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Senectus . wrote:<br>
<blockquote
cite="midd12e5c90512131808i69ca58fds58bc117b88309eb8@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">I find that now I'm 99.999% happy using Ubuntu I'm also much more
productive and content using Gnome.
Every now and again I get the urge for eye-candy and flip over to
KDE... but eventually I get tired of the less reliable environment
and flip back to gnome with a happy sigh.
To me KDE is more of a "toy" environment (even though many of their
apps are sorely needed in the Gnome arena), and until they stop
jamming features into it and sacrifice a few deadlines for reliability
I think it'll stay that way.
But that's my opinion as a user, whatever that is worth...</pre>
</blockquote>
<joke> Freely distributable surely? If the OS itself is free,
no-one should be charging for opinions! </joke><br>
<br>
I agree with most of what you've said though (Ubuntu rocks!), but it
seems to me that they are (most of the time) designed for two different
markets / types of user.<br>
<br>
And so what??<br>
<br>
As quoted by Mark:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Whose problem do we want to solve? If you try to satisfy everyone you
end up satisfying no one.</pre>
</blockquote>
Exactly. That is Windows. One OS must do everything. I'd personally
hate to see Linux go that way. Quite frankly part of the reason Linux
can be innovative and successful without the massive price tag attached
to commercial software is because the different distros and projects
compete and feed off each other in different ways. They are branches
off the same tree, not successors to each other in M$ fashion.<br>
<br>
If you try to create one "super-distro" that is "the best" and can do
"anything and everything", I would worry about things stagnating,
bloated installations full of packages you don't need and all the other
problems that come with that. If you try to make it simple for new
users, you do lose functionality. So just build a distro for that
purpose - ease of use. Leave the others alone for the more experience
users and heavy duty applications. Why can't we have both rather than
two-in-one?<br>
<br>
Secondly, I have always quite enjoyed the fact that the distro chosen
to be a good mail server might be totally different to the distro you'd
choose to run on your own desktop or (play games with), but that they
were each equally streamlined and optimised for the tasks most relevant
to their primary purpose. I hope that never changes. Entering into
holy wars over which one is better when clearly they BOTH have their
advantages is asking for trouble, and ignoring the fact that they have
two different histories is a shame.<br>
<br>
Lastly, I don't think things have got that bad (yet). I still think it
is possible to take most computers that are too under-spec for Windows
and make them run 100% better with a version of Linux installed. While
Windows forces unnecessary hardware upgrades just so you can have the
latest version (including software and features you don't use), Linux
will generally work and you find yourself doing hardware upgrades only
because you really shouldn't be using a computer of that age or spec
for the particular application you have chosen. Since you are
upgrading your hardware... you may as well grab a bigger, better
distro, but it is an OPTION. You still have may more choice. Also, I
would hope that when comparing Linux and Windows running on the same
PC, you are using versions of both that were current at the same time.
What version(s) of Linux were around when Windows 98 was current? How
do they run? If your PC won't run Windows XP SP2 these days, what
CURRENT versions of Linux would run on that same PC. No contest
really, is it?<br>
<br>
Choice, variety and the building-blocks-I'll-install-only-what-I-want
freedom that it's got is still one of the most significant advantages
of Linux over Windows. Trying to please everyone with a single distro
and desktop is another nail in the coffin.<br>
<br>
/rant IMHO also, "my opinion as a user, whatever that is worth..."<br>
<br>
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