Comments on: How Ubuntu Lost Its Credibility and the Road to Regaining It

By: BudLight

BudLight — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 01:42:12 +0000

The theme to me is not that important, it’s Linux you can change it to whatever you like. That is the beauty of Linux we can express our personality in a custom theme and are not limited to different to different wallpapers like Mac and MS offer.

Second, I use my ubuntu in a triple boot environment on a Macbook and setting up wireless encryption on 8.10 (and to have it actually work without a hitch first time and not erase itself after a reboot impressed me) it was just as easy to set up as OS X and Vista no terminal commands are used and that is out of the box.

Finally, how can anyone have the nerve to criticize a free OS, if you don’t like it go and actually “PAY” for one that floats your boat. I expect to have some troubles with any Linux distro and when I do I am fine with that because it didn’t cost me anything so I can use my time in configuring it to make up the difference.

By: perfector

perfector — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:22:15 +0000

Are you serious?? I can’t imagine how an OS would loose credibility just because of its theme.

By: Cyphax

Cyphax — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:51:34 +0000

I am one to fully agree with the article. Of course the actual main focus would lay on import matters such as security and stability (the latter of which they screwed up with 8.04, but did better on 8.10) but that’s not what this article says. Security and stability are not a “priority”, they need to be a GIVEN. If security and stability aren’t established, the operating system has no place on today’s market. So that means we can move on to issues that matter to a lot of people. I know it’s easy to disregard the broken promise (AGAIN!) of a more modern theme (it’s sooooo starting to look way old) as a power user but try to put yourself in the position of someone new to this operating system. Here’s some thoughts:
“that’s all very.. brown.. and orange, Vista does look better actually”
“wow I have all of ONE background? how generous”
I can totally see someone new to Ubuntu think either or both of the above thoughts.

Another problem is the simple fact that promises of something like this keep being broken. I fully expect 9.04 to look the exact same as 8.10. They have done their utmost best to ship with LESS desktop backgrounds than ever (and gloriously succeeded I might add) so maybe they’ll manage to ship with none next april.

Look, it’s not a disaster, but I too am skeptical for now and Canonical should not want their users to be skeptical when it’s their own fault in the first place. Delaying something like new artwork is one thing, but delaying it twice in a row?? A WHOLE YEAR? A modernized THEME?? This isn’t rocket science here, how can you NOT spare some manpower for this? How can you need more than maybe a couple of persons to do this? Hey, I know there ARE more important things, but this is not something that requires many weeks and many people. The community has provided excellent themes that can be used if the author allows it, or is Canonical the kind of company that abides by “if we didn’t make it, we don’t want it?”. They shouldn’t be, seeing as how most parts of the operating system are made by others. Perhaps it is stubbornness.

Whatever it is, they HAVE lost some credibility. They have not lost my support, but I AM skeptical and loving of Ubuntu at the same time and I won’t give it up easily myself. The above may sound like a rant but it’s simply how I feel. I love Ubuntu and I will not just switch. Instead, I want it to be the best, and I think I know a certain company that would like the same thing.

By: MZ

MZ — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:32:06 +0000

I think I reflect the views of many people when I say that *at least* the cycles leading up to an LTS release should focus mainly, if not exclusively, on bug fixing. 8.04 turned out to be a beta. 8.04.1 was the real Final Release.

There are two things that Ubuntu should focus on for every LTS: bug fixing and a new theme. Leave the cycles in between for experimentation and innovation. But that’s just my $.02.

By: felipe alvarez

felipe alvarez — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:38:33 +0000

The beginning of this article is boring, unrefined. Author wants the world on a platter? How much did s/he contribute to the development of the distro? How much did s/he pay for support? No release is bug-free. I didn’t read the rest. came to bottom to post. Headline was catchy, though!

By: MZ

MZ — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:28:23 +0000

I used to get all the bleeding-edge stuff, sometimes doing a distribution upgrade on the day of release, sometimes earlier. Loved looking for the new features. But over the last few cycles, I’ve noticed that the improvements are sparse (as incremental upgrades, they are supposed to be, I guess) while the bugs are noticeable, sometimes annoying, and sometimes crippling.

For the first time since I started using Ubuntu with Breezy, I plan on keeping the older release (8.04.1 now). Upgrading once every two years is sufficient, it seems to me. After having my hard drive wiped out way too many times, I enjoy the stability.

By: Diego

Diego — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:04:58 +0000

it’s a sheet of article!!!!

By: David T

David T — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:41:46 +0000

blah blah

font are ok, theme is ok, speed is ok, stability is ok, and as long as everything works 99% of the time I’m ok too

Stop whinning

By: tracyanne

tracyanne — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:40:55 +0000

quote::These are 6 month release cycles. Artwork has to come last as a priority.

It’s a pity then that they put so much of those 6 months into Marketing hype, when they could be improving the software.

By: Guy

Guy — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:38:15 +0000

I’m use & am very happy with Ubuntu LTS & am sure that whatever difficulties they have had are outweighed by their acheivements