Canonical's business model?
Canonical's business model?
Posted Aug 20, 2008 21:34 UTC (Wed) by Cato (guest, #7643)In reply to: Canonical's business model? by dlang
Parent article: In defense of Ubuntu
Exactly - I'm just setting up an Ubuntu box for an elderly relative who used to use Windows, and the great thing is that things mostly 'just work' - Flash, multimedia codecs, Java, etc, are all installable with a few command lines available in a HOWTO on the Ubuntu forums. The other major advantage of Ubuntu is the forums - they are incredibly active, but also very well run, full of polite and helpful people. This is no doubt due to good policies and active moderation, but it makes an enormous difference to people dipping their toes in the water... Choice of distros is important and I would not want Ubuntu to become too dominant, but breaking into the mainstream is even more important, to all distros and types of user.
Posted Aug 20, 2008 22:57 UTC (Wed)
by ofeeley (guest, #36105)
[Link] (4 responses)
Well, as regards the Java part you can thank Red Hat for hiring the developers that worked on Iced Tea and the FSF for starting GNU Classpath.
As regards the other stuff you can explain to your elderly relative that the proprietary, closed-source Flash on Linux doesn't always work properly and may be responsible for exposing him to vulnerabilities.
Also, how is /you/ setting up your relative's box an example of Ubuntu being "easier" for ordinary users? You could probably just as easily set up a Debian, Mandriva, OpenSuSE or Fedora box and trivially install non-Free software.
The interesting thing is whether the Free/Open software ecosystem will be able to evolve so that there is no need for dependence on closed-source or patent-encumbered stuff, or whether the cheaters in the population will cannibalize the common resources and then cause a population crash.
Posted Aug 21, 2008 21:13 UTC (Thu)
by Cato (guest, #7643)
[Link] (3 responses)
Posted Aug 22, 2008 1:10 UTC (Fri)
by ofeeley (guest, #36105)
[Link] (2 responses)
Posted Aug 22, 2008 1:22 UTC (Fri)
by dlang (guest, #313)
[Link]
Posted Aug 22, 2008 6:08 UTC (Fri)
by Cato (guest, #7643)
[Link]
Canonical's business model?
The great thing is that things mostly 'just work' - Flash, multimedia codecs, Java,
Canonical's business model?
It's great that Red Hat has put so much effort into Ice Tea, and we are all thankful for the
GNU projects. It's also great that Ubuntu has put so much effort into usability.
As for Flash, I know it doesn't work perfectly, but what does in computers? Being able to use
YouTube and BBC iPlayer is a big benefit compared to the cost.
Setting up a PC is very different to using it - most Windows users simply turn the PC on which
has many apps pre-installed, but I didn't want to buy a Dell box with Ubuntu (didn't have the
spec I wanted), so I installed it myself. In fact I have always configured extra applications
on the Windows box for this relative, so what I'm doing is really not much different.
I'm sure I could have used another distro, and have used many others in the past - I just
happen to like Ubuntu and I'm confident that it will be particularly easy to use, whereas I
can't say that for the other distros.
A rising tide really does lift all boats - clearly Ubuntu needs to do more about working with
upstream, but it has done an enormous amount for Linux simply by making Linux easier to use
for the average person.
Canonical's business model?
Again, where's the usability? The only things you pointed to the last time were the results
of Red Hat hackers' work on Java and then some dodgy Flash stuff and media codecs. The latter
are just as available in Fedora or Gentoo or whatever as they are in Ubuntu for those that
want that stuff.
I've used Ubuntu fairly recently (not out of choice) and am not blown away by any usability
differences between it and any of the other current major distros. I again invite you to point
to some metric so that this is not merely a yes-it-is-no-it-isnt exchange. Otherwise you may
as well merely shorten your post to "I have no problem with proprietary software and patented
codecs and I like the Ubuntu wallpaper."
Canonical's business model?
it's lots of little things, the fact that the installer doesn't need to ask you a million
questions spread out over an hours time, but asks you a couple questions up front and then
goes and does it's thing is one of them.
individually they are trivial, but togeather they make it easier for people who don't already
know where to go for everything.
you don't see the difference becouse you are already familiar with the tools and just go to
the right place. but if you were to setup two identical machines with different distros and
give them to people unfamiliar with linux, the _experiance_ (note, experiance, not
speculation) that people have is that Ubuntu generates less frustration and fewer questions
than the other distros.
you don't see it? ok, you don't. nobody is trying to force you to use ubuntu, you are free to
use the distro of your choice.
just do us all a favor and stop bad-mouthing the distro that others choose just becouse it's
not the one you like?
Canonical's business model?
I don't have the time or energy to defend my choice of Ubuntu any further - feel free to use
the distro you prefer. Maybe it would be good to spend more time improving and evangelising
that distro rather than criticising Ubuntu?