" How boring! How tedious! "

[arnab_das]

The most idiotic Linux article of the year ?

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2359956,00.asp

this is exactly what i mean when i say that some people want linux to remain a geek's OS.

[Groucho Marxist]

I agree with the article in its support for virtual OS software like Virtualbox. However, I feel that its assessment of LinuxMint misses the mark. The author claims that said distro is "superior" simply for featuring multimedia codecs pre-installed. Concurrently, the author fails to convey the simplicity of installing the aforesaid multimedia codecs in Ubuntu through Synaptic Package Manager (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats).

[rottentree]

That article is ******* stupid! :|
It's one thing that you are searching for your 'ultimate' os(which you might never find) but there is no point in 'distrohopping' just for the sake of it.
It's a waste of time.

[odiseo77]

Maybe in this way some people will have time for some other interesting things like going with their gf's/bf's/friends to the cinema, walking, breathing fresh air, doing some exercise, bushwalking, etc., instead of spending their whole lives in front of a PC?...

[Maheriano]

Great article until I got to this part:

It's a sad thing to watch as dedicated Linux geeks abandon distrohopping in favor of sedately using the same distribution on an ongoing basis. How boring! How tedious! In a way, it's almost like using Windows! They just sit there like oblivious cows, content to chew their cud and gaze mindlessly across the field as the time passes.

What a pathetic sight to see: legions of once-proud and nimble distrohoppers reduced to the status of tepid and passive distrocows that resemble their real-life dairy-producing cousins. You can practically hear them all mooing as they stand in their own filth and mindlessly wait for the final trip to the slaughterhouse.

Ugh.

[HarrisonNapper]

In many ways, I agree with the heart of what the author is saying and in what many people in the thread are saying. I'm hoping the author was sarcastically promoting Linux Mint as the ultimate distro by saying it kills distro hopping. That's like saying making money is bad because it removes the process of suffering while trying to pay bills.

Possibly unexpectedly, I agree with the point of Linux too easy and the author of Linux is NOT Windows (link in sig--you've all probably read it) echoes this in that article, as well. One of the things that made and still makes Linux great is the do it yourself attitude. You want the perfect OS? People are different, build one yourself. You want the perfect app? Program it, here are the tools to learn how and to implement your ideas.

Medibuntu is an appropriately named repository and I'd like to stress the DISTRACTIONS part of the acronym. Everyone likes a good video and it would be a shame to see Linux without that capability, but not everyone likes ONLY good video and it would be a sham to see Linux turn in to a monolithic offering of "we can play youtube, too, lol". Users now may use the OS without knowing any of the history, ideology, or community, but that's what Windows wants to do, not Linux. We should be striving to free the minds of users, not ensure that their shackles will follow them wherever they go.

That being said, as Canonical (and Mark Shuttleworth) have been saying with the Ubuntu project, accessibility is an important part of sharing those visions with others. Or at least giving them the opportunity to participate in the community without having to worry about coding a new driver for their video card.

Leastways, that's my two pence. Cheers.

[LowSky]

WORST ARTICLE EVER
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/79/The_Simpsons-Jeff_Albertson.png

[Post Monkeh]

i tried linux mint and didn't like it.
don't ask me why, but my wireless card just wouldn't play nice with it so i had to go back to standard ubuntu.

so in summary, i'm no cow. moo.

[marshmallow1304]

Maybe in this way some people will have time for some other interesting things like going with their gf's/bf's/friends to the cinema, walking, breathing fresh air, doing some exercise, bushwalking, etc., instead of spending their whole lives in front of a PC?...

Never!

[HarrisonNapper]

Maybe in this way some people will have time for some other interesting things like going with their gf's/bf's/friends to the cinema, walking, breathing fresh air, doing some exercise, bushwalking, etc., instead of spending their whole lives in front of a PC?...

The word cinema reminds me of cinelerra. Also, cinecutie.

Also what is a cinema?

[t0p]

This article isn't meant to be taken seriously. It's a joke.

Sheesh, lighten up people!

[t0p]

what is a cinema?

It's a colonic irrigation delivered in a movie house.

[Gallahhad]

WORST ARTICLE EVER
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/79/The_Simpsons-Jeff_Albertson.png

Agreed.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

I agree with the article in its support for virtual OS software like Virtualbox. However, I feel that its assessment of LinuxMint misses the mark. The author claims that said distro is "superior" simply for featuring multimedia codecs pre-installed. Concurrently, the author fails to convey the simplicity of installing the aforesaid multimedia codecs in Ubuntu through Synaptic Package Manager (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats).

Or that the "simplicity" comes at the expense of legal stability, which is what drives me crazy with MANY of these Ubuntu derivatives.

[kostkon]

Agreed.
Me too.

[Megrimn]

Linux Mint may have made things too easy and, in doing so, it may have killed the great Linux pastime of distrohopping

well, no. It just happens that not everyone wants a new pastime when there is work to be done. The large majority of linux users still toy with other distros. I would like to, but right now I don't have the time. And the vast majority of win-to-linux converts aren't interested in messing around to get things working - they want something that works out-of-the-box so they can get their own work done.


...distrohopping. For those who aren't familiar with it, it's what desktop Linux users do as they seek their ultimate distro.


...I've noticed that some of the folks that used to be dedicated distrohoppers have now settled in with Linux Mint and don't really bother with other distros all that much anymore.

You, my friend, have just contradicted yourself. Are you trying to say that people aren't allowed to stick to "their ultimate distro" once they find it?

[dragos240]

WORST ARTICLE EVER
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/79/The_Simpsons-Jeff_Albertson.png

I lol'd.

[Groucho Marxist]

Or that the "simplicity" comes at the expense of legal stability, which is what drives me crazy with MANY of these Ubuntu derivatives.

I'm not saying that it isn't frustrating; there is always a consequence or trade-off for every action. In this case, the trade-off happens to revolve around the use (or, in a sense, misuse) of proprietary codecs.