Lately I’m stunned by the attention (X/K)Ubuntu receives. And more and more I’m convinced people really like it. But still. Ubuntu is no ordinary Linux version. It is made for “Human beings”. I admit. I gave it a few tries, even more than a few. I ran it on several machines. But it never succeeded in my eyes as a server distribution.
The problem at this moment in my eyes is that people refer to Ubuntu if you talk about Linux. Despite that they forget that there are far more other beautiful options for the GNU Linux kernel. Ubuntu is a distribution based on the Linux kernel which means it is Linux. Still it is no Linux because it is far more.
With Ubuntu you receive:
- A slick GUI
- A proper hardware detection kit
- A nice office suite
- And enough tools for every administrator/user/beginner
What sickens me is that on sites like Digg (http://www.digg.com/linux_unix) 90% of the articles which get digged are about Ubuntu. I don’t think that is fair. I started to read around and came across some interesting articles. How did Ubuntu became so popular. And I think it is because their proper marketing tricks (free CD’s!). Their “it-is-finished” look (oh well, you come across some bugs sometimes but I like the wobbly ‘windows’). But in my eyes it is friendly; it is indeed for human beings. You put in the DVD. Startup the Live environment and you just click “Install”.
Because of this don’t expect it you can work on it like Windows. Or even not like OS X. If you try to something irregular you are immediately on your own in the nice Terminal (you can even make it transparent). The Wiki (http://wiki.ubuntu.com) is a mess. Not really technical like the Gentoo version. Google is helpful. But never expect it to be friendly.
In my eyes Ubuntu is here to stay. But people should refer to it as a distribution. Not as the OS of the Future.
I would like to close with the following:
Ubuntu is a linux distribution and for this it is Linux. But Ubuntu is not linux.