On 03/14/2011 10:51 AM, Mike Miller wrote: > On Mon, 14 Mar 2011, wes smith wrote: > >>> On Sat, 12 Mar 2011, Robert Nesius wrote: >>> >>>> I think Canonical gets a bit of a bad rap. They are pushing a >>>> debian-based distro with a six-month release cycle - which is exactly >>>> what a lot of people wanted. They also have done a lot of work on >>>> integration. I don't know the whole story, but there has been friction >>>> between the Gnome community and Canonical for awhile - as from reading >>>> the posts above it seems Gnome leadership has been somewhat dickish >>>> about some of the issues at play. >>>> >>>> I'm interested in objective criticisms of Ubuntu. Not so much in >>>> people >>>> bagging on it to look 1337. >>> >>> >>> When I see people calling it "noob"untu, I think they are trying to >>> tell me they are more experienced users who don't need an easy-to-use >>> distro. I've been using Unix and Linux systems for more than 20 years >>> and I greatly prefer something easy that requires almost nothing from >>> me as a user. If it's easy to install and just works, that's great. >>> I would prefer to have no sysadmin skills at all and have a system >>> with good, secure default settings that never fails. Having readily >>> available, up-to-date packages is important. For me Ubuntu is >>> working fine. If there is something better, I'd like to know, but I >>> wouldn't want it if it's going to take a lot of time to figure it out. >>> >> >> How can you learn anything if everything just works. Where's the fun >> in that. > > If you want to learn how to use R, Octave, Python, Ruby, Perl or C, then > with a quick Ubuntu install, a couple of minutes on synaptic, and you > will have everything working. You can start the fun of learning those > worthwhile programming systems right away. Of course, if your goal is > to learn how to install a really badly maintained distro, then you'll > want something that doesn't just work. That's the upside of having > choices. The thing I don't understand is why you'd want to make fun of > someone for using Ubuntu instead of something that doesn't just work. > > I'm not sure that you understand that by deciding to spend your time on > some tricky Linux distro, you have less time to study things like > programming, or chemistry or statistics or history or law or medicine or > a million other things. Ask yourself this: How many CEOs or world > leaders can compile a Linux kernel? Is it because they are stupid that > they can't do it? > These are the exact reasons that I tend to use Debian/Ubuntu based distros. Linux is no longer a hobby for me, it is my production and day to day system( has been since about 1998/99 ). Although I am capable and still do play with other distros when I have time. I have school, work and other important projects that are required and I want to spend any excess time I have with my family not hacking my OS. If you need to get work done, I recommend using an established Debian based distro ( yes that includes the Ubuntu derivatives ). If you want to really learn the details of Linux use Slackware, Gentoo, or LFS if you are REALLY serious about the level of knowledge you want to gain. To end this declamation; Linux is about choice and freedom. Freedom to choose both what and how you use it. We all have opinions and requirements we follow in our own choices. Simply put there is no "One True Way". -- Patrick "Finn" Robins Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss