Wow, looks like I'm 13 again.

I actually need the latest features in Feisty. Namely the low latency kernel and the packages by Ubuntu-Studio. To this date there hasn't been a well maintained distribution that was suitable for audio editing. You had to do alot of configuring, including patching the kernel.
About stability: that's what the LTS versions are for!
Dapper will get support until 2009.

UBUNTU will make a profit on the desktop. Why should it not do so. Look at Novells financial report. UBUNTU will not do it overnight, but I predict that it will be profitable within 4 years.

By the way, in the end, there will be as many distributions as there are manufacturers of cars.

With that I do agree, but you should've stopped there.

By whose definition?

Oh, you mean you're not putting that many words in his mouth?

Exactly. Don't take my side of this debate personally... It's not personal. I just don't find anything useful or unharmful in posting highly opinionated 'doomsayer' commentaries on the internet.

Thank you. So do I.

Cheers
Bill

Now, that's a prediction I can live with.

I thought we surpassed that one long ago! LOL

Cheers
Bill

Personally I don't see how they are going to make profit by focusing on the desktop. Most desktop users do not pay for their distro or the additional services provided by their distro maintainer, so there is very little money to be made from desktop Linux users. Even Novell which you mention, makes most of its Linux profits from SLED/SLES subscritptions and not their boxed sets. Unless Canonical comes up with really good enterprise offerings, I'm afraid all the millions they are spending on ship-it (which now seems limited to Ubuntu 6.06 LTS) and their viral marketing (both which are probably causing Canonical financial losses) will go to waste. As things stand, they simply can't compete with Redhat and Novell in the enterprises and currently thats where most of the money is in Linux.

Yes, there is a bit of a kink in the system, isn't there? I mean, with the FSF and it's GPL and all. I thoroughly admire Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, and everyone else in the Linux world for their dreams and efforts, but it is persistently failing because nobody can get rich off of open source. Of course, the in-fighting and self-corrupting FUD doesn't help anything, either.

Can't... take it...
misinformation... overload.

There are quite a few open source millionaires that shure would like to tell you otherwise... Christ almighty, don't you people try to get anything right before posting.
BTW, try to figure out how Google became a billion dollar company.

Ha. rickh you seem to have ruffled some feathers over on digg. Nicely done.

In my opinion, as long as Debian or another project with similar ideals survives, we need not worry.

To which post are you referring? If it's my last, that was sarcasm. I just have a problem with FUD being spread on the net that this or that distro is dying in 3 or 4 years for whatever reason when the company behind it has made no mention of giving up and is in the process of shifting policies.

Maybe I've just seen too much of the same on Yahoo message boards from Windoze users to deal with it properly, but Canonical IS making an effort, so give them a chance. Don't kill it for them by spreading FUD to potential new users. That's my point...

Cheers
Bill

Very true. I predict the next #1 distro will be Sidux.

Somewhat similar to Ubuntu, but retains compatibility with Debian.

Cheers
Bill

Why did you delete your post? Truer words were never spoken. [Did they get to you?]


The future is always uncertain. I do not know how else to explain it without bringing powers of Clairvoyance to the table.

All I'm able to do is take what I know and speculate, or make a prediction.

I'm not putting anything in his mouth. He was quoted in a dozen different news publications saying much more. It's also in the article.

IMO, that's all you have been doing, taking this personally. Hense this discussion turning into tripe.

When people start to delete their own posts that go against the grain, something is wrong.

Even if Canonical goes belly up, I think Ubuntu will remain because it has attracted a huge fan base. It just may not be #1.

What a bunch of negative people. Why even play with linux if there is the gloom of going bankrupt. I think that UBUNTU will succeed, and it is not an experiment.

And it will succeed even with rejection by the big box stores. The big box stores are switching anyway, from pcs to laptops, and laptops to large screen TVs. They follow the profit. When Vista will not give them profit, nor any Anti-virus product, then perhaps there is a glimmer of hope that linux will be sold by these retail gougers.

I'd just like to stop seeing blank stares when I say Linux. That will mean any distribution will have to be seen on more desktops. Most people I know can't even stop using MS Explorer.

People are going to need a reason to switch. Linux, GNU, Free Software, Open Source, none of it light up on most people's radar. I've been using Linux for over seven years, It still seems invisible.

jer

That's exactly right. People do need a reason, a good one, and it's not going to be the open-source movement or a GPL license. It's going to be features and ease-of-use. It's going to be a result of Marketing. And even then, because people stick with what they know, it's going to be an uphill battle.