What makes a good Linux distribution?
Lately I have written various articles that have stirred the pot regarding the various Linux distributions available. I have heard quite a bit of dislike for Ubuntu, GNOME, and KDE 4. In fact I have heard opinions from people that make me wonder why they even use Linux.
I have come across plenty of distributions that I will never use again. I have played with desktops that will only have ever graced my screen once or twice. But to say I hate them? No matter how much I dislike these tools, they are still a part of the Linux community and that at least gives them some credibility.
But this train of thought started my brain whirring around the idea “what makes a good Linux distribution?” I thought, what better place to ask this question than here at Techrepublic! Naturally I can’t just ask the question without offering up my own opinion on the subject as well.
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re: Good Distro
For those of us that treat OS/APPS as TOOLS that are to be used to make OUR lives easier - it's not a big deal to choose Windows/Macs for our desktops and Linux for our servers.
Linux Fanboys (and especially Linux developers) need to start LISTENING to the serious (and sincere) criticisms that are being made against Linux (and not all the fawning pap that their fanboys spew forth).
The whole religious attitude of "take it our leave it" just doesn't fly in the modern business world, because most people who find that their feedback means squat and accomplishes zilch will indeed leave it (see Beranger's site for details).
Like the saying "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried" - it's also true for Desktop OS's "Windows is the worst desktop OS there is, except for all the others". Besides, the OS is just the wrapper that makes the hardware work - its the applications that make the computer useful, and for anything past the simplistic cloud use - Linux app's just plain suck (ugly, unstable, incompatible, 6 month cycle between new BUG releases, and features that only a developer/fanboy thinks are equal to their win/mac equivalents).
So by the definition of the article, even though I run nearly 100 linux servers, I am NOT a Linux user (and I'm ok with that).
Who's listening anyway?
"Take it or leave it" isn't unique for any particular operating system, just as you point out yourself. Maybe some developers - because in fairness many do pay attention but it's impossible to satisfy everybody - have a stubborn approach, but to exaggerate about in ranting style about "ugly, unstable, incompatible..." and so on "doesn't fly" either, at least if you actually want to make a difference.
There are folks and businesses out there, like us, who run Linux both on server and desktop because it gives us better software, not because of some fanboy mentality. I wouldn't waste valuable time on a working place on something that's unproductive.
Béranger is sometimes right, sometimes wrong. Sometimes he's seeing the bigger picture, sometimes he's ranting about a feature few ever have used or are in need of. Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes we argue. Béranger disslikes vocally everything that doesn't work as he expects it to, be it Linux, BSD or Windows. He's just like the rest of us with a personal opinion.
Who's listening? I suppose fewer from the inside is listening now than when he focused on Linux. I'm still waiting for a proprietary company, or even some, to respond to crucial memory leaks in their software for the Windows platform. Hence I'm hoping that at least somebody will listen some bright day.
re: Linux on the Desktop
Any occasional reader of Tuxmachines already knows what vonskippy thinks about Linux on the desktop.
Many of us actually prefer the Linux desktop. We aren't rabid fanboys or obsessed coders, and we get a lot of real work done using desktop Linux.
re: Linux users
The few, the proud, the Linux Desktop Users.
Sort of like the short lived "Army of One" campaign.
//just kidding - no matter what you think, my main message is "use whatever tool works best for you and the job at hand and don't make a religion out of it".
"use whatever tool works
"use whatever tool works best for you and the job at hand and don't make a religion out of it".
That's just sensible advice regardless if you're a carpenter, plumber or IT tech.