I think you're probably free to call your distro whatever you want to call it.

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Awesome Job! The reactions from the 'nay-sayers' should be proof of that. I see this as a 'knowledge' check. Stating out-loud, the pieces you have put together so far. I can't wait to check-out your distro. If I find a piece or two for my own puzzle...bonus. Learning, how ever you chose to do that, is still learning. Keep up the good work!

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Apologies for my possibly ignorant comment (I've never used MATE). The impression I got was that MATE is a Gnome-2-like DE for distributions that have moved on to Gnome 3. What would be the benefit of installing MATE on a Gnome 2 distro?

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The difference between MATE and GNOME 2 is s/gnome/mate/i. If you want to spend the time packaging it I would gladly include it, but that would also require a comittment to maintain it. As for using fedora, that is an option but we aren't Fedora any longer. We ship lots of thing they don't offer ootb like Chromium and GIMP 2.8.

Coming from a marketing background, I would like to toss in my opinion on the name.
There are two realities to any product or company. The inside reality and the outside reality. The inside reality is what you the company know to be true about your firm and your product. The outside reality is what others perceive about your firm and your product. Truth-based marketing is getting the outside reality (other's perceptions) to line-up with your inside reality(what you know to be great about your product and people) Inside reality is reflected to the customer by your performance after the contact with the potential client, while outside reality inspires the public to either want your product/service or to avoid it all-together. Outside reality must be working correctly or your potential customer will never experience the truth of your inside reality.

The name of any product is part of your outside reality and it carries implied inference. Meaning that individuals will attach their own meanings and/or beliefs about the name to the product. They are attaching their perceptions to the product without ever having tried it or even researched it. The success of your product will not depend on what you "want" to call it. It depends on what your potential customers think about it.

Comments about FUD and untu are all absolutely spot-on. The name infers and Ubuntu re-spin filled with Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. The name will be inferred as stated in previous posts. It's unfortunate, but realistic. If the name has to be defended or explained, it's not good marketing. Folks won't search out an explanation of the name, they'll just go with their gut reaction. In the case of FUD, it carries a great deal of negativity. F.U.D is a marketing technique used AGAINST your competition. In this case, it's connotations are working against yourself. The association with Ubuntu carries the messages already stated above by other posters.

Potential users who have never heard your philosophy, experienced your product, or heard your explanation of the name will simply attach their own ideas and opinions to what you have to offer without ever having a look at it. If and when they do decide to research the distro, they will bring to the table an already negative emotion associated with your product. You are placing your distro at a marketing deficit right out of the gate! To buy into something, the consumer must have confidence in your product. The name as it stands is not likely to build confidence in very many folks. To succeed, you will constantly be putting resources into dodging negative assumptions and the resulting bad press to regain confidence. Like you are having to do on this forum -perhaps one of many such forums.) These are resources that would be better spent improving the product and customer experience - resulting positive press and social proofing. In other words: your team will be fighting a constant upstream battle that does not need to exist and burning your resources unwisely.

Perhaps I can provide an example.
The assumptions carried by the public:
Mexico has long-standing negative press regarding their water quality. The general assumption is that it's polluted and full of all sorts of nasty infectious diseases and parasites. The popular belief is that drinking the water will give you a nasty case of extremely loose stools resulting in and days of agonizing pain and uncontrollable bowl movements.

The product:
A new full-bodied beer.
The marketing: To sell the the younger demographic they use hip graphics and a hip sounding name. They use alliteration and a verb implying unstoppable power with visions of fun filled paradise-like beaches with bikinis.

The name they chose to go to market:
Mexican Mudslide.

The product failed. Their marketing firm completely missed the implied inference. The potential customer reads the name and the only thing they are confident of is that they don't want to drink anything that will cause diarrhea. Not to mention the visual it creates is unpleasant and should not be associated with anything you put in your mouth. So the customer avoids the product and it fails.


I understand that you and your team put great effort into creating the Fudbuntu name, and may have some rooted attachments to it. While the Fuduntu name may not be a make-or-break issue for your product, it is having a negative impact on outside reality and resouces as exemplified in this forum.

Looking forward to taking the latest release for a spin this weekend.

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I've been using a distribution called CrunchBang since 2008. The name "CrunchBang" does not fill with confidence, and the disclaimer doesn't try to dispel that impression:

And yet CrunchBang community is going strong, most users find the distro to be adequately stable (despite the disclaimer), and the sun still sets in the west.

Not all Linux users are looking for a rock-solid corporate distro like Red Hat. Some of us appreciate fun, whimsy, creativity, and humor.

1 members found this post helpful.

I doubt that this...

Will hold true for much longer. The reason MATE was forked from GNOME 2 is because GNOME 2 > GNOME 3 is a paradigm shift. Also, I wonder how long GNOME 2 will be supported and maintained.

I was just saying it'd be nice to be given the choice.

If the team would have said: "At this point in time, there are no immediate plans to include MATE in the repository as resources are being allocated to improve the core Fuduntu system"

I would have thought "cool, can't wait to see this distro grow"

...as opposed to "If you want it maintain it". Which is how the project seems to be coming across.

Which, BTW, is another reason why the Mint project has been as successful. Not because it's based on Ubuntu...but because they listened to what the end users wants. When Ubuntu had that "moving the min/max/close to the left" fiasco...they took a "this is the way things are" stance. Mint took a "We'll keep it to the right and have the option to move it to the left" approach. See the difference?

Now I didn't want you to bend over and say "okay master I'll switch it right over for you"...if you would have said A instead of B I would have been happy.

It's all in how you come across...especially if you want people on board.

You asked for feedback and I mentioned that it would be nice if MATE was included. That's all...

If you don't want feed back, don't ask for it in the first place.

Once the distro grows, I would recommend a public relations/ marketing manager of some sort.



-C

3 members found this post helpful.

What a dumb comment; the reason why Mint (or any other volunteer project) supports multiple desktop environments is because people volunteered to make it happen. Fewt just handed you a golden opportunity to get involved with the project, and your response is "I don't like your attitude; hire a PR director"???

^ I guess this just proves my point further.

Good luck in your endeavors.

-C

@fewt: I'd carefully read post #35.

Of course the name and its implications to a reader are totally subjective. As for me, when I read/hear "Fuduntu", I first think of FUD. (Others made similar comments.) Then I wonder, "Is this for real, or is this someone mocking all the Ubuntu spinoffs?"

Not here to razz you. Sharing my honest feedback. Take it or leave it.

It wasn't constructive criticism. It was a thinly veiled, passive-agressive attempt to try to threaten us with legal action from Canonical.

I personally am going to need proof of that statement. We're number 21 on distrowatch and growing. The world of Linux is full of silly names, we're no different.

The name itself has not driven anyone away that actually tried the distribution.

I too, think fighting over the name is silly. Mandrake is a poisonous herb used in witch craft that can cause hallucinations and death. Solaris is the Latin word for sun. This could be interptated with fascist inuendos. Google "sun wheel" with unfiltered results. Debion sounds similar to Damion or Demon. Anyone see "The Omen" lately? None of these names damaged their respective distros.

The battery life issue is important. This is worth testing on laptops or desktops that rely on battery backups due to an unreliable power grid, something that happens in less developed areas of the world.

I tested a live USB vis-a-vi unetbootin. It worked well enough.

Still, a choice of other desktops is desirable. I like LXDE personally in a light weight desktop. Under Mint, LXDE lasts a long time when running on batteries.

I have absolutely no interest in catering to anyone who thinks the name contains FUD. Those people are welcome to use Ubuntu or follow the rest o their lemming bretherin off of a cliff for all I care. Just an fyi - I am very close to many in the marketing field and when you ask them about FUD they all respond with 'what the heck is FUD?'.

Those that have an issue with the name can create their own distro. Those that want another desktop are welcome to chip in and make it happen. I maintain a few hundred packages forgive me for not having interest in supporting more..

1 members found this post helpful.

Fewt already made it clear the name is not up for discussion. And if it does work against us (which so far we have seen no proof of, just people who like blurt out their opinions and call it information), good! We don't want that kind of people anywhere near us.

We're building an OS for the fun of it, trying to make it easy to use, while still staying true to the Linux community. You have a problem with our name being something you interpret as FUD-buntu, you might as well go suck on a lemon for the light of day we've spent trying to make people like you see our p.o.v..