Yet Another Slashdot appearance for ubuntu

[Brunellus]

So Ubuntu has once again graced Slashdot with its appearance, this time in a piece where one of the Debian maintainers saysUbuntu is a net negative for Debian (http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/05/04/11/2335221.shtml?tid=163&tid=90&tid=190&tid=106)

I looked at Debian, but it seemed ridiculously antisocial. Great for servers maintained by ascetic techmonks who shun contact with mere mortals, apparently, but not so friendly for newbies like me seeking a stable desktop OS. So I went to Ubuntu. The whole thing seems like a bunch of sour grapes from the Debian guys, since they can't seem to get Sarge released at all....

[poofyhairguy]

So Ubuntu has once again graced Slashdot with its appearance, this time in a piece where one of the Debian maintainers saysUbuntu is a net negative for Debian (http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/05/04/11/2335221.shtml?tid=163&tid=90&tid=190&tid=106)

I looked at Debian, but it seemed ridiculously antisocial. Great for servers maintained by ascetic techmonks who shun contact with mere mortals, apparently, but not so friendly for newbies like me seeking a stable desktop OS. So I went to Ubuntu. The whole thing seems like a bunch of sour grapes from the Debian guys, since they can't seem to get Sarge released at all....


This one brought out a lot of trolls. I'll be glad when its under.

[akurashy]

oh well... this really is not what i expected to heard from the creator of debian =/

[TravisNewman]

Well, while I appreciate Debian, they're missing the point I think.

Their work is getting into the hands of more people that it could have never gotten before

Nobody is ASKING Debain to keep up compatibility, I don't think.

[shimon]

he has a point like why the hell do we need our own kernel? why can't we use the debian kernel because any patches we need we can say debian will also need them.

[poofyhairguy]

he has a point like why the hell do we need our own kernel? why can't we use the debian kernel because any patches we need we can say debian will also need them.

Because Sid kernels are very unstable. Thats what bit me the most in Sid, the kernels. Only once did a new hoary dev kernel given me the fits. The next day it was fixed...

[dusu]

I don't know if this is the place where to ask this question, but I do it anyway.
I think we can all agree that the Debian community makes excellent work (apt tools, the debian-installer, etc), and Ubuntu has built on this nicely.
Will Ubuntu be able to include new features that will appear in the future releases of Debian ?

[Raven-sb]

From what I've read about Ubuntu they will be contributing code and features back into Debian. At least that's the impression I was under.

Regards,

Raven

[paretooptimum]

I put this comment on Ian's blog: http://ianmurdock.com/archives/000244.html

"Clearly this isn't the beginning of the end for debian, but maybe the leadership needs to ask themselves why this topic has generated so much strong and vehement discussion both here, on slashdot, and on a number of other forums. There is an old saying: "where there is smoke, there is fire." Something is wrong and needs to be fixed. The signs point to this being both a governance (ie leaders not reflecting the will of the people) and a structural issue (cf user/desktop vs server debian proposal above)."

I think Eris' post about creating Debian User and Debian Server has some merit, give how many distributions derive from Debian: (from Distrowatch)

"AbulÉdu • Adamantix • AGNULA GNU/Linux Audio Distribution • Amber Linux • ANTEMIUM Linux • Arabbix • ARMA aka Omoikane GNU/Linux • ASLinux • Auditor Security Linux • Augustux • B2D Linux • BeatrIX Linux • BEERnix • Biadix • BIG LINUX • Bioknoppix • BlackRhino • Bluewall GNU/Linux • Bonzai Linux • BrlSpeak • Càtix • CensorNet • Clusterix • ClusterKNOPPIX • Condorux • Damn Small Linux • Danix • DeadCD • DebXPde • Dizinha Linux • eduKnoppix • ERPOSS • ESware • Evinux • Euronode • FAMELIX • Feather Linux • Flonix • Vital Data Forensic or Rescue Kit (FoRK) • Freeduc-cd • Freeduc-Sup • GEOLivre Linux • Gibraltar Firewall • GNIX-Vivo • Gnoppix Linux • gnuLinEx • GNU/Linux Kinneret • GNUstep Live CD • grml • Guadalinex • Helix • Hikarunix • Hiweed Linux • Impi Linux • IndLinux • Julex • K-DEMar • Kaella • Knoppix Linux Azur • Kalango Linux • KANOTIX • KlusTriX • knopILS • Knoppel • Knoppix • Knoppix 64 • Knoppix STD • KnoppiXMAME • KnoppMyth • KnoSciences • Kurumin Linux • LAMPPIX • Libranet GNU/Linux • LIIS Linux • LinEspa • Linspire • Linux Live Game Project • Linux Loco • LinuxDefender Live! CD • Linuxin • LiVux • Local Area Security Linux (L.A.S.) • Luinux • Luit Linux • MAX: Madrid_Linux • Mediainlinux • MEPIS Linux • Metadistro-Pequelin • MIKO GNYO/Linux • MoLinux • Morphix • Munjoy Linux • Nature's Linux • NordisKnoppix • OGo Knoppix • Oralux • Overclockix • Quantian • PaiPix • ParallelKnoppix • Parsix GNU/Linux • Penguin Sleuth • PHLAK • PilotLinux • Progeny Debian • Rays Linux • ROSLIMS Live CD • Salvare • Santa Fe Linux • Skolelinux • Slavix • Slix • Slo-Tech Linux • Soyombo Mongolian Linux • SphinxOS • Tablix on Morphix • Tilix Linux • TupiServer Linux • Ubuntu Linux • UserLinux • WHoppiX • X-evian • Xfld • Xandros Desktop OS • Xarnoppix • Zen Linux • ZoneCD • Zopix"

Maybe the next step is to consolidate some of these under Ubuntu like has happened with Guadalinex, BeatriX and Gnoppix? That's 3 down, 127 to go. :smile:

[nocturn]

Debian should take notice. Their community is telling them something, what could it be?

Maybe we wanted Sarge something like 2 years ago?

Really, for a server, Woody could do if you just run fileserving or a plain apache.
Anything more advanced like PHP, MySQL is so outdated that it looks like antique.

For a desktop, well, KDE 2 was nice... I vaguely remeber using it.

[mike998]

I tried Debian once... about a year ago, and discovered it was horribly out of date.
I had been using FreeBSD as a desktop enviroment and loved the ports tree, was told that debian had apt-get which just worked, so off I went. I didn't stick with it. I think that what's really being complained about is the fact that Ubuntu seems to be taking from the poplularity of Debian.

[paul cooke]

This one brought out a lot of trolls. I'll be glad when its under.

I did notice your post smacking down some of the more ridiculous assertions... ;)

[poofyhairguy]

I did notice your post smacking down some of the more ridiculous assertions... ;)

I love Ubuntu, so I make sure trollish /.ers don't slur it with lies. In a respectful way of course!! (most of the time)

Now that the thread is developed, there are many good comments there.

[SolidAndShade]

I like Debian, I really do... used it since '98. It was my first and, until now, only Linux distribution. But even as the desktop matured and got more user-friendly, the need to cherry-pick packages from testing and unstable to keep my software relatively current was making my system really quirky. So as my computer got less and less manageable, I stumbled on Ubuntu and the rest is history. I think the slashdotters who say Ubuntu should focus on the desktop and Debian should focus on the server are right on.

SolidAndShade

[wmcbrine]

There were some trolls, but some great discussion on Slashdot too. Some of the more cogent posts argued that the real issue for Murdock is Progeny, not Debian.

[jdodson]

the author makes a point that can be seen in another way.

making ubuntu compatible with debian is like saying mandrake needs to be compatable with redhat because mandrake was derived from redhat. some packages are a compatable, most are not. does anyone really care? well sort of.