Ubuntu: Taking Over the Linux World

[praka123]

Ubuntu: Taking Over the Linux World
Last update: 07-11-2007
Submitted by Matt Hartley
(Column) - This just in: it's an Ubuntu future. Think I'm nuts? Take a cold, hard look around. Even though I'm a fan of other delightful distros like Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux, there are other honorable mentions, such as Fedora (a fine distro) and OpenSuSE. At the end of the day, however, Ubuntu has won the hearts of common users. And that is not my opinion, this is simply a matter of numbers.
Now, for the biggest question: do high numbers mean that Ubuntu is the best distribution out there? Some will argue that this is an impossible point to make, as each person has different needs from their distribution. But for the sake of this article, we will be considering the average user, not the Slackware crowd, who is obviously much more comfortable within a command line environment than mainstream users.
Stable, Reliable, But Are They Moving Forward Quickly Enough? The three closest competitors to Ubuntu would have to be Debian (obviously, look at the development tree), Fedora (has a strong community) and SuSE (strong backing from Novell).
Debian, while strong and definitely dependable, has a much slower development cycle than many of us would admit. Then we have Fedora with strong functionality (dual displays, anyone?), but it has been plagued by numerous community relations issues that have been cited time and again within the various articles in the ever-growing inter-web.
Then finally, we have the strong OpenSuSE distro. SuSE 10 was strong, 10.1 was not too impressive, and I have not had enough time to take their latest release for a solid test drive, so I'm holding back on any opinions on that release until I fully test it. Like Fedora, SuSE was a solid base for the enterprise user. However, it still left a number of home users going back and forth with their ease of use, as Ubuntu has demonstrated.
There are plenty of areas where Ubuntu has fallen flat on its face, but for mainstream users, it has completely eclipsed the competition. And this remains a sore spot for many Fedora and SuSe users. My words to them: get over it, it's a different market.
RPM Based Distros Are Simply Not Popular With Newer Users. One final thing that I would like to point out is that with the exception of PCLinuxOS (based on Mandriva), RPM based distros are solid, but unfortunately, they lack hand-holding for beginners. Okay, now why do you care? Because the growth of Linux as a collective whole is simply not happening with your distributions any longer. Yes, you will always have your existing collective. But at the same time, recruiting new users will become increasingly more difficult with each passing year.
Now, please, feel free to politely disagree with me. But at the same time, I believe that recent events surrounding Ubuntu speak for itself.
In the end, I'm interested in to see if the flash-bang of beginner friendly distros will outlive the slow growth stability of Fedora, OpenSuSE and Debian. Each of these are great distros. Actually, I might even venture to say that I have never met a Linux distro that I didn't like.

Debian distros rocks because of dpkg + apt.Open Suse would have embraced dpkg and apt will gave Ubuntu a good competition.

 

[infra_red_dude]

hmmm.. i disagree to one point here made by the author. he saying we are talking about 'average user' and then says 'debian is a competitor to ubuntu'. all the 'average users' i've ever known or seen run away at the mention of 'debian'!!! so i don't see debian as a threat to ubuntu's popularity.

according to me the 3 distro are: fedora core, opensuse and pclinuxos.

btw, i dunno how old is the article.. coz the author says he's tried open suse 10 and 10.1.. but the current version 10.2 has been there since quite some months... he should've tested that and then written the article.

 

[praka123]

Debian aint that tough even Debian Etch got a GUI installer.those earlier installs are really tough as upto Debian Woody.Debian Sarge got new Debian installer(CLI) and With Debian Etch,the current stable-got a gui installer.I am using Debian Sid and i'd say most of what Ubuntu offers or more(full debian repo) are with Debian Sid/Lenny or Etch.Yes.Debian got a GUI installer and bleave it or not rpm package management su*ks when compared to dpkg.man dpkg will let know .

 

[infra_red_dude]

of corz thats true... but there's a misconception amongst 'average user' that debian is not for them.... and its not easy to convince them. we know its not difficult to install debian now. but most of the average users shy away at the mention of it. thats all i'm referring.

regarding dpkg and apt-get.. wel... its simply beats everything out there.... and has no competitors!!!

 

[gxsaurav]

regarding dpkg and apt-get.. wel... its simply beats everything out there.... and has no competitors!!!

I guess you have never seen or used the Slax Module approch. Thats the best.

Or Mac OS X apps

or Windows Installer 3.1 based installations

 

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

Debian distros rocks because of dpkg + apt

add to that synaptic and it they make a killer combo .

regarding dpkg and apt-get.. wel... its simply beats everything out there.... and has no competitors!!!

yups , the best in the Linux world

 

[infra_red_dude]

I guess you have never seen or used the Slax Module approch. Thats the best.

Or Mac OS X apps

or Windows Installer 3.1 based installations

errr... no i've never seen or heard about slax or windows.. what is that? must be something really good.... modularity and windows installer 3.x... hmmm... must be a ground breaking technology for sure!!!

ps: i think we are talking about the 'average joe' here in the 'linux world'!!!

 

[kalpik]

Thread title: Ubuntu: Taking Over the Linux World
And GX posts:

I guess you have never seen or used the Slax Module approch. Thats the best.

Or Mac OS X apps

or Windows Installer 3.1 based installations

Why dont we just keep the discussion to Linux only? Or is it THAT hard for you to _not_ troll?

 

[praka123]

add to that synaptic and it they make a killer combo .

yups , the best in the Linux world

there are better ideas for eg:Autoinstall which is not adopted.
and
Conary package manager which is used by ipath and Foresight Linux.
but they dont take off well.This system only updates those specific files in packages which need to be updated, in contrast to other formats like rpm and .deb which download whole packages.

Conary is a free software package management system created by rPath Inc and distributed under the terms of the Common Public License.[1]. It focuses on installing packages through automated dependency resolution against distributed online repositories, and providing a concise and easy-to-use Python-based description language to specify how to build a package. It is used by Foresight Linux, Oz Enterprise and rPath Linux.
Conary updates only those specific files in packages which need to be updated; this behavior minimizes bandwidth and time requirements for updating software packages.

*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conary_%28package_manager%29

 

[aditya.shevade]

openSUSE 10.1 sucks.... 10.2 is way too much better than that.... And even after my complete devotion (I am not sure that this is the right word), to SUSE, I must admit, the new users are being attracted by Ubuntu....

 

[praka123]

Suse offers kde=eyecandy better than most distros.but now pclinuxos has taken over with Mandriva+suse as root?

 

[aditya.shevade]

But will it (PCLinuxOS) be able to keep holding? I mean, SUSE has been around for ages and looking at the changes made from 10.1 to 10.2... I would love to see what happens....

 

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

Suse offers kde=eyecandy better than most distros.but now pclinuxos has taken over with Mandriva+suse as root?

Personally , i use Kubuntu n PCLinuxOS , both are great eye candy and with KUbuntu's debian base , package management is a breeze

there are better ideas for eg:Autoinstall which is not adopted.
and
Conary package manager which is used by ipath and Foresight Linux.
but they dont take off well.This system only updates those specific files in packages which need to be updated, in contrast to other formats like rpm and .deb which download whole packages.
*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conary_%28package_manager%29

I find apt + synaptic sufficient , coz i've developed quite a proficiency in apt-get on CMD so i acn easily use it , i don't have the time(nor the zeal) to learn another package manager

 

[gxsaurav]

First off all, Slax is a linux. I hope you know?

Second, Ok fine...I will not talk about other OS.

But even in Linux, the package management of Slax is best.

 

[iMav]

well slax is a really good and light linux distro also the modules are very good and easy to install ...

 

[rocket357]

But even in Linux, the package management of Slax is best.

Someone's never used portage... =)

 

[infra_red_dude]

Someone's never used portage... =)

again.. i've seen 'average joes' shunning gentoo jus coz they heard somewhere that there are no binaries.. everything has to be built from source. but the beauty of emerge is only known to those who actually use it!

there are numerous misconceptions floating around when it comes to linux and new users....

 

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

Someone's never used portage... =)

well , the first time i tried installing gentoo , it wouldn't run on my monitor , problem ? my monitor supported max 1024x768 , gfx card supported max 1280x1024 , gento switched to max resolution supported by card without checking the monitor !

u see , these are small things which i think , gentoo overlooks and is thus in my opinion is not meant even for the "power user"

 

[rocket357]

well , the first time i tried installing gentoo , it wouldn't run on my monitor , problem ? my monitor supported max 1024x768 , gfx card supported max 1280x1024 , gento switched to max resolution supported by card without checking the monitor !

u see , these are small things which i think , gentoo overlooks and is thus in my opinion is not meant even for the "power user"

I find it odd that I've run into this problem as well, only I seem to ALWAYS hit this issue when dealing with precompiled distros! (Gentoo hasn't ever done it to me because I write my own xorg.conf...dont' get that option with precompiled systems, usually, until after the install...and even then you can use xorgconfig or the like to restrict the max resolution *before you launch X for the first time*!!)

Point is, when the software does all the thinking for the user, then the user turns into a whiner that can't accomplish squat without a pretty GUI and an army of tech support specialists (not aiming that at you, personally, Zeeshan...I'm simply pointing out my thoughts on it). That's what I like about Gentoo...you can't BS your way through it. You either have the determination to learn it, or you don't. End of story.

 

[nileshgr]

First off all, Slax is a linux. I hope you know?

Second, Ok fine...I will not talk about other OS.

But even in Linux, the package management of Slax is best.

I don't think so. I have FC-6. As you know Redhat uses YUM which was earlier known as Yellow Dog Updater: YUP. They made some changes and made it yum. Now to enhance yum there are GUI tools like pirut (bundled with install), yumex (download from WWW) and many others. The package management is very easy even without GUI (i mean using Terminal).