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Old 12th May 2008
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scottro scottro is offline
Real Name: Scott Robbins
ISO Quartermaster
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: NYC
Posts: 652
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Ubuntu has done a great job, and so has RedHat, about getting both hardware and software vendors to think about opensource.

The more they do, the easier it becomes for the BSD users as well. Ubuntu forums show an amazing patience with newcomers, which they should, as their stated number one bug is that MS is on more machines. As ambassadors for Open Source, they're doing an excellent job. Not perfect of course--when you bring a Live CD to someone and it won't boot--but by their numbers alone, they're making it easier for everyone else.

I'm not sure why RH, being a server based O/S spends so much time and effort on their GUIs. I haven't gotten into that argument with the developers yet, I get in enough about the lack of good documentation. Is it a mess? It's different. Some of it sure is, but the same statement could be made about any O/S.

Personally, I think that sniping at Linux does nothing for anyone save Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Divide and conquer and all that.

Debian's packages will always be behind the times (as will, for example, CentOS.) Their main aim is stability. I believe the Debian (vs. Ubuntu) server edition doesn't have a GUI installed by default. With CentOS and RH, you can certainly choose to not install it. I'm not sure why RH is, as a server O/S, so gnome centric, but mess or not, Linux is the one that gets support from say, VMware, Flash and other things that many of us want and use. We can thank Linux for it.

As for the difference in communities--we're much smaller, and it's much easier to have an effect. Yet, I do feel that in my participation on the fedora-testing list, I've had a small effect in gettng some surprising, poorly documented and mentioned changes, documented. The Ubuntu folks, who probably have to do what will please most of the probably over a million users, are going to be less likely to listen than are the BSD folks, who have far fewer users to please, and, generally speaking a less diverse group.

By less diverse, I mean the majority of BSD users are more sysadmin types. While some of the Linux users are simply trying to escape Windows or Apple. Of course, it's very trendy to say Linux is for those who hate Windows, BSD for those who love Unix, but it's simply a saying with little or no substance--probably BSD is becoming the place for those who hate Linux.

I bet that 70 percent of more of the forum members use flash. Thank Linux.
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