I know someone who has a problem with Ubuntu's brother distros Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Edbuntu. He believes the 4 different versions of Ubuntu is a sign that Ubuntu hasn't found a way to fully integrate the features of the other distros into one distro or something.

What he fails to understand is that the 4 different distros are there to give the user a choice, a starting point that the user would prefer. If you prefer KDE, you can get Kubuntu. If you prefer Gnome, you can get Ubuntu. If your computer is slow, you can get Xubuntu which comes with only light weight programs. If you're an educator, you can get Edubuntu. Each distro is tailored for different kinds of needs and users. If you want to install a program that comes in one but not the other distro, you can install it easily because they all share the same repository.

What's so hard to understand about this?


What are your thoughts? I think what Ubuntu is doing is great, and I can't wait to try out Xubuntu on my older computer.

i actually like Ubuntu's idea of keeping GNome and KDE seperate, i hate the way gnome modifies KDE's menus, makes me want to flame the gnome developer that let that happen, i keep Slackware as my main OS, i wont let gnome touch it, i can understand why Linus Torvalds bad-mouths gnome, and Pat V. removed it from slackware, i wish Ubuntu much success

i dont want gnome to disappear, i just want it to be nice and let the user decide what items get added to the kde menu, and for gnome to quit trying to idiot-proof their desktop, we were smart enough to install Linux so we should be smart enough to decide what gets added in other desktop's menus, you dont see me going to other linux users desktops and modifieing thier setup so dont mess with mine without asking, i been wanting to say that about gnome for a long time (thanks )

Yeah, I agree about the idiot-proofing. It's gotten to be kind of ridiculous. I upgraded from ubuntu breezy to ubuntu dapper today, and annoyingly xscreensaver has now been replaced with "gnome-screensaver", which is basically xscreensaver with the useful advanced options removed, which is really annoying.

Actually I think the primary reason for the various subgroups is that Ubuntu is trying to keep it down to a single CDROM.

Exactly. Putting two desktop environments and a window manager on a single CD would require a serious cut somewhere else. I agree with Okie regarding GNOME, though. I don't understand why they consider Linux enthusiasts such a bunch of dummies.

Playing Devil's Advocate:

If the Ubuntu Linuxen are all the same, except for what desktop environment they use, then why use different CDs, different websites, and different project names? It may help their image of cohesion by giving the choice of "Ubuntu: GNOME Editition" or "Ubuntu: KDE Edition" or "Ubuntu: Plain Ol' X Edition". Then make it clear that the default desktop environment is the only thing that's different; everything else is the same (if you've got an internet connection).

^^ Just what I thought, it does make sense.

PatrickMay16: yes, you already know me from the ubuntu forums, but you can uninstall gnome-screensaver and just install xscreensaver (plus it's 4 extras packages in the repos). This is what I did.

I believe the reason for the seperate versions of the distro is all about ISO size and the fact that it is to be a one CD distro. The naming scheme was just a play on words thought up by one of the developers when they decided to create a 'meta-distro' (as they are called)using KDE, Mark decided he liked it, and it kind of stuck.

We are hoping people will have enough common sense to figure out that they are all different desktops, but with the same distro underneath.

[rant]My desktop environment of choice is GNOME, simply because it is more subtle and much less gaudy than KDE, which I feel wastes too much on silly icons and eye candy. It's less intrusive and doesn't force as many of it's own tools on you. The menu decision has nothing to do with idiot proofing, just with keeping things simple. If you want to edit the menus that badly you can just install a menu editor, there are dozens of them out there.[/rant]