Ubuntu Developer Summit report: X.org improvements, driver controversy, and bling (Linux.com)

Ubuntu Developer Summit report: X.org improvements, driver controversy, and bling (Linux.com)

Posted Nov 15, 2006 4:15 UTC (Wed) by josh_stern (guest, #4868)
In reply to: Ubuntu Developer Summit report: X.org improvements, driver controversy, and bling (Linux.com) by thebluesgnr
Parent article: Ubuntu Developer Summit report: X.org improvements, driver controversy, and bling (Linux.com)

[[That said, I strongly disagree with all the people who imply that they know better which video driver choices are in the best interests of other users than those users know for themselves]]

[That's not what people are saying at all. The problem with Ubuntu's actions is that it will have negative repercussions on the whole Free Software ecossystem. A distribution is not a survey; it picks defaults for you. Ubuntu doesn't give you a selection of software to install, for example. And that's fine, because you can override their selections later. If it installs nv by default, you can then install nvidia; if installs the proprietary driver, you're free to replace it with the free driver. The issue being discussed is what choice Ubuntu makes for you, not if you're allowed or not to make a choice.]

Ubuntu is making decisions about how to best support their users based on estimates of what is most desirable overall to those users. Most people who commented negatively on this are not arguing that Ubuntu's estimates are wrong in this regard. Rather they are saying they don't like this criteria. That's because either they think it is bad for the users or they think it is bad for some other group of people (e.g. "the whole Free Software ecosystem"). Maybe you are right to think that I was being too charitable to interpret this criticism as concern for the users...

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