You may think, and it may be "over hyped", but look at it this way. If Ubuntu gains ground and brings in developers that improve something, anything, then that usually spreads to other distros. All Linux benefits from any one distro being popular. Just because it's not your flavor doesn't mean that you are not benefiting. Different distributions offer different things. Ubuntu offers easy access. Those that want more can look at one of the other distributions when they learn that it's not really that hard. I would never, for instance, have my parents learn Linux on Gentoo. I wouldn't want to have to support it for one thing. Being the "Computer Guy", they call me for virtually everything. My parents just bought a new TV. Since I'm the "expert" on technology because I'm a programmer, I should know everything there is to know about LED light engines and all that.
So you should encourage people to look at anything Linux. Even if it isn't your brand.
The reason Ubuntu gets so much attention is the simple fact that apparently they did many things right from a marketing perspective. There are brilliant communities out there that give you support for almost any kind of *nix derivate but Ubuntu went a step further. SuSe and RedHat are doing similar things for business support but afaik Canonical is the first to actually offer (payed) support to home customers, not only through the forums. And another reason why Ubuntu is so popular is the installation and operating method. It's so freaking easy to install a system from a LiveCD, not that many distributions do that right now. Also the people that use Ubuntu are very enthusiastic about it because once you get it up and running it's easy to use and very stable (unless you try to run Windows 3D applications in Wine or anything that involves the craptacular ATI drivers).
I can see a new pattern emerge here, there are the MS fanboys that are simply too lazy to switch because they are playing games all the times and use cryptic applications that need .NET framework or some shit. Then there are the Apple fanboys that just can't get over the fact that they want to fornicate with a piece of hardware (the OS is more like a complimentary gift so you can cuddle afterwards w/o really having to care what the machine is thinking right now). And finally from the depths of server centers and basement code sweatshop arises the Linux fanboy, underestimated at most but he knows more about his system than you do, his software runs on all hardware (yes even on Apple, PS3, many toasters) and he simply has the most control over his system. A and yes he is filthy rich and smiling all the time because he doesn't have to pay for anything on his system and still musn't watch out for the pirate police.
I belong to the latter category. Ubuntu GNU/Linux ftw!
Don't get me wrong, Ubuntu is a solid distro and they have done a lot of things write. The advertising has done wonders and they have done an awesome job of linux just working. Though, I do not know if Ubuntu, at the beginning was the result of a lot of advances specifically. It probably has drawn more developers into the open source community now, that are writing code for linux and all distros benefit from. In fact, I am really close to installing Ubuntu or possibly Debian on my parents aging and spyware infested PC.
I am just getting a little pouty, my my distro, Gentoo. Rarely has major releases, but I am not sure I have seen many if any Gentoo articles on here. All I am saying is spread the love!
"here are the MS fanboys that are simply too lazy to switch because they are playing games all the times and use cryptic applications that need .NET framework or some shit." I don't think lazy has anything to do with it. Apparently MS users are motivated enough to buy an OS over one that's free.
The real reason MS users don't switch is Familiarity, Ease-of-use, Compatibility, Applications and Leisure-programs or FECAL for short.
Motivated? Don't you mean idiotic? Am I the only one who thinks that's just stupid? I'm sorry, but I just like using a stable operating system without major security flaws, and programs that work on my older machine -without having to "ctrl+alt+del" for the crappy task manager when applications constantly freeze. I also like being able to change just about every aspect of my system to my liking. Games? That's what my PS3/XBOX 360 is for. I can't argue about gaming, yeah you pretty much have to have DX 9 or DX 10 to run decent games, but that's not what I use my computer for.
Compatibility? The only reasons programs aren't "compatible" with Linux, is because manufacturers don't want to invest time or money to create their software or drivers for an operating system that only a fraction of the population uses. The truth is, if more people used Linux, we would have exponentially more software and fully supported hardware. That's not an flaw of the operating system, that's a flaw of the manufacturers. Hell, let's take it one step further... shall we? Linux users were so MOTIVATED, they created a complete solution for users who wanted to use Windows based programs on their Linux box - WINE. Yes, it's true that not all programs will work in WINE, but it's constantly being updated.
But yeah, you're right. I should be paying $249 for an operating system, because that way I can be a REAL consumer and flood the call centers in Bombay when I can't figure out how to open the DVD drive, or click on an .exe file.
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Why is Ubuntu the only one that seems to get any press around here?!?
It is great that linux is getting any press, and Ubuntu has made huge strides in bringing linux to the people, but there are other distros out there.
It is just that Ubuntu is over hyped.
emerge -uavND world
You may think, and it may be "over hyped", but look at it this way. If Ubuntu gains ground and brings in developers that improve something, anything, then that usually spreads to other distros. All Linux benefits from any one distro being popular. Just because it's not your flavor doesn't mean that you are not benefiting. Different distributions offer different things. Ubuntu offers easy access. Those that want more can look at one of the other distributions when they learn that it's not really that hard. I would never, for instance, have my parents learn Linux on Gentoo. I wouldn't want to have to support it for one thing. Being the "Computer Guy", they call me for virtually everything. My parents just bought a new TV. Since I'm the "expert" on technology because I'm a programmer, I should know everything there is to know about LED light engines and all that.
So you should encourage people to look at anything Linux. Even if it isn't your brand.
The reason Ubuntu gets so much attention is the simple fact that apparently they did many things right from a marketing perspective. There are brilliant communities out there that give you support for almost any kind of *nix derivate but Ubuntu went a step further. SuSe and RedHat are doing similar things for business support but afaik Canonical is the first to actually offer (payed) support to home customers, not only through the forums. And another reason why Ubuntu is so popular is the installation and operating method. It's so freaking easy to install a system from a LiveCD, not that many distributions do that right now. Also the people that use Ubuntu are very enthusiastic about it because once you get it up and running it's easy to use and very stable (unless you try to run Windows 3D applications in Wine or anything that involves the craptacular ATI drivers).
I can see a new pattern emerge here, there are the MS fanboys that are simply too lazy to switch because they are playing games all the times and use cryptic applications that need .NET framework or some shit. Then there are the Apple fanboys that just can't get over the fact that they want to fornicate with a piece of hardware (the OS is more like a complimentary gift so you can cuddle afterwards w/o really having to care what the machine is thinking right now). And finally from the depths of server centers and basement code sweatshop arises the Linux fanboy, underestimated at most but he knows more about his system than you do, his software runs on all hardware (yes even on Apple, PS3, many toasters) and he simply has the most control over his system. A and yes he is filthy rich and smiling all the time because he doesn't have to pay for anything on his system and still musn't watch out for the pirate police.
I belong to the latter category. Ubuntu GNU/Linux ftw!
Don't get me wrong, Ubuntu is a solid distro and they have done a lot of things write. The advertising has done wonders and they have done an awesome job of linux just working. Though, I do not know if Ubuntu, at the beginning was the result of a lot of advances specifically. It probably has drawn more developers into the open source community now, that are writing code for linux and all distros benefit from. In fact, I am really close to installing Ubuntu or possibly Debian on my parents aging and spyware infested PC.
I am just getting a little pouty, my my distro, Gentoo. Rarely has major releases, but I am not sure I have seen many if any Gentoo articles on here. All I am saying is spread the love!
"here are the MS fanboys that are simply too lazy to switch because they are playing games all the times and use cryptic applications that need .NET framework or some shit."
I don't think lazy has anything to do with it. Apparently MS users are motivated enough to buy an OS over one that's free.
The real reason MS users don't switch is Familiarity, Ease-of-use, Compatibility, Applications and Leisure-programs or
FECAL for short.
Motivated? Don't you mean idiotic? Am I the only one who thinks that's just stupid? I'm sorry, but I just like using a stable operating system without major security flaws, and programs that work on my older machine -without having to "ctrl+alt+del" for the crappy task manager when applications constantly freeze. I also like being able to change just about every aspect of my system to my liking. Games? That's what my PS3/XBOX 360 is for. I can't argue about gaming, yeah you pretty much have to have DX 9 or DX 10 to run decent games, but that's not what I use my computer for.
Compatibility? The only reasons programs aren't "compatible" with Linux, is because manufacturers don't want to invest time or money to create their software or drivers for an operating system that only a fraction of the population uses. The truth is, if more people used Linux, we would have exponentially more software and fully supported hardware. That's not an flaw of the operating system, that's a flaw of the manufacturers. Hell, let's take it one step further... shall we? Linux users were so MOTIVATED, they created a complete solution for users who wanted to use Windows based programs on their Linux box - WINE. Yes, it's true that not all programs will work in WINE, but it's constantly being updated.
But yeah, you're right. I should be paying $249 for an operating system, because that way I can be a REAL consumer and flood the call centers in Bombay when I can't figure out how to open the DVD drive, or click on an .exe file.