Jim is referring to, he's given you the links to them. For those who don't have the time, Jim is actually supplying a service. I stress here that I don't know the man, I have taken little notice of what he does, nor is that my business, I certainly don't attack him for I have no reason to.....I see articles by Jim passing through here every so often.....if you don't like them, don't read them, but that's not to say that other people may not value what he does.....

2c

Have a nice day.

I really like Jim Lynch's work. I read pretty much all of it. His desktop linux reviews are generally very thorough

Quoting:.if you don't like them, don't read them

"Good advice is almost certaIn to be ignored." -- Jane Marple

@DrGeoffrey.....talk about giving me the head of the fish and not the body......!!!! I am a devotee of Miss Marple especially those movies done by Joan Hickson and Dame Margaret Rutherford. Where and when and in what book did she say that ? It's deliciously accurate and just what you would expect from that elderly lady.

Joan Hickson, "Sleeping Murder", DVD

It's been awhile since I watched the DVD, but, IIRC, it was past the midpoint and Miss Marple was speaking to the husband of the young wife who had spent her early years in the old mansion.

I went to the original, and both posts missed the point entirely.

The desktop in general and the Linux desktop in particular is already on the downhill side of life.

I don't think hard-core geeks will stop using desktops, and certainly people who want to do actual work won't stop using them (and by desktops I mean laptops, too -- the PC form factor, if you will).

But Ubuntu's time in the sun has passed, and Linux on the desktop is firmly entrenched in the secret-club world from which Ubuntu tried -- and for a while succeeded -- in breaking it loose.

Ubuntu is focusing on phones because they're the near future of computing. Desktop is the present, somewhat, and the past. There's no excitement on the desktop.

I will still continue to use Linux on my desktops because I can't stand Windows and am not particularly fond of Mac OS either.

And Linux overall will continue to live as long as enough of us care to develop and use it.

Maybe Steam will pump a little life into the Linux desktop.

But anybody looking for Ubuntu to do more for the desktop will probably be very disappointed.

Quoting:The desktop in general and the Linux desktop in particular is already on the downhill side of life.

I don't think hard-core geeks will stop using desktops, and certainly people who want to do actual work won't stop using them (and by desktops I mean laptops, too -- the PC form factor, if you will).

You might be painting too dark a picture. From my personal observations, tablets were flourishing on campus last year, but this year it appears the fad has tapered off. There are still a few tablets, but students appear to be returning to laptops.

Of course, this is only "I know a person who" statistics. And it's fair to say tablets and phones will take a chunk of the pc business, but methinks you are confusing a rejection of Windows for the end of the PC.

Quoting: You might be painting too dark a picture. From my personal observations, tablets were flourishing on campus last year, but this year it appears the fad has tapered off. There are still a few tablets, but students appear to be returning to laptops.

Of course, this is only "I know a person who" statistics...

That's an interesting observation, nonetheless.

I'm not saying Linux doesn't dominate the server and embedded markets, both of which are of tremendous importance. Linux has won those battles.

The World Wide Web and now cloud computing wouldn't be where they are today without Linux.

I would love for the desktop to have a similar, sunny story, but while desktop Linux really is better than ever, I never saw the vast uptake of the OS that comes with preloaded systems sold to the mass market. So much else has happened during the time we've been waiting for this to happen (rise of iPhone, Android and tablets, cloud and social networking).

Am I the only one that doesn't get the tablet thing.

With a tablet I have to hold it with one hand whilst looking at it. That means I am now 1 hand worse off that I am with a laptop.

If I type on a tablet (i.e. web addresses or an email) I lose half the screen to an on screen keyboard.

My tablet has limited applications and really isn't very clever when doing serious tasks. The only real uses for a tablet are to watch Youtube videos, play fairly average Flash/Java games and read online books/magazines.

With a laptop I have a dedicated keyboard and I can sit the laptop on my knee and without risk of a strained neck I can see the screen.

I can type emails without losing half the screen and the number of useful applications far outweighs the number of useful applications on a tablet.

I can still watch youtube videos, play fairly average Flash/Java games and read online books and magazines. I can also play some pretty decent games and make music, produce videos, make artwork, do my accounts, etc etc.

So why on earth do people bleat on about tablets like they have saved us all. For me they are just a toy for the people who use Facebook too much.

@Gary_newell.......I look at it this way: Tablets, pads, smartphones all target the consumer of data and software. Laptops and Desktops all provide the wherewithall for the creator of data and software. Simplistic I know, but that's how I see them. Try doing Photoshop or Gimp image manipulation on a smartphone, tablet or pad; or creating a novel complete with illustrations; working with the entire data base of a university library; operating a bank's spreadsheets............I am sure you can think of lots more examples. Dare I say it (please bubble wrap any bricks thrown) but smartphones, pads and tablets are niche operating devices......superb in a limited way, but for pure freedom, there is nothing as magnificent as a keyboard and mouse on either a desktop or a laptop.

@DrGeoffrey.....many, many thanks.......I was wondering what to do tonight........Now I know.

> Tablets, pads, smartphones all target the consumer of data and software. Laptops and Desktops all provide the wherewithall for the creator of data and software.

A fair assessment, but remember that consumers almost always greatly outnumber producers.

For sure Jdixon, no argument from me. As an aside, I think investor capital always follows the companies which produce the most sales and right now those sales are being made to a consumer oriented market. However, all I hoped to imply was that while the masses consume, there will always, always, have to be a special group which produces the material for the masses to consume. Those producers will, I think, continue to need the keyboard and the mouse. Sure, it's a much, much smaller market, but it will nevertheless continue. That greatly reduced market is just one of the reasons I believe a very large company whose existence depends on selling large quantities of expensive and closed source software is looking at the edge of a precipice.

> Those producers will, I think, continue to need the keyboard and the mouse.

For the nonce, yes. It's still the best interface we've come up with. Eventually we'll get interactive voice communications and such, which will change things quite a bit. And possibly direct neural communication eventually. But those are still a ways off.

I simply wasn't sure if you were taking the decreased market size into account in your analysis or not. I apologize for doubting you. :)

That's an intriguing one about the interface......I don't like the idea of vocal....for one thing, It'd probably drive my wife crazy even just writing this post back to you, and can you imagine a secretarial pool ? I think we might all go insane........Direct neural ? Well, --- maybe. The huge advantage in the mouse and keyboard is one that you cannot dismiss lightly when you are composing script, and that is because you stop to put a sequence of words in place before your fingers hit the keyboard....Of course, it could be too that I am too fossilized in my outlook and that a neural interaction would be great once you got used to how it "plays".

Asimov in his Foundation series described a student using a vocal interaction "transcriber" and the hiccup that resulted if you forgot and said something you shouldn't. (Second Foundation, 1953 - Part II with Arcadia Darrell)

Sorry, guys. this one is way dumber:

How They Popped The Penguin: The Bash Attack And What It Means For Linux Data Security (on Forbes; by Michael Venables)

http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/192508/index.html

(Actually it brings to mind the traditional quotations, about the difficulty distinguishing between stupidity and malice.)

> Sorry, guys. this one is way dumber:

Agreed. He describes a hack to an already compromised machine as if it's something ground breaking.

The original presentation (by Mark Kikta) that Venables based his Forbes story on, appears to be much more sensible.

The Forbes article has now been updated with comments by Kitka, and a link to Kitka's blog (where you can find a video of the original presentation).

Finally had the chance to see the movie and, at least I had the correct title and lead actress name.