Can Ubuntu ever be as stable as hardware tailored OS:s?

[worldsayshi]

As mentioned, even on Windows and Mac it is the hardware manufactured responsibility to provide drivers and until the Linux users make enough noise to force them to include Linux drivers, they won't. Same with software, Windows and Mac version, nothing for Linux.

Heh. I expect hardware vendors to pick up on linux drivers about when malware makers will begin seriously picking up on linux malware. Neither will start supporting it until there are enough financial motivation given by critical mass of users. One bad for another.

You might also take a look at Debian (this is what I run on my work computer). Debian is Ubuntu's "parent" distro and while it lacks some of Ubuntu's "pizazz" it is extremely stable.

Yup aware of it. Although I admit. I'm also a sucker for fancy pants new and shiny. Just getting a bit whiny when the cost of it blows up in my face.

The non-LTS Ubuntu release (such as 11.04, which introduced Unity) are used to test new technologies and some users (including myself) consider them "public betas" for the LTS releases.

Hmm, not so surprising. Nice to know. Yes, I will go for LTS for the server then.


I believe the point I was looking for was:
Can Canonical as business venture and brand (rather than Ubuntu as a project) hope to compete with the big brands by trying to accomplish original design or will it bring a stability cost (that is(?) hard to avoid when going by the "one size" model) that will counter the positive "brand"-effect given by that design? That all depends on the stability they actually can muster in the end I guess. In the end there is always a trade-off between stability and originality (if nothing else). Don't you think? As a background, I think that Ubuntu is closer than ever to being truly competitive. That makes such a trade-off idea more interesting.

[snowpine]

Ubuntu is the most successful desktop Linux distro despite being (arguably) one of the least stable. That tends to undermine your "stability is the key to Ubuntu's success" argument.

For that matter, the most popular operating system of all time (Windows XP) is extremely unstable for a lot of users. Frankly I think the biggest deciding factors for most people are popularity and familiarity; if Average Joe's friends/family/coworkers/classmates use Windows, he will use Windows without questioning; if they use Mac, he will choose Mac, etc.